Theory Cartoons—Gluten-Free

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On this date in Round and Square History 

3 May 2013—China's Lunar Calendar 2013 05-03
3 May 2012—La Pensée Cyclique: Mulan Granet (e)
3 May 2011—Remonstrance: King Lear

[a] The New Yorker 28 April 2014

This one reminds me of another favorite New Yorker cartoon. It went something like this. A waiter appears at the table and asks [I quote/paraphrase from memory]: "Would you like your organic green tea with lemon or just the usual dollop of smug self-satisfaction?"

[b] Conspicuous Cup-sumption RF

So what is it with eating, drinking, exercising, or just being "right," even as the rest of the trampled masses keeps eating potato chips, drinking Big Gulp sodas, sitting corpulently on the sofa, and being otherwise not-in-the-know?

There is something distinctively "first world" to this, of course, but there is more, too. 

In a funny sort of way that Thorstein Veblen would have recognized in terms of behavior (but not details), it is all about separating oneself from others.

In this case, it's "conspicuous non-consumption" (also a favorite New Yorker cartoon from about a decade back), and in a way that aligns with all sorts of conformity, even as it raises the speaker out (and up) from the huddled, chunky, masses.

I'll leave the rest for Social and Cultural Theory class.

[c] Awaiting crust RF