I very much enjoyed Rose's piece. It is a great example of what I call
Umwelt research, research into the worldview of an individual or group. I
have two simple (I think) questions.
1. Does it matter that Rose Emily Rose is a real person? Could a work of
fiction have provided similar insights? I remember all those Arthur Hailey
novels (like Airport) where he went into exquisite (and often quite boring)
detail about what the world he was describing was like. He embedded the
narrative in the worldview. What are the parallels between biography and
Rose's work? Is biography a science? Is fiction writing a science?
2. WHY do we eat out the way we do? An anthropologist from another planet
would, I think, have a very difficult time trying to understand the point of
the behaviors Rose describes. If consumption of enough food to sustain
oneself is the point, then surely there are more efficient ways to go about
this. Seems like Rose (and Phillip) might want to interview some customers
as well.
djc
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