Monday, March 24, 2008

Wages of Assimilation

From "Neurotic Who Makes Scary World Her Banquet," a review of Patricia Pearson's A Brief History of Anxiety, the New York Times, March 19:
... the worship of reason and science, by encouraging the notion that human beings can control their environment, has created a terrible fault line in the modern psyche, although not all societies suffer equally. Mexicans have lots to worry about but don’t. The World Mental Health Survey, conducted in 2002, found that only 6.6 percent of Mexicans had ever experienced a major episode of anxiety or depression. Meanwhile, to their north, 28.8 percent of the American population has been afflicted with anxiety, the highest level in the world. Mexicans who move to the United States adapt, becoming more anxious.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

No relevance to your post, but I always assumed at-a-glance Slampo to be a Red. I just looked at your image full-sized, and realized that Slampo is a Card. You are officially un-invited from my next street-car series.

A crest-fallen Browns fan,
BCM

Slampo said...

Ol' Diz: The Cards connection was strictly though my father, who grew up in East Texas catching them on KMOX or whatever clear channel carried their games out of St. Louis. The first dog I owned we named "Stan," after The Man. But mostly the pic is because Enos "Country" Slaughter is the coolest name any white man ever bore in the entire 20th century. Go Browns!