Reply #7: No one to blame?

[janedoe]

Perhaps that is correct, if "one" refers to a single individual.
What is social conformity? What is peer pressure?

"Anorexia is probably hard-wired....."

Anorexia is probably as "hard-wired" as the human survival instinct. In our current media-driven culture, perceived survival may depend on physical attributes and perhaps little else. Obviously honesty, character, and independent intellect have lost all meaning and value in our "modern, new and improved" culture, so what's left? Spin.

"Spin" is the current term for creating an image of what you want the viewer to think they see. Reality is irrelevant. Image is everything.

Now, consider a child who's life depends on parental acceptance. The child picks up clues as to what will please the parent. The younger the child, the more dependent they are on this parental acceptance. For a toddler, abandonment equals death.

The fact that the common age for the young anorexia patients has "slipped to 9 years old" seems more like a report card for our culture.

We should be asking why knowledge, understanding, competence, innovation, and natural talent, have lost their meaning in our culture.