About F A D S …
FAD (Dictionary definition): ‘A fashion in dress, behavior, or speech that enjoys brief popularity’…’The object of this fashion’…
Coming back to one of many "today’s Breaking News"…Excuse ME!..but I am FED UP (Oooops!...another pun..:o).. )…with all the Endless CRAP spread by the News Media and ‘authotitative Nutrition Experts’ (especially those who wave impressive Degrees and Titles in the naïve, gullible, eager, desperate, hopeful, overweight consumers’ faces)…
They never cease to scare, confuse and send them avidly jumping on ‘the latest’ FAD band wagon in search of a magic form of instant gratification... dishing out fortunes to buy worthless, impotent, and oftentimes harmful, pills, potions, patches. remedies, gadgets, tchatchkes, special diet plans supplemented by special diet foods, and many other ‘miracle’ or fast acting snake oils…
The diet race moves the herds of countless blindfolded ‘Large’ size human cattle rapidly from one ‘get thin quick fix’ FAD scheme to another…like the endless parades of FAD fashion trends: shoe styles, shirts, dresses, pants, colors, often ludicrous ladies' fashions that actually look as if they were misogynist-designed.
And how about the FAD automobile models, shapes, colors...the FAD A.G.s (Attention Getters) of tattoos, body mutilation, bling-blings, and so on…Anything to project the veneer appearance of being ‘in’…of ‘belonging’…of knowing the latest in ‘what’s hep’…
A FAD could be deemed to be cultist or religious in nature, due to its feverishly intense popularity and the energy, the enthusiasm, the fanatical fervor of its devotees…
THAT (FAD) diet is ‘out’ …( emphasized by the ‘getting old' line ...’Ooooops!...we miscalculated!...etc…reports and news releases by the red-faced ‘Experts’)… THIS (FAD) diet is now ‘in’…’THIS one REALLY works!..and it ONLY costs $...’ and, off you rush to the trendy FAD race track again…so long as your pocketbook and your resilience can stand it…and, after all, if THIS FAD doesn’t work…don’t worry: another one is just around the corner…introduced by a convincingly written sales pitch that will vibrate the strings of your highest hopes and lowest instincts…
To millions of starving dieters clamoring for a diet that gives them that ‘pleasantly full feeling’ - not provided by low carbs or low fats or low sugars - this rat-race is as disappointing... frustrating and exasperating a FAD as was the previous ‘Answer’: (SEE the end of my story about the multi-millionaire who seeks Truth and the Meaning of Life…and ends up getting ‘The Answer’ from the Most revered and wise ‘Expert’ in the World: a 102-year-old Belgian Priest, now the Grand Lama in mythological Shangri-La)..:o)…
Before I proceed with an honest, objective, although undiplomatic observation, as a European-born Professional, I must ask your kind indulgence, my American friends: that you ask yourself whether you prefer hearing a hypocritical (also called ‘diplomatic’) half-truth or lie: something you would rather hear …or some possibly embarrassing truth, a reality check which may help open your awareness ?
In other words, I urge you to objectively, with an open, totally honest mind, adopt a ‘if the shoe fits…Wear it! Attitude, O.K.? :o)... And I beg you to refrain from getting offended, insulted, start a riot, call me a '….ing foreigner' or tell me , 'if I don’t like it ‘here’... why don't you just ‘go back where you came from?‘ ( For you know I couldn’t fit in the womb any longer!...:o)…)
So, just please RELAX…take a deep breath…Open your OBJECTIVE Mind and consider the following : during the years I have lived in the U.S…became a citizen, voted, created much employment, paid high taxes, made many important contributions to the Nation, its safety, and much more...One trait, in paricular, never ceased to amaze me. What I am referring to is an ingrained habit...a custom I guess, common to a vast majority of Americans: FADS...as addictive and costly as drugs!
Germane to another American tendency (fast becoming global, as we shall soon learn) : ‘Living Up to the Jones’s’…FADS are a form of mass hysteria... reflections of ego, insecurity, low self-esteem, low self-confidence...a desperate need to LOOK and/or look like...be ‘accepted’, ’approved’ by questionable individuals or groups or ‘gangs’ (*) or cults or organizations...driven to do almost anything just to be given the false illusion (like the glitter of fools’ gold) that you ‘belong’ and are ‘accepted’, special, ’welcomed’, walk through life bearing some lofty ‘seal of approval’.
