Weight-loss, self-discipline and racial enequality

Here’s my summary of a little parable I just read in the book Divided by Faith, by Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith.

Imagine that two friends, Maridel and Parker, decide to lose weight by checking in a six-week camp-style program (O.K., a “fat farm”). Upon arrival, they are separated and sent to different compounds.

Divided by FaithIn Maridel’s compound there are weights, running trails, aerobics classes, basketball courts and every other kind of exercise equipment you can think of. Maridel is surrounded by people in great shape who constantly testify to the wonderful benefits of good health. And the food is always healthy and delicious.

Parker’s compound is different. There is no exercise equipment other than the great outdoors. The staff members are all overweight, and nearly all of them have tried and failed many times to keep the pounds off. The food is delicious and plentiful, but it is loaded with calories and fat. Recreation is provided in the form of a large TV and lots of movies.

Maridel and Parker don’t see each other until the first weigh-in after two weeks, and each knows nothing of the other’s compound. At the weigh-in, Maridel is 12 pounds lighter, but Parker has actually gained a couple of pounds. Maridel can’t believe that Parker is wasting this great opportunity. She chides him for his lack of will power and tells him that if he will just discipline himself, he can lose weight. And Parker agrees. “I’ve got to eat less, and get outside and walk more” he tells himself. “I can do it! There’s no one stopping me. It’s up to me.” But it is incredibly hard for Parker, given the environment at his compound, and the best he can do is maintain his present weight, while Maridel continues to shed the pounds.

Emerson and Smith use this parable to illustrate the problem of racial inequality in America and our difficulties in diagnosing the problem. White evangelicals tend to think of solutions in terms of individuals - personal responsibility, vision, and self-discipline. All of these are valuable, but they fail to account for the structural problems in America that contribute to inequality. As a result, whites believe that race problems are solved if we simply treat each other with kindness and make discrimination illegal. If we can all “just get along”, there is no racism, right? And if it’s against the law to discriminate in the job market, housing, and schools, then everybody has equal opportunity, right?

Parker and Maridel each have to make a choice to lose weight, and then work hard to make it happen. But Maridel’s chances are dramatically better. For Parker, it would take immense self-motivation and discipline to do it.

And being isolated from each other makes understanding nearly impossible.

More on this eye-opening book later…

February 1, 2007 · Filed Under Culture, Poverty, Race, The Church, Tough Issues

Comments

2 Responses to “Weight-loss, self-discipline and racial enequality”

  1. John on February 9th, 2007 1:12 pm

    Very interesting… I’ve never heard it described that way before. It seems to me that our each subset within modern American culture loves to hold up “poster children” to “prove” their perspective. For example, Oprah Winfrey would be a great example of the stereotypical white perspective on how “blacks” can and sometimes do succeed in modern America. The fact that so many more prisoners are African American is “proof” of the stereotypical black perspective. Obviously, neither Oprah nor any group of prisoners (no matter how large) are accurate predictors of anything being true or not true for “the rest of us”–no matter how much or how little melanin we display. So what’s the solution? I’d really like to read that book…

  2. jhill on February 12th, 2007 3:58 pm

    There is no solution… Sure, we can be made aware of it, we can try not to do it, but there’s no solution! Would you rather take a missions trip to China, or the South side of Chicago? I’ll take China any day!! Why? Because my chances of being mugged,shot, stabbed, or killed in Chicago are far greater! If you think I’m full of it, go there!

    Is the problem really as big as we perceive it? Or is this just getting more attention because the topic on racial inequality is very popular and sells?

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