by Ethan Johnson
November 26, 2007
Earlier this year, I wrote about Breatharianism:
Breatharian thought (as I am defining it here) is rooted deeply in "keeping up appearances", and is identifiable either through covert activities to create a specific impression, or overt actions that oppose the stated ideal. But this differs from mere hypocrisy in that the hypocrite is loathed because he or she doesn't even bother to act in the manner that he or she claims to be the ideal, such as the finger-wagging moralist who snorts cocaine and enjoys horse porn. Hypocrisy in the business sense would be declaring "keeping jobs safe at home" to be the ideal while outsourcing 99% of the company's operations overseas. Breatharianism in the business sense would be to claim that sole entrepreneurship is the key to success, only to reveal that a virtual army of outsourced labor/resources was pressed into service to keep the business afloat.
Two items have recently entered the national bloodstream that speak to the above. One is a book, and another a movie (based on a book). I will try to keep "spoilers" to a minimum, however if you plan to read Better Off by Eric Brende or see Into the Wild at the movies, you may want to skip this article altogether but couch the above quoted text in the back of your mind somewhere.
