Oh, where to begin.
Those of you who read the Atlantic‘s “Daily Dish” will know that the latest reader-question was, “What widely accepted practice, custom or societal norm do you regard as irrational, absurd, offensive, silly, nonsensical, counterproductive, or morally wrong?”
As one would expect, the question provoked a myriad of wide-ranging responses. Writes Conor Friedersdorf,
Perhaps 200 people responded, and the most frequent answer was that it makes no sense to say “God bless you” after someone sneezes. Lots of readers also lodged complaints against eating meat, mistreating animals, believing in God, practicing organized religion, driving SUVs, and the societal practice of pairing off in monogamous relationships.
Still others weighed in against embalming and the American way of death generally.
But the first thing that popped into my mind was “beauty, feminine” nearly every process of which falls under this heading – from waxing to plucking to threading to shaving to injections to corsets to heels. “Unnatural,” certainly – but so widely accepted that it’ll be interesting to see if anything from that category makes the cut. Stay tuned. Not, I think, that anyone would want a world completely devoted to pragmatism…
Let The Corpses Decay [Atlantic]
GET JEZEBEL RIGHT IN YOUR INBOX
Still here. Still without airbrushing. Still with teeth.
