Quote of the Day

[nyuanshin]

"On the other hand, I have never repudiated [Leslie] White's concept of culture as a thoroughly symbolic phenomenon. I never tired of repeating his dictum that no ape can appreciate the difference between holy water and distilled water - because there is none, chemically speaking. . . . The 'economic basis' of society is culturally constructed. Even our supposedly 'rational choices' are based on another, meaningful logic that, for example, makes steak a more prestigious food than hamburger, or women’s clothes different in significant ways from men's. It turns out that materialism is a form of idealism . . ."
-- Marshall Sahlins

(Easily the best paragraph I've read all week, and comes to me via John.)