04.09.07
another perspective on jacob weisberg’s article on green tea in slate.com
posted by Sandy M. Bushberg | 3 comments
Here is a post by Andrea Dickson taking exception to jacob weisberg’s article in Slate.com about green tea (see Michelle’s post).
I think we do have a tendency, as a species, to get carried away with a good thing. If we discover that a little is good, than we immediately assume that a lot is even better. We also tend to be very reductionistic and want to extract that one great and powerful ingredient that is the true panacea for all our ills.
Unfortunately, we just don’t learn. We constantly persist in our wrong headed beliefs that we can always improve on mother nature despite repeated failures. Every time we think we’ve got the answer, she throws cold water on our unbalanced practices.
April 10th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
Or for that matter, when something is good in one place it does not mean that it works well in others. In other words, while drinking green tea is good for you, it does not automatically imply that bathing in it, applying it in lotions, or steam inhaling it (just saw this yesterday) does anything. The more extreme example may be like what they did with radioactive elements in the early 1900s. Just because it can produce numerous energetic particles does not mean it will “energize” you when added to your drinking water.
Even thought the abused objects are different, the mentality at work in both examples are one and the same.
April 11th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Thanks for linking to my article.
Weisberg’s piece was actually in Slate.com, not Salon.
Regarding green tea: I can understand how people who care deeply about health would be frustrated in seeing green tea as an ingredient in a fatty latte. But I’m afraid that green tea is graduating from “ingredient” to “flavor” status here, just as it has in Asia.
And I DO think that green tea is good for the skin, mostly because I use it on my skin and I like the results. But I use actual green tea, not green tea-infused lotion.
April 11th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
You’re welcome. I very much enjoyed your article.
Thanks also for the correction on Slate vs. Salon. I actually knew that and am not sure why I wrote Salon. My daughter is a writer and she was discussing Salon with me recently so maybe that’s why.
You are absolutely correct about green tea being good for the skin, but only in the way you are using it. The tannins in the leaf are astringent and will help tighten up the skin (not that your skin actually needs it I’m sure).