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stayfree - Stay F---! | 7 September

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  • From: Carrie McLaren <carrie AT stayfreemagazine.org>
  • To: stayfree AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Stay F---! | 7 September
  • Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 15:04:27 -0400

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.




  • Stay F---! | 7 September, Carrie McLaren, 09/07/2004

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