Scientology and stomach-stapling

Those two items have nothing in common that I know of; they're just the subject of two interesting websites.

First is "Another Look at Scientology" an independent, "moderate" critic of Scientology. I discovered the site while searching for information on Scientology's attitude towards homosexuality (short answer: mild hostility, not too different from mainline religions). The site author thinks that Scientology critics have made a cult of being opponents of the religion, but he's still willing to criticize Scientology itself. Seems like a good source of information on one heck of a strange religion.

Second is the stomach-stapling, which seems to be coming up repeatedly in various news sites I've read over the last week. I think it's possibly a good idea for the small set of extremely obese people who use it, but Alas a Blog says it's more example of societal conformance. The lack of fat acceptance has a price in terms of a 1% fatality rate for these operations. OTOH, these patients do not just have a cosmetic issue, their lives are already in danger at their level of obesity. My opinion is that beauty isn't just a societal issue, it's a personal one in terms of how much we (I) individually choose to go with the flow of whatever I find attractive due to what society tells me I should. Not that I've gotten very far from societal standards, though.