[swatcoder]

For lack of other shared idols, the “common space” American society worships health and longevity. We measure everything against it and don’t make much room for debate.

We all do unhealthful things, of course, but our society makes it very hard to admit that we do so in sound mind. The role we’re asked to play is to say we’re addicted, indulgent, or ashamed.

The dissonance isn’t good for people and is not unlike the toxic dissonance we associate with religious communities that are too stringent and deny everyday realities of human behavior.