Free, promotional email list for Stay Free! print magazine

[Carrie McLaren <carrie AT stayfreemagazine.org>]

Hello,

I just added a few articles from Stay F---! issue #21 to the web site:


PROZAC NATIONS: HOW DOES MENTAL ILLNESS DIFFER CROSS-CULTURALLY?
An interview with LAWRENCE KIRMAYER
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/21/lawrence_kirmayer.html

Ever have the nagging feeling that our celebrity-driven, sound bite 
society is making us into a stupid, cynical, shallow people? Well, 
look to Oliver James, author of a May 2000 article in The Ecologist 
titled "Consuming Misery: Across the World, the Richer a Nation Gets, 
the More Unhappy Its People Become."

As a critic of consumer culture, I did a double take when I saw that 
headline--evidence at last! In his book Britain on the Couch, James 
purports that our way of wealth lowers our levels of serotonin--which 
he calls the happiness brain chemical--thereby making us depressed. 
James is far from alone in equating advanced capitalism with mental 
illness. Here in the United States, a growing movement of 
therapist-activists battles "affluenza," defined as a debilitating 
mental state caused by having too much money. While much of the 
affluenza literature makes a certain kind of sense, all it takes is a 
cross-cultural perspective to see the problem with arguing that 
affluence causes depression--namely, it's not true.

continued at:
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/21/lawrence_kirmayer.html

::::

CURIOUS MENTAL ILLNESSES AROUND THE WORLD
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/21/mental_illness.html

These days, Western science takes it as a given that mental illness 
is rooted in biology. But this approach ignores culture's role in 
shaping health: simply put, different social environments create 
different mental health problems. Psychiatrists used to call ailments 
limited to particular environs "exotic psychotic syndromes" until it 
dawned on them that Western culture has its syndromes, too--namely, 
anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Now they refer to "culture-bound 
syndromes," though this name, too, is a bit misleading. Culture-bound 
syndromes are not linked to a particular culture in a particular time 
and place so much as to a prominent cultural emphasis. Cultures that 
place high importance on fertility, for example, may fuel fears of 
semen loss.

continued at:
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/21/mental_illness.html

::::

BUYER BEWARE
How do supermarket shopppers react when you place foreign objects in 
their baskets? GAYLORD FIELDS experiments.
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/21/gaylord_fields.html

Several recently published studies conclude that supermarkets are 
geared to lull the average shopper into a trancelike state and that 
this glassy-eyed mesmerization makes the customer purchase more 
goods. This comes as no surprise to this writer, as these results 
parallel my findings of thirty years ago when I undertook several 
experiments in social psychology under the guise of adolescent 
pranksterism.

continued at:
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/21/gaylord_fields.html

::::

OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST


MOVEON's "REAL PEOPLE" SPOTS

Errol Morris's commercials for MoveOn are worth checking out if you 
haven't already. As chronicled in the New Yorker, Morris (The Fog of 
War, Thin Blue Line, etc.) rounded up disaffected Republicans and 
recorded them sounding off on President Bush. Since the subjects 
aren't actors and aren't scripted, the commercials (more anti-Bush 
than pro-Kerry) are a lot more pointed than the crap the Democrat 
Party is turning out. On the downside, Morris's inimitable 
style--think: jumpy camera, overlapping dialogue, and stark white 
backdrops--sacrifices some of the candor for a layer of artiface. 
Hip? Yes. Effective? We'll see. Methinks educated, urban liberals 
should stop making spots for other educated, urban liberals.
https://www.moveonpac.org/donate/switchad_winners.html
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040823fa_fact



"THE YES MEN" DOCUMENTARY

Consider this an enthusiastic plug (all thumbs up!) for the new 
documentary about the THE YES MEN. These guys have toured the world 
masquerading as members of the World Trade Organization, and are, 
simply said, brilliant. Directed by the folks who did American Movie, 
THE YES MEN opens in theaters on September 24. Watch the trailer if 
you must, but you're better off just taking my word for it.
http://theyesmen.org/movie/



ADVERTISE IN THE NEXT STAY F---!

Beginning with the next issue, Stay F---! will be (nearly) doubling 
our circulation and distributing the magazine f--- in Park Slope, 
Brooklyn. Ad rates and deadlines here:
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/adrates.pdf



UPCOMING STAY F---! EVENT

New York: Sat, Sept. 24: IFP and WIRED MAGAZINE PRESENT a SYMPOSIUM 
ON COPYRIGHT AND INDEPENDENT FILM
Panelists include yours truly, John Perry Barlow, Siva Vaidhyanthan, 
Dan Glickman (CEO of the MPAA), Hal Hartley.

At the Puck Building on Lafayette and Houston. Details TBA.