I recently read a nice article written by Ilona Burton over at The Independent. That is not to say it was flawless. In a way, she sort of almost wound up contradiction her own thesis. But, despite that, it was a refreshing criticism of those who condemn pro-ana sites as responsible for the eating disorder problem. And, even better still, she placed the whole discussion in the larger context of pop culture blaming generally.
As we've argued elsewhere, blaming celebrities is a total cop-out. Those with eating disorders make their own decisions. Sites that are pro-ana are not some simple cause of the problem. Indeed, they are as much a symptom as a cause. Pop culture history is full of foolishness about how music or movies or comic books were the purveyors of evil and social decay.
Such ridiculous attitudes go right back to ancient Athens, where none other than Plato fretted over the corrupting influence upon Athenian youth of theater and poetry. Throughout the ages the same theme appears over and over again. The explosion of 20th century mass communication media has though really thrown open the flood gates for this kind of pop culture blame-game.
The 1940s witnessed social condemnation of swing music as a source of moral corruption, which, it was feared, would harm the character of young men, making them poor soldiers and thus hurt the war effort. (This, remember, was the same bunch of swing dancing youth who decades after WWII would be memorialized as The Great Generation!) In the later 40s and 50s it was comic books that were the scourge; they were alleged to be responsible for an epidemic of youth violence and juvenile delinquency. (And that damn James Dean wasn't helping, either.) Meanwhile, Elvis Presley couldn't be shown on television below his hips and there was much anguish about how his primal, libidinal (dangerously black-sounding) music was causing proper young girls to swoon.
By the time we reach the 1960s it is the TV itself that becomes a purveyor of social decay, supposedly rotting the brains of the nation's youth. And worst of all were the Beatles, whose music was accused of promoting free love and the use of psychedelic drugs. A backlash against what came to be called Beatlemania came to a head with mass bonfires to burn their records, subsequent to an impious remark by John Lennon. By the 70s, it was the raw physicality and sensuousness of disco music which was accused of tearing at the fabric of sexual mores and undermining common decency.
The 1980s brought us left-wing feminists claiming that pornography created rapists and right-wing moralists claiming that heavy metal music caused Satanism. And the 90s saw new panics about rap music promoting criminality, rave fatalities and the recent World Wide Web turning people into computer screen dazed anti-social zombies wasting away in their basements.
This is all old stuff. Mass media have been blamed for apathy and violence, teenage pregnancy, social conformism and deviancy. No surprise that today it's blamed for both anorexia and obesity.
All of this, though, makes perfect sense when you recognize what's really going on under the surface of this endless blame-game. It is a resolute refusal to take responsibility. Whether it is responsibility for our own actions or for how we respond to the actions of our loved ones. It's very difficult to accept that those we love may make choices that we see as disturbing, despairing and yes even self-destructive. Hand in hand with such blame deflecting denial comes all the exaggeration and distortion typical of such social panics. Even without the exaggeration and distortion, though, the central challenge still confronts us.
We each have our own responsibility to ourselves and our loved ones. Conjuring mythical dragons, even if in the apparently easy form of insulated and inured rich and famous celebrities of stage, screen and runway, only serves to deflect attention and efforts from what really needs to be done; what really can make a difference in our lives and those of our loved ones.
If people do not take responsibility for their own actions, their own families and their own communities, every problem will be a chimera, in need of some magical solution. Blaming mass media or popular culture celebrities with eating disorders for our own choices and those of our children is magical thinking.
A mythical dragon though is merely a straw man. Yes, it is a comforting means for unleashing our rage and deflecting our anger, disappointment and fear. It does nothing though to help us come to grips with real problems - and real solutions.
As we've argued elsewhere, blaming celebrities is a total cop-out. Those with eating disorders make their own decisions. Sites that are pro-ana are not some simple cause of the problem. Indeed, they are as much a symptom as a cause. Pop culture history is full of foolishness about how music or movies or comic books were the purveyors of evil and social decay.
Such ridiculous attitudes go right back to ancient Athens, where none other than Plato fretted over the corrupting influence upon Athenian youth of theater and poetry. Throughout the ages the same theme appears over and over again. The explosion of 20th century mass communication media has though really thrown open the flood gates for this kind of pop culture blame-game.
The 1940s witnessed social condemnation of swing music as a source of moral corruption, which, it was feared, would harm the character of young men, making them poor soldiers and thus hurt the war effort. (This, remember, was the same bunch of swing dancing youth who decades after WWII would be memorialized as The Great Generation!) In the later 40s and 50s it was comic books that were the scourge; they were alleged to be responsible for an epidemic of youth violence and juvenile delinquency. (And that damn James Dean wasn't helping, either.) Meanwhile, Elvis Presley couldn't be shown on television below his hips and there was much anguish about how his primal, libidinal (dangerously black-sounding) music was causing proper young girls to swoon.
By the time we reach the 1960s it is the TV itself that becomes a purveyor of social decay, supposedly rotting the brains of the nation's youth. And worst of all were the Beatles, whose music was accused of promoting free love and the use of psychedelic drugs. A backlash against what came to be called Beatlemania came to a head with mass bonfires to burn their records, subsequent to an impious remark by John Lennon. By the 70s, it was the raw physicality and sensuousness of disco music which was accused of tearing at the fabric of sexual mores and undermining common decency.
The 1980s brought us left-wing feminists claiming that pornography created rapists and right-wing moralists claiming that heavy metal music caused Satanism. And the 90s saw new panics about rap music promoting criminality, rave fatalities and the recent World Wide Web turning people into computer screen dazed anti-social zombies wasting away in their basements.
This is all old stuff. Mass media have been blamed for apathy and violence, teenage pregnancy, social conformism and deviancy. No surprise that today it's blamed for both anorexia and obesity.
All of this, though, makes perfect sense when you recognize what's really going on under the surface of this endless blame-game. It is a resolute refusal to take responsibility. Whether it is responsibility for our own actions or for how we respond to the actions of our loved ones. It's very difficult to accept that those we love may make choices that we see as disturbing, despairing and yes even self-destructive. Hand in hand with such blame deflecting denial comes all the exaggeration and distortion typical of such social panics. Even without the exaggeration and distortion, though, the central challenge still confronts us.
We each have our own responsibility to ourselves and our loved ones. Conjuring mythical dragons, even if in the apparently easy form of insulated and inured rich and famous celebrities of stage, screen and runway, only serves to deflect attention and efforts from what really needs to be done; what really can make a difference in our lives and those of our loved ones.
If people do not take responsibility for their own actions, their own families and their own communities, every problem will be a chimera, in need of some magical solution. Blaming mass media or popular culture celebrities with eating disorders for our own choices and those of our children is magical thinking.
A mythical dragon though is merely a straw man. Yes, it is a comforting means for unleashing our rage and deflecting our anger, disappointment and fear. It does nothing though to help us come to grips with real problems - and real solutions.
About the Author:
Follow us for all the hottest news on all manner of controversies over Celebrities with Eating Disorders . Mickey Jhonny is a super source of thought provoking and stimulating articles on popular culture. If you're a fan of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, his piece ripping off the cover of its dirty little secret is an absolute must read.
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