(*) Gangs, with their violent, anti-social behavior patterns and ultra-neurotic, territorial need for recognition, respect, being, sounding, looking unique, better, special, ‘different’…yet invariably ending up blending in as a homogenous group...as witnessed by their dress, mannerisms, headband colors, hand shakes and signals, body language, graffiti and other creative ‘intellectual properties’, ‘brands’…the latest being 'rap’ music…
Oddly enough, this contemporary FAD has become accepted globally and is making Millions of Dollars for its promulgators!...(could it be that ‘society at large’ secretly hopes to find protection from injury and death at the hands of gangsters by ‘joining’ and parroting them, just as did Millionaire heiress Patricia Hearst after her abduction by that black militant group?…or was it just the old fashioned ‘opposites attracts’?...)
And, if this isn’t controversial enough to suit you…take another deep breath…pry Open that great Mind of yours... seriously and unemotionally ponder the following: (Please note that I am not asking that you ‘buy’ or agree with me...only that you objectively take a hard look at what I am sharing with you. Then, decide and act according to your own conscience. These are not insults, accusations, put-downs...just honest, pragmatic, analytical observations I have made over the years…O.K. ?)
The FAD-produced myopic, false illusion (delusion) of individuality and personal freedom that was, at first, given as the motivation behind the emerging ‘movements’ has mutated over the last few generations...going from burning bras (and flags) to trend-setting ‘fashion statements’: thongs... drugs...sex and Rock-N-Roll…A.I.D.S.
The FAD-driven 'propaganda' about what will make You ‘Look Good’, 'Sexy'. ’Glamorous’, ’Thinner’, ’Curvier’, ‘More Stylish’, ’More Appealing’ (and, with each such excitingly flattering, ego-stroking adjective or superlative, the price-tag goes Up, naturally)
These are the usual ways that a FAD is started by clothing, shoe and accessories manufacturers with large advertising and public relations budgets who target, grind down and brainwash all ‘follower’ types that will listen... All whom they consider and treat as being the weak-willed, gullible, emotional, vulnerable, unoriginal, mentally lazy, docile, insecure, lacking in self-confidence and self-esteem, unwilling to exert their minds and make smart decisions, think and stand up for themselves as did the strong-charactered amongst their ancestors…
I still cannot keep a straight face seeing young dudes lost inside elephant sized coats and pants, especially those below-the-knee cuts…and this FAD gets even more ridiculous looking when they are fat or obese to begin with..and may think that this ‘fashon statement’ will help them appear to be slim by contrast…sorry, fellas!... there’s just nothing aesthetic or attractive here I’m afraid…and that includes the turned around or worn sideways baseball caps FAD, while I’m at it…
From that 'clown-like' fashion FAD to those self-mutilations, the ’body piercing’ savage jungle customs: ears,eyelids, tongues, nostrils, belly-buttons, nipples, genitals…to tattoos that compete with wall graffiti... contributing nothing but more pandemonium to an already disturbed society. The only ones they've missed so far is the bone through he nose and the bottom lip-stretching saucer...
These hysterical FADS...neurotic drives to ‘be better’...to appear to ’be different’ only make the (failed) ‘originalities’ more of the same…for all wannabe ‘unique’ individuals, when viewed collectively, look so alike. Clothes, dress, body language, hand gestures, cars, motorcycles, bling-blings, lingo, music, typical ‘gang’, or rat pack syndromes. Not a ‘one of a kind’ in the bunch, let's face it!...:-(…
And this is why this unfortunate, almost ‘religious’ in fervor, as it is fanatical, FADS habit practiced by Americans for the past few generations have gradually infiltrated and affected...’infected’ many foreign nations...disrupting...even destroying the very foundation of their centuries-old precious traditions…
There may be a few exceptions in cases where a FAD brings about actual ‘Progress’ that could serve to improve or liberate…
Who would ever have believed that even the utra-conservative, custom-bound, gently bowing, cultured, flower arranging, tea ceremony performing Japanese would get caught up in, and be swept away ‘into’ American Rock-N-Roll, blue jeans, feminism in lieu of femininity... and divorce, just to mention a few imported Yankee FADS…
…or that my own native Belgium and neighboring Holland, France, England, Germany, and other European nations have all taken up American-imported FADS, tainting their traditional centuries-old, ingrained cultural makeup with drugs, cholesterol, fats-laden fast foods, dress, Rock music, gangs, You Name It…
These insidious FADS and their ready acceptance by the general public, start at an early age ‘thanks to’ the Advertising Industry and the Media with addictive bombardments rendering desirable otherwise 'blah' foods, beverages, clothing, tennies, toys, even behavior patterns...
