Forget What I Said. Diet Talk Can Totally Forge World Peace.

Note: I just realized (because it was only sent to me last night) that the article in question here is a few months old, and Paul was on it right away. Of course.

We're all aware of how women who have nothing else in common can spend hours talking about their weight loss efforts and how much they hate their bodies.

And I like to think we're all aware of how damaging those conversations are to our self-esteem, even if they can feel like something vaguely reminiscent of friendship.

Now, from the Department of Beyond the Pale, comes this news: a documentary filmmaker set out to show that peace could be advanced in the Middle East by getting Israeli and Palestinian women together to talk about their fucking diets.

Says filmmaker Yael Luttwak:

I was really passionate about making this film. I believe in peace. I care a lot about the Middle East. I care about the fact that Israelis and Palestinians are continuously killing each other, and I'd like that to stop. I wanted to see what would happen if we brought them together over something as universal as weight loss -- because who doesn't care about their weight? Could they come together on something as neutral as that?

Is it just me, or does this sound more like a parody of a Miss America contestant than an idea for a documentary?



And how did Luttwak come to have this idea?

I went to Weight Watchers, and I sat in these meetings and I saw these Middle Eastern women -- and they're so full of life and spice. And it's all so intimate, because weight has so many emotions attached to it. It's so loaded. There's success and there's failure and there's pain. Then at the same time, in 2000, the peace process broke down -- and it's never been repaired since. So something in my head just connected the two.

"Something in her head" just connected Weight Watchers meetings and peace in the Middle East.

I'm guessing that would be a loose screw.

Also, anyone who criticized me recently for making blanket statements about how dieters so often make everything in the whole entire world about their diets? Can suck it. Exhibit A, y'all.

Thanks to reader Tabitha for the link and Col for the video.