Glossophobia

MANIFESTO

In the waning days of the administration of the worst president ever, I find myself wanting to start ever more posts with "Just when I think I've heard it all ..." This is such a post.

Apparently, the President's Council on Bioethics (While I didn't know of the council's existence, it's not surprising to me that our 16th century thinking president should have one; it appears to have been created specifically to justify Genome George's stance on stem cell research.) recently released a a 555-page report entitled Human Dignity and Bioethics. While the entire notion is somewhat ridiculous (I.e., the idea of torture-endorsing GI George being advised on human dignity is ironic at best.), the following idea got a number of people's attention:

Worst of all from this point of view are those more uncivilized forms of eating, like licking an ice cream cone--a catlike activity that has been made acceptable in informal America but that still offends those who know eating in public is offensive. ... Eating on the street--even when undertaken, say, because one is between appointments and has no other time to eat--displays [a] lack of self-control: It beckons enslavement to the belly. ... Lacking utensils for cutting and lifting to mouth, he will often be seen using his teeth for tearing off chewable portions, just like any animal. ... This doglike feeding, if one must engage in it, ought to be kept from public view, where, even if we feel no shame, others are compelled to witness our shameful behavior.

Think of that the next time you indulge in a frozen treat, C-Train.

(Thanks to NPR's "Wait, Wait" for pointing this out.)