While this is called ‘good merchandising/marketing’, nevertheless it effectively penetrates, controls, changes, motivates the consumers’ will to flock and purchase the object of the featured FAD of the moment, whether it is worthwhile or not…and before checking into it… This sheep 'follow-the-leader' mass-attitude could get one to leap from a high diving board, simply because ‘the others do it’…then, half-way down, notice that the pool below is empty of water!...
It is also typical of citizens who fail to vote, or simply check off boxes and vote for candidates ‘they say is a good one’ ---Anything to keep from taking quality time away from TV watching to responsibly study in depth the ballots, the candidates, the issues…to check, look and make sure there is water in the pool!
This sort of ‘dangerous’ habit of too many Americans has already begun to show negative results in the form of special interests-inspired unfair, unconstitutional laws that were ‘slipped in under the carpet’ when unconcerned, uninvolved, lazy voters failed to discharge their Rights…ignorant, uncaring and disrespectful of their precious and rare Freedoms as well as duties…
IN WEIGHT AND HEALTH MANAGEMENT: So long as individuals will continue to respond or react to FADS without even a minimal amount of due diligence investigation…thus: surrender their will to FADS’ influencing factors…they will also continue to spend and waste fortunes on useless junk that literally ends up going straight down the drain...
Compulsive behaviors in over-eating,loss of control over your will power (yes: you do have plenty of it when you need or want to, let’s face it) ...low self esteem, guilt, impulse control deficiencies, often accompanied by ancillary disorders…the same basic neuro-transmitters which play a key role in catering to your brain’s pleasure centers also contribute to binge eating and allied tendencies…are amomgst other scientific findings that explain away excess fat, weight, inches and obesity...$275 Millions worth of extra aviation fuel in a year due to 'excess weight', tell us statistics!...Your gain.. Their loss…:o)
And, to all you Mothers: Have a Happy Mothers' Day (A Wonderful FAD to celebrate)!
Your Friend,
Jacques
Coming back to one of many "today’s Breaking News"…Excuse ME!..but I am FED UP (Oooops!...another pun..:o).. )…with all the Endless CRAP spread by the News Media and ‘authotitative Nutrition Experts’ (especially those who wave impressive Degrees and Titles in the naïve, gullible, eager, desperate, hopeful, overweight consumers’ faces)…
They never cease to scare, confuse and send them avidly jumping on ‘the latest’ FAD band wagon in search of a magic form of instant gratification... dishing out fortunes to buy worthless, impotent, and oftentimes harmful, pills, potions, patches. remedies, gadgets, tchatchkes, special diet plans supplemented by special diet foods, and many other ‘miracle’ or fast acting snake oils…
The diet race moves the herds of countless blindfolded ‘Large’ size human cattle rapidly from one ‘get thin quick fix’ FAD scheme to another…like the endless parades of FAD fashion trends: shoe styles, shirts, dresses, pants, colors, often ludicrous ladies' fashions that actually look as if they were misogynist-designed.
And how about the FAD automobile models, shapes, colors...the FAD A.G.s (Attention Getters) of tattoos, body mutilation, bling-blings, and so on…Anything to project the veneer appearance of being ‘in’…of ‘belonging’…of knowing the latest in ‘what’s hep’…
A FAD could be deemed to be cultist or religious in nature, due to its feverishly intense popularity and the energy, the enthusiasm, the fanatical fervor of its devotees…
THAT (FAD) diet is ‘out’ …( emphasized by the ‘getting old' line ...’Ooooops!...we miscalculated!...etc…reports and news releases by the red-faced ‘Experts’)… THIS (FAD) diet is now ‘in’…’THIS one REALLY works!..and it ONLY costs $...’ and, off you rush to the trendy FAD race track again…so long as your pocketbook and your resilience can stand it…and, after all, if THIS FAD doesn’t work…don’t worry: another one is just around the corner…introduced by a convincingly written sales pitch that will vibrate the strings of your highest hopes and lowest instincts…
To millions of starving dieters clamoring for a diet that gives them that ‘pleasantly full feeling’ - not provided by low carbs or low fats or low sugars - this rat-race is as disappointing... frustrating and exasperating a FAD as was the previous ‘Answer’: (SEE the end of my story about the multi-millionaire who seeks Truth and the Meaning of Life…and ends up getting ‘The Answer’ from the Most revered and wise ‘Expert’ in the World: a 102-year-old Belgian Priest, now the Grand Lama in mythological Shangri-La)..:o)…
Before I proceed with an honest, objective, although undiplomatic observation, as a European-born Professional, I must ask your kind indulgence, my American friends: that you ask yourself whether you prefer hearing a hypocritical (also called ‘diplomatic’) half-truth or lie: something you would rather hear …or some possibly embarrassing truth, a reality check which may help open your awareness ?
