Decadent Hippies: Searching for Religion in the Fridge
Why Holistic Influencers can give up Junk Food but not Materialism
When one imagines decadence, an image arises of a spoiled heiress who must have her salad just so, the green m&ms taken out of her bowl, her nails manicured like this and her hair done like that. What makes this different from the hippie, who cannot touch a receipt, must not have a drop of seed oil in his food, his produce must be pure and untouched by this and that chemical, the farm must treat the chickens that produce his eggs to a prenatal spa treatment before they lay their eggs.
The heiress and the hippie differ only in the particulars of their decadence, and not in substance. Both are spoiled, inflexible and detached from reality. Health influencers are not terrible because what they say is incorrect or misleading. Rather, they are wrong because they search for identity in their food, and their religion in the fridge. They circle the drain of material lifestyle improvements, until it turns into a worship.
Monks but make it Kardashian
Decadence is richness and luxury. While there is obvious luxury in having jewels, expensive clothes and big houses, there is the less obvious side of it which is materialism. A wealthy billionaire who has many nice things but makes his life about his projects, his family and his legacy, is not a materialist. Meanwhile, a poor or middle-class person for whom the center of his life is his material posessions and how he can increase them, is a materialist. The billionaire, although wealthy, is not decadent, because he understands there is more to the world than the material.
This is the distinction I wish to draw today with regard to health fanatics on the internet. There is a difference between caring about health and spreading awareness about medical knowledge, and making physical material health the centre of one’s worship. This difference is what makes many of the health-gurus on the internet decadent.
It is quite interesting that these people purport to live lives of monks: giving up things that bring pleasure such as alcohol, delectable deserts, flavoured gourmet foods, fashionable clothes and just fun overall. They eschew these things and glorify a life of isolation from society in order to better pursue their perfect health lifestyle. While the material means of their pursuit are similar to those of monks, unlike monks, they do not value anything beyond the pursuit of physical health. They have no thoughts, ideas or projects that don’t centre completely on optimising the functioning of their mortal coil. They are not any different, in essence, from Kardashians who worship their physical bodies above all else and expend millions on cosmetic surgeries and brand name clothes.
Ex-Vegans Continue to be Annoying
It is worth noting that large majority of the most annoying online health influencers are ex-vegans. Veganism is the ultimate decadence. It is a diet and lifestyle that demands extreme divorce from nature to pursue. Out of season fruit and veg must be flown in from tropical countries to be mixed into a smoothie for Jessica’s breakfast. The texture of an egg must be mimicked using a long list of chemicals so that Brad can have his (bug) “protein”. They throw temper tantrums at meal times when their perfect food was not delivered to them or if the French fries grandma made were cooked in beef tallow.
These people continue to throw temper tantrums like little spoiled children even after they have left veganism--they just do it for different things. Instead of “is this made in animal fat” they ask “was this touched by seed oils? Sorry I can’t have this. It doesn’t matter that you made this for me out of love, my body will explode with a drop of seed oils”. They need soap and shampoo made from very particular ingredients. God forbid a piece of polyester in their clothes makes contact with their skin. Is your dress not hand sewn from hemp that you harvested with your bare hands under the light of the full moon? What? It’s made of 20% polyester? You might as well be killing yourself.