You know what gets me?
Dec. 28th, 2008 02:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
When people call rolled oats "traditional" as compared to whole or steel-cut oats.
How the heck can they be traditional? There's no way they were there first! They require more processing! (And somebody please explain to me why they cost more in stores when they're less work to make. Huh? They are less labor intensive from field to shelf, aren't they? Am I missing something?)
It's like this book I have, Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians (great book, by the way), and at one point one of his newfound comrades (Not From Here) comments that of course stairs are more advanced than elevators - they're healthier, they're harder to put in, and they don't break down! The fact that elevators require a greater understanding of mechanics to achieve is quite beside the point. It's the same with oats, or with organic farming. It's better in some way (not, obviously, every way or the other way would never have become so popular!) and it's new to these people, so they figure that it's new to everybody. (How many times do babywearers get told "they didn't have THAT when my kids were little!"? Well, slings are some of the oldest inventions of humankind. They did have it. You didn't, that's all.)
It just bugs me.
How the heck can they be traditional? There's no way they were there first! They require more processing! (And somebody please explain to me why they cost more in stores when they're less work to make. Huh? They are less labor intensive from field to shelf, aren't they? Am I missing something?)
It's like this book I have, Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians (great book, by the way), and at one point one of his newfound comrades (Not From Here) comments that of course stairs are more advanced than elevators - they're healthier, they're harder to put in, and they don't break down! The fact that elevators require a greater understanding of mechanics to achieve is quite beside the point. It's the same with oats, or with organic farming. It's better in some way (not, obviously, every way or the other way would never have become so popular!) and it's new to these people, so they figure that it's new to everybody. (How many times do babywearers get told "they didn't have THAT when my kids were little!"? Well, slings are some of the oldest inventions of humankind. They did have it. You didn't, that's all.)
It just bugs me.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-28 08:41 pm (UTC)And no, this is something I came to all by myself.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-28 08:50 pm (UTC)Except they skip right over the fact that I'm basically northern european genetically so coconuts were nowhere near my ancestors' traditional foods...