Sunday, August 9, 2009

The joy of a consistent foe

In a rather bland rundown of the “buy local” argument – as always from the side of the business owner - Nova Scotian business professor Karen Blotnicky ventures a little off the economic argument and ties local-only consumption in with the unshaven root-chewing Luddites lurking in the aisle of Whole Foods supermarket.

She writes;

There is also a movement towards better eating and living through wellness centres, holistic medicine and organic remedies. Naturopaths are beginning to make inroads in the medical community, often being chosen over traditional medical practitioners.


As cringe-inducing as that negligent last sentence is, I feel a pang of joy when I see two nonsense beliefs lining up in the same world view. While a person who is wrong about medicine isn't necessarily wrong about economics as well, I like seeing them lean against each other for support.

During my frustrating march as a sociology minor in college I had to read culture critic bell hooks rattle on about the “White-Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy” hydra that fatally slashes and gouges society. I found it annoying that her world view was so simplistic and infantile that she lumped everything she disliked into a single, evil pulse.

I constantly have to check my mind to make sure I don't do it as well. The union thugs, PC patrol-officers, Bible-thumpers, mercantalists, jihadists, race-baiters, evolution-deniers, anti-intellectuals palm-readers and magic healers don't form a cohesive group or blend into a single mindset, even though it would be awfully convenient for me if they did.

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