Letters to the Editor
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Like Confucious said...
shit happens.
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thanks for a good article
this was informative and useful. the cranky sorts who think this topic is unmentionable should go take a laxative and chill....
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blogging
Yet another thing we'll probably see on blogs that fall into the category of Too Much Information.
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@ Penny Barrett Hornsby
Colon cancer runs in my family, thank you very much. Which is why, in my letter, I state that bowel health is a matter to take up WITH YOUR DOCTOR.
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Go back to navel gazing
When I saw the words "bowel movement" in my email, I knew a line had been crossed. Now, very slowly, I am going back on the other side to do my work.
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Poo Can Teach Us About History, Too
History professor Richard Fescue weaves a dramatic narrative of defecation and Civil War reenactment in his most recent short story, "Take Yer Dump, Johnny Reb!":
http://electricstorytime.blogspot.com/2007/01/how-johnny-reb-would-have-crapped.html
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I have no time nor inclination to read all this, but I'd like to know
Do the authors deal with the aggravation that afflicts lots of females - the "monthly runs?" (Ladies, you know what I mean.)
And to the poster who "couldn't discuss the problem with anyone" - look up "gastroenterologists" in the medical section of the Yellow pages.
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Growly Girl et al
Then your repulsion is baffling. I would think that you, having family members that have experienced the nightmare of colon cancer, would herald the trumpeting of information for all to hear. If a book or an article encourages people to do a backward glance at the expulsion of matter from their backsides to check the health of their inner selves, why is that a bad thing? AND if upon checking, they realize that there's a problem, THEN, they go to the doc. Many people do not go to the doctor on a regular basis - they work, they put their kids first, they don't make the time, etc. So if this sheds light on an area that historically has been void of sunlight, and heightens awareness, then explain the downside.
And I have to agree with the other poster....it was pretty evident what the article was about..drawing of a guy looking into a toilet with telling verbiage such as "bowel movement" and "poo", why did you read it?
On a different note, since I have been vegetarian for over twenty years and vegan for five, I have had nothing but positive end results.
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Golden Arches Poo
I've always wondered what the ingredients McDonalds uses that gives you that unique smooth beige poo. I've eaten a lot of other junkfood but only McDonalds food gives you their trademark poo. As for the people who don't look at their poo I'm surprised they're able to crap at all being that uptight. My biggest problem is when the toilet paper is blocking my poo view then I have to try and get a glimpse of it during flushing.
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YOU NEED HELP!
This is the most absurd thing I've read about in weeks. Yes, weeks, because it seems that this entire country has been "Oprahfried" every other week to fixate and navel gaze about yet another trivial piece of...crap.
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Asinistra on not so Awesome-O
I am stunned...what a horrible collection! One spiteful, racist, insulting slur after another. Shameful.
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Drawing-room conversation?
I'm reminded of the man at a dinner party who, when asked if he would like to sample a particularly tasty dish, replied, "What does it matter? It all turns into shit anyway."
The hostess was not impressed.
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Obviously, a worthwhile topic
By the response to this article, this is a topic whose time has come. Many of us have questions, but while it's now OK to ask about sex, we still can't bring ourselves to ask these questions. Thank you Salon for running this story. Why do some people see natural bodily functions as "dirty?"
Let's have more, responsible and educated discussion on topics that have been for too long "flushed down the drain, without so much as a glance."
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My poo speaks
It's true!
The darker ones speak French, the runny runs yell in some sort of slavic language I can't understand, and the common floater speaks in a news broadcasters' flattened American English.
I foundly recall when a swarthy turd recited Baudelaire to me...it was hell to flush.
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Is nothing sacred?
This is about the height (or depth) of grossness. If we are so absorbed in the quality of our ****, why are we so messed up politically, economically and otherwise?
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Bristol Stool Form Chart
This is a must for all stool-gazers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Stool_Scale
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Excrement gazing has been a medical technique for thousands of years
An order of magnitude greater than even the article's author notes.
Carriers of the "royal basin" in early China through at least eighteenth century European royalty regularly presented it to doctors so they could evaluate the health of the monarch.
One poster mentioned England's King George - another interesting note is that he apparently had porphyria, a disease that is still diagnosed today by urine reaction to sunlight/UV rays.
So, once again, it seems that what goes around, comes around again.
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Look at What Brown Can Do for You
The article was clever enough, but the posts sent me into hysterics. Thanks everyone!
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Years ago when I was constipated and BM obsessed
I remember reading on some excretion Web site that I should "build a simple wooden frame" around my toilet to enable squatting. I improved my diet instead.
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The Shaming of the Poo
For those struggling with whether poop is an appropriate topic for public discourse, I recommend investigating Dave Praeger's _Poop Culture_. Praeger points out that "fecal denial" has its historical roots in Victorian prudery. See Chapter 2 "The Shaming of the Poo," wherein he exposes how physiological distaste becomes socio-cultural disgust. Our attitudes to poo are exposed as cultural constructions and the toilet revealed as a manifestation of a particular class-based ideology. Don't get me wrong, I'm as big a fan of the porcelain throne as anyone (and probably a bigger fan than some), but it's worth knowing when and why it came into being.
For those of us curious about why we feel the way we do about poo, it's an indispensable read (especially when camped in the bathroom).
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Oh, for the love of G-d
I worked in nursing for long enough to get thoroughly sick of the ravings of the bowel-obsessed. As long as they're moving reasonably regularly and without any problems don't worry about them. Get over it. Mommy is not going to praise you about how you made a good poop.
Your colon is not full of 25 pounds of "toxics" or half an acre of convoluted diverticulitis.
You don't have to go three times a day.
You don't need to have your bowel "cleansed".
You don't need to check the size and shape and weight and smell of each excretion unless something is seriously wrong.
What this obsession with untreated effluent does tell us is that we live in a time when people feel they have no control over their lives. The natural neurotic reaction is to try to take control of what one can. This often leads to eating disorders, health cults, an obsession with "purity" and, yes, a fixation on the toilet.
Deal with the underlying problem, anxiety about the uncertainties of the world. Stop making a religion out of every dump you take.