In other words, I urge you to objectively, with an open, totally honest mind, adopt a ‘if the shoe fits…Wear it! Attitude, O.K.? :o)... And I beg you to refrain from getting offended, insulted, start a riot, call me a '….ing foreigner' or tell me , 'if I don’t like it ‘here’... why don't you just ‘go back where you came from?‘ ( For you know I couldn’t fit in the womb any longer!...:o)…)
So, just please RELAX…take a deep breath…Open your OBJECTIVE Mind and consider the following : during the years I have lived in the U.S…became a citizen, voted, created much employment, paid high taxes, made many important contributions to the Nation, its safety, and much more...One trait, in paricular, never ceased to amaze me. What I am referring to is an ingrained habit...a custom I guess, common to a vast majority of Americans: FADS...as addictive and costly as drugs!
Germane to another American tendency (fast becoming global, as we shall soon learn) : ‘Living Up to the Jones’s’…FADS are a form of mass hysteria... reflections of ego, insecurity, low self-esteem, low self-confidence...a desperate need to LOOK and/or look like...be ‘accepted’, ’approved’ by questionable individuals or groups or ‘gangs’ (*) or cults or organizations...driven to do almost anything just to be given the false illusion (like the glitter of fools’ gold) that you ‘belong’ and are ‘accepted’, special, ’welcomed’, walk through life bearing some lofty ‘seal of approval’.
(*) Gangs, with their violent, anti-social behavior patterns and ultra-neurotic, territorial need for recognition, respect, being, sounding, looking unique, better, special, ‘different’…yet invariably ending up blending in as a homogenous group...as witnessed by their dress, mannerisms, headband colors, hand shakes and signals, body language, graffiti and other creative ‘intellectual properties’, ‘brands’…the latest being 'rap’ music…
Oddly enough, this contemporary FAD has become accepted globally and is making Millions of Dollars for its promulgators!...(could it be that ‘society at large’ secretly hopes to find protection from injury and death at the hands of gangsters by ‘joining’ and parroting them, just as did Millionaire heiress Patricia Hearst after her abduction by that black militant group?…or was it just the old fashioned ‘opposites attracts’?...)
And, if this isn’t controversial enough to suit you…take another deep breath…pry Open that great Mind of yours... seriously and unemotionally ponder the following: (Please note that I am not asking that you ‘buy’ or agree with me...only that you objectively take a hard look at what I am sharing with you. Then, decide and act according to your own conscience. These are not insults, accusations, put-downs...just honest, pragmatic, analytical observations I have made over the years…O.K. ?)
The FAD-produced myopic, false illusion (delusion) of individuality and personal freedom that was, at first, given as the motivation behind the emerging ‘movements’ has mutated over the last few generations...going from burning bras (and flags) to trend-setting ‘fashion statements’: thongs... drugs...sex and Rock-N-Roll…A.I.D.S.
The FAD-driven 'propaganda' about what will make You ‘Look Good’, 'Sexy'. ’Glamorous’, ’Thinner’, ’Curvier’, ‘More Stylish’, ’More Appealing’ (and, with each such excitingly flattering, ego-stroking adjective or superlative, the price-tag goes Up, naturally)
These are the usual ways that a FAD is started by clothing, shoe and accessories manufacturers with large advertising and public relations budgets who target, grind down and brainwash all ‘follower’ types that will listen... All whom they consider and treat as being the weak-willed, gullible, emotional, vulnerable, unoriginal, mentally lazy, docile, insecure, lacking in self-confidence and self-esteem, unwilling to exert their minds and make smart decisions, think and stand up for themselves as did the strong-charactered amongst their ancestors…
I still cannot keep a straight face seeing young dudes lost inside elephant sized coats and pants, especially those below-the-knee cuts…and this FAD gets even more ridiculous looking when they are fat or obese to begin with..and may think that this ‘fashon statement’ will help them appear to be slim by contrast…sorry, fellas!... there’s just nothing aesthetic or attractive here I’m afraid…and that includes the turned around or worn sideways baseball caps FAD, while I’m at it…
From that 'clown-like' fashion FAD to those self-mutilations, the ’body piercing’ savage jungle customs: ears,eyelids, tongues, nostrils, belly-buttons, nipples, genitals…to tattoos that compete with wall graffiti... contributing nothing but more pandemonium to an already disturbed society. The only ones they've missed so far is the bone through he nose and the bottom lip-stretching saucer...
