[Allow me to break down the fourth wall before I launch into my philippic here, because I need readers to know that I'm
completely fucking aware of how humorless I've become. I'm no fun* at parties anymore. I get that. I wasn't originally going to post this, because it's such a downer, but apparently
no one watched this week's episode of 60 Minutes, so why the hell not. Oh, and finally:
STFU! IMAGINARY DISEASE! I told you so.]
Did any of you read
this prizewinning piece of investigative journalism from last week's NYT "Dining" section? (Odd that it wasn't in Thursday Styles, given its insipidity.) It's about a Republican housewife and self-appointed expert on diet and immunology from Colorado and how she's here to tell us that allergies are going to kill all of our children. (Not unlike
these women, anorexics in the guise of vegans, who have assembled an entire lifestyle empire based on the premise that it's better for you to eat processed fake meat products than, say, an organic egg.) She's a leader of this absurd and hysterical crusade that's based on insubstantial anecdotes and demonstrably false citations of actual statistics (not to mention ethical conflicts of interest involving Big Pharm board members and sponsors). In typically lazy journo fashion, the writer states, "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the number of deaths linked to food allergies at 12 in 2004," and then devotes five paragraphs to why Allergies Are Going to Kill Your Children anyhow, soliciting the opinion of two doctors, neither of whom had much to say. Interestingly enough, Harper's had an article in last month's issue
(here's the PDF if you want it) on this very topic, and why this isn't just bogus hysteria, it's bogus hysteria propagated in part by the pharmaceutical industry.
I was going to leave off there, with a snide closing about how this sort of self-involved advocacy is so typically American--someone who couldn't care less about other people until something unfortunate befalls her and she becomes evangelical about it (see John Walsh, Carolyn Maloney).
Read more...
But then, last night, I saw this 60 Minutes segment about the use of rape as a method of warfare by soldiers (and civilians) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. (There's a civil war going on there--the most violent conflict since World War II, by the way--but the US has done essentially nothing about it.) Tens of thousands of women (and girls) have been raped, many so violently that they suffer fistulas, which--in case you don't read that article--are "a rupture of the walls that separate the vagina and bladder or rectum," and when they go untreated, which they often do, means total incontinence. So these victims are doubly shamed and ostracized not only because they've been raped, but also because they're unable to control their bodily functions.
This was truly the most horrific news report I've seen/heard post-Katrina. It was almost too disturbing to watch (and writing about it is even difficult now), but if you do watch the video, or read the transcript, and you want to donate money, visit the Stephen Lewis Foundation website. They're raising funds for the Panzi Hospital, where some of these women are treated and housed. If you were feeling the need to assuage your liberal white guilt this week, I can't think of a better way.
Fuck you, hysterical blond housewives and your precious, delicate offspring.
*Was I ever fun-depends who you ask.
