Month: July 2019

Welfare statists are our slave masters (but the good kind)

Matthew BoultonLeave a comment

Estimated reading time 9 mins.

The following was written for myself in 2014 after having finally got around to reading a classic, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and what occurred to me as I was fascinated by various depictions of slavery in the pre-Civil War American South. Having recently thought about the issue of freedom versus our current political and intellectual status quo, and given freedom’s indispensable role in human flourishing–with some clarifying additions, I publish it here.

A popular image of slavery is a cracking whip driving droning, listless workers to some laborious or inhuman task in abhorrent conditions against any will of their own, sucking the days from their lives as if they were of no worth but that of a draft animal.  Indeed, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s classic novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin offers vivid images of the villain Simon Legree’s plantation and the manner in which he considers and treats his slaves.

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Delimit to be free in diet

Matthew Boulton2 Comments

Estimated reading time 7 mins.

Please see my article, “Don’t listen to me (or even experts): My blanket disclaimer” for a brief discussion of my goal in sharing ideas on health.

A key excerpt: “We all have different bodies, lifestyles, means, likes/dislikes, goals, and many other factors which make up the context in which we are making health decisions. So my attitude is always intended to be not, “This is the right way to eat/work out” or “You should try this.” But rather: “This is what is working for me in this way. How might it apply to you in achieving your goals?””

“I eat whatever I want.” Something to this effect is what I say in a nonchalant way when trying to impress upon people that my diet doesn’t involve the giving up of things I love to eat. Its aloof but matter-of-fact delivery is intended to shock the person while at the same time encouraging them to hope for a moment before I attempt to qualify what I mean. Because of course, I don’t mean that I just eat whatever I want whenever I want.

But on some level in my own mind, that is what I do mean.

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The Obesity Code: A new framework, a new hope

Matthew Boulton2 Comments

Estimated reading time 35 mins.

Please see my article, “Don’t listen to me (or even experts): My blanket disclaimer” for a brief discussion of my goal in sharing ideas on health.

A key excerpt: “We all have different bodies, lifestyles, means, likes/dislikes, goals, and many other factors which make up the context in which we are making health decisions. So my attitude is always intended to be not, “This is the right way to eat/work out” or “You should try this.” But rather: “This is what is working for me in this way. How might it apply to you in achieving your goals?””

Fat loss is among the top health challenges many people struggle with. For myself, it has been the single biggest challenge among others, requiring so much discipline and effort in various directions. With diet, it has required constantly doing without, eating the things I don’t always want to eat while restricting the things I do want, generally feeling hungry—you know, being “on a diet.” It has also required exercise—lots of time-consuming, grueling exercise. No pain, no gain.

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