Insomnia #1907
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010A culture that just uses a pig as a pile of protoplasmic inanimate structure, to be manipulated by whatever creative design the human can foist on that critter, will probably view individuals within its community, and other cultures in the community of nations, with the same type of disdain and disrespect and controlling type mentalities.
- Joel Salatin in Food, Inc.
Interchangeable parts keep things running smoothly down on the farm.
Just finished watching Food, Inc. at the recommendation of TYWKIWDBI and it left me with a few things I hadn’t seen before (it’s well worth watching if you’re hungry for more than run-of-the-mill slaughterhouse footage and McDemagoguery of Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation) which bear repeating for those who aren’t interested in sitting through an hour and a half-long guilt trip:
[via CHRISTOPHER DOMBRES]
- Food Libel Laws – One can be sued or even imprisoned for “disparaging” food items (i.e. “beef” – not necessarily a specific company’s product) in 13 US states. This legislation enables food conglomerates and interest groups to sue when a TV personality like Oprah “slanders” the good name of feedlot beef.
- Food Industry Lobbyists & Government – The Rumsfeld-Searle-Aspartame connection has been mentioned in past diatribes, however, it’s worth noting that Monsanto (which figures heavily into the Food, Inc. picture) went on to purchase Searle and has gone on to purchase … plenty of influence throughout the Clinton, Bush, and Obama cabinets and the FDA.
- Food Cabal Conspiracy – Apparently there is a lot of work being done to gag video footage, pictures, and testimony because some of the horror stories (remember that peanut plant and its stifled, underpaid workforce? What about this canned rat from Con Agra?).
… so if any of that piqued your interest and you’re not presently engorged with the kind of USDA Grade Z circus monkey meat you’ve come to expect from your friendly neighborhood fast food dealer, give the movie a try at YouTube:
Are you hungry for change?*
* If you answered “yes, I am hungry for change and in fact I would like some now” perhaps it is time to wake up to the fact that the problems of the food industry are hardly unique.
Related: It’s really encouraging that the filmmakers chose to dedicate the last 5 minutes of the film to “things you can do” – but we’re really not going to save the world from ourselves, now, are we?
We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet.
- Stephen Hawking
