Disappointing J Masson book
Moussaieff Masson is one of the greatest author ever, his books about psychoanalysis and therapy in general reach social and political levels, and they are not comments but genuine investigations that costed him the privileges one keeps with his mouth shut.
Along his bibliography, he connects together all his investigations : therapy damage, child abuse, animal abuse, industrial damage, war damage, a connection that fails to be made all too often.
Nevertheless, J. Moussaieff Masson is a human being, not a saint patron, nor an übermensch, his great writings meant efforts of all kind.
The Face On Your Plate, alas, is very disappointing compared to all his other books :
- Nothing about food and nutrition is new under the sun for the Internet wired vegan, vegetarian or people of good will. If you have absolutely never heard about organic food and alternative nutrition (to the official recommendations) before 2009 : this book is perfect.
- The TRUTH about the atrocious and useless suffering and death inflicted to animals is, alas x 3, nothing new. Again, if until 2009, you thought animals lived happily separated of their children destined to be slaughtered, healthily crowded in sheds walking in their shit and fed with "new food", if you thought they feel and understand nothing in the trucks to the slaughterhouse, where they are put to sleep with a nice and clean club stroke : again, this book is for you and you'll have a huge surprise.
What is new for the Moussaieff Masson reader I am is the somewhat snobbish, inconsistent and fat catty tone and content of this book. Not mentioning the disappointing outrageous publicity for Whole Foods, a business like any other, implied like any other in an unequal order of the world : food for the rich and well-read, food for the poor fools and uneducated.
Again, if you don't see the incompatibility between industry and a change of life style, at least from 2009, date of publication : you'll be delighted with this book.
I think the problem is that he wished "too much" to see the end of the abusive order of civilization and hoped "too much" organic food and veganism alone can fix the problem. But it can't, because cruelty and abuse takes all shapes, especially those that look good. "Too much" is disconnected from reality. One thing his book is good at is precisely too show that, what happens when one hastes a pace that, like it or not, we all make together, for good or worse : haste it and fall on your ass. Yet a position rich in teachings.
I must add that Masson has a website and blog with new and very interesting articles and that The Face On Your Plate doesn't take anything from him, it's just a bad book that shows that a bibliography is not a monument but a lifelong and effortful reflection.
Be that as it may, exploring J. Moussaieff Masson's bibliography is definitely the healthiest step to take.
