Authenticity, Anti-Science/Evidence, And The Rise Of Neoprimitivism

[HuckleB]

http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/potter-the-rise-of-neoprimitivism

"...

From the paleo diet to the “ancestral health” craze to the criminals leading the anti-vaccine movement, we live in neoprimitivist times, in precisely the manner sketched by William Gibson. A disturbingly large segment of society has adopted a highly skeptical and antagonistic relationship to the main tributaries of modernity. But as in (Gibson's book) The Peripheral, these people are not opting out of modernity, going off the grid or deciding to live in caves. Instead, they are volunteering for “another manifestation” of modernity, living in the modern world, without being entirely of it, or even understanding it.

...

As recently as a decade and a half ago, organic food was the almost exclusive bastion of earnest former hippies and young nature lovers — the sort of people who like to make their own granola, don’t like to shave, and use rock crystals as a natural deodorant. But by the turn of the millennium, organic was making inroads into more mainstream precincts, driven by an increasing concern over globalization, the health effects of pesticide use, and the environmental impact of industrial farming. The shift to organic seemed the perfect alignment of private and public benefit.

It also became an essential element of any “authentic” lifestyle. Yet as it became more popular, the rumblings of discontent within the organic movement became harder to ignore. What was once a niche market had become mainstream, and with massification came the need for large-scale forms of production that, in many ways, are indistinguishable from the industrial farming techniques that organic was supposed to replace. Once Walmart started selling organic food, the terms of what counts as authentic shifted from a choice between organic and conventional food to a dispute between supporters of the organic movement and those who advocate a far more restrictive standard for authenticity, namely, locally grown food.

...

The growing resistance to agricultural breakthroughs and long-standing public health initiatives takes place not despite a scientific consensus that they are safe, but in many cases because of those assurances. We have become techno-mysterians, living in a world we don’t understand. We happily play with our smartphones all day, and spend all night worrying that they are giving off rays that are causing depression.

..."


The four paragraphs don't do a good job of showing the content of the piece. It really calls for a full read, and it's a thought provoking one, IMO. And now I have to get the book in question!

[HuckleB]

1. One kick for a good read.