I agree that this analysis is basically flawed, but is the crux of asceticism really "maximizing happiness and health of others while minimizing negative impacts"? as a collection of practices it seems very internally focused to me.
For Rogers I believe the reasoning he gave for wanting to stay the same weight/build was he wanted his appearance to provide a constant for his young viewers in what is a very uncertain and changeable time in their lives. Though I would guess he also had a bit of a personal fixation on it to make it an exact weight vs a small band.
I agree that this analysis is basically flawed, but is the crux of asceticism really "maximizing happiness and health of others while minimizing negative impacts"? as a collection of practices it seems very internally focused to me.
For Rogers I believe the reasoning he gave for wanting to stay the same weight/build was he wanted his appearance to provide a constant for his young viewers in what is a very uncertain and changeable time in their lives. Though I would guess he also had a bit of a personal fixation on it to make it an exact weight vs a small band.
It's inherently a very liberal outlook because it focuses on the individual, so its destined to be internally focused.