These hysterical FADS...neurotic drives to ‘be better’...to appear to ’be different’ only make the (failed) ‘originalities’ more of the same…for all wannabe ‘unique’ individuals, when viewed collectively, look so alike. Clothes, dress, body language, hand gestures, cars, motorcycles, bling-blings, lingo, music, typical ‘gang’, or rat pack syndromes. Not a ‘one of a kind’ in the bunch, let's face it!...:-(…
And this is why this unfortunate, almost ‘religious’ in fervor, as it is fanatical, FADS habit practiced by Americans for the past few generations have gradually infiltrated and affected...’infected’ many foreign nations...disrupting...even destroying the very foundation of their centuries-old precious traditions…
There may be a few exceptions in cases where a FAD brings about actual ‘Progress’ that could serve to improve or liberate…
Who would ever have believed that even the utra-conservative, custom-bound, gently bowing, cultured, flower arranging, tea ceremony performing Japanese would get caught up in, and be swept away ‘into’ American Rock-N-Roll, blue jeans, feminism in lieu of femininity... and divorce, just to mention a few imported Yankee FADS…
…or that my own native Belgium and neighboring Holland, France, England, Germany, and other European nations have all taken up American-imported FADS, tainting their traditional centuries-old, ingrained cultural makeup with drugs, cholesterol, fats-laden fast foods, dress, Rock music, gangs, You Name It…
These insidious FADS and their ready acceptance by the general public, start at an early age ‘thanks to’ the Advertising Industry and the Media with addictive bombardments rendering desirable otherwise 'blah' foods, beverages, clothing, tennies, toys, even behavior patterns...
While this is called ‘good merchandising/marketing’, nevertheless it effectively penetrates, controls, changes, motivates the consumers’ will to flock and purchase the object of the featured FAD of the moment, whether it is worthwhile or not…and before checking into it… This sheep 'follow-the-leader' mass-attitude could get one to leap from a high diving board, simply because ‘the others do it’…then, half-way down, notice that the pool below is empty of water!...
It is also typical of citizens who fail to vote, or simply check off boxes and vote for candidates ‘they say is a good one’ ---Anything to keep from taking quality time away from TV watching to responsibly study in depth the ballots, the candidates, the issues…to check, look and make sure there is water in the pool!
This sort of ‘dangerous’ habit of too many Americans has already begun to show negative results in the form of special interests-inspired unfair, unconstitutional laws that were ‘slipped in under the carpet’ when unconcerned, uninvolved, lazy voters failed to discharge their Rights…ignorant, uncaring and disrespectful of their precious and rare Freedoms as well as duties…
IN WEIGHT AND HEALTH MANAGEMENT: So long as individuals will continue to respond or react to FADS without even a minimal amount of due diligence investigation…thus: surrender their will to FADS’ influencing factors…they will also continue to spend and waste fortunes on useless junk that literally ends up going straight down the drain...
Compulsive behaviors in over-eating,loss of control over your will power (yes: you do have plenty of it when you need or want to, let’s face it) ...low self esteem, guilt, impulse control deficiencies, often accompanied by ancillary disorders…the same basic neuro-transmitters which play a key role in catering to your brain’s pleasure centers also contribute to binge eating and allied tendencies…are amomgst other scientific findings that explain away excess fat, weight, inches and obesity...$275 Millions worth of extra aviation fuel in a year due to 'excess weight', tell us statistics!...Your gain.. Their loss…:o)
And, to all you Mothers: Have a Happy Mothers' Day (A Wonderful FAD to celebrate)!
Your Friend,
Jacques
posted by Jacques Girard, Ph.D. at 5:50 PM
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