Food Inc. didn't really go to much in depth with the animal abuse issue but this video definitely can give us an idea of what goes on behind closed doors. I don't see the necessity for the abuse and I think that more of these slaughterhouses need to be inspected more often. I find it interesting that PETA looks into these wrongdoings more than the FDA does. Something just doesn't seem right about that.
Friday, December 2, 2011
GMF's
Genetically modified foods are common nowadays, although many consumers are unaware how often it occurs. Food is a bare necessity for survival yet many people are more knowledgeable when buying TVs than they are when buying groceries. You eat food everyday, so why not at least know what your putting in your body? Sure, the easy solution is just to not worry about it but later on in life it will take it's toll. Look at our parents' generation for example; they have been the first generation to really suffer from obesity and other poor diet related illnesses. The scary thing is they always seemed to me to be much healthier than us, so where does that leave our generation; eating much more tampered with and less natural food?
Thursday, December 1, 2011
The Progressive Rennaisance
Since the late 70s our country has adopted more and more conservative policies. As of late, things have only intensified and now the progressives in the country are waking up because they can't take it any more.
Our anti-trust laws have been weakened. We've allowed corporation to have the same rights as living, breathing humans. Glass-Steagal was repealed, ex-financial industry CEOs now run our the SEC, meat packing industry executives now run the FDA, the only authority that oversees the very industry they previously ran.
And Occupy Wall Street has shown that the people who want change, who really don't want things to continue on the same path (yeah thanks Obama for making any sort of real change). I think we're about to see a progressive renaissance and hopefully we can begin to revert all of these things.
Monsanto
I Just googled Monsanto and their website was the first to pop up. The first thing you see on the website is a message from Monsanto stating, "If there were one word to explain what Monsanto is about, it would have to be farmers." This seems laughable after watching the end of the film today. It's crazy that company in this day and age can control 90% of a product in this country. Scary music aside, it was sad to see them go after farmers with lawsuits when they were just trying to make an honest living. You can have a patent on a seed? That seems absurd to me. I agree with John when he said he didn't like the messages at the end of the film about "voting with your fork." I feel not enough people can afford to buy local or organic to make a substantial difference. The companies making these product need to be held more accountable by the government.
We Have To Wake Up
Okay so I may not speak up in class a lot, but I have a ton to say.
Firstly, John I completely agree with you on your thoughts on how the producers of Food, Inc ended the movie. This problem should not be put on the backs of consumers. I am not for some nanny-state where the government protects their citizens from everything, but we need our government to have some teeth and do what it's supposed to.
If the days of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle showed us anything it's that capitalism does not police itself. In fact, capitalism by definition would prefer absolutely nothing in its way of maximizing profit.
Sinclair's work prompted the creation of the FDA whose sole purpose is to police the food industry. Now what have we dissolved into? Something that back when the FDA was created could not even be fathomed: the CEOs who run the food industry are now the chairmen of the FDA. That is the antithesis of what the FDA should be.
And guess what? We as citizens should know this. We should be Mad As Hell about this. We're paying a huge government agency and now it's been corrupted in the most fundamental way.
We have to wake up and tell our government to do its job. Don't vote with your fork, vote at the ballot box. Vote in people who do not condone these things.
The Return of The Monopoly
American society is yet again becoming something that we have always feared. I can very much agree that American Politics is an area in which history is repeating itself. Monopolies had once before been removed from the country and declared illegal by our federal government after the big oil companies became almost nearly became more powerful than the Federal Government. Now with the food industry things are still seemingly out of hand yet again. Farmers are losing control of their farms and the only reason that big companies get away with this is because in the records it shows that all the farms are privately owned, which won't raise any red flags in Washington. But if they just followed the money and realized that all of these farms owe a big company money and therefor own them maybe some form of action could occur to destroy this monopoly.
The video proved that there were multiple monopolies in the system that had to do with the meat packing, the animal producing and the seed industries in farming. How are all of these things not classified as monopolies, has the definition or specifications for calling something a monopoly changed. A monopoly is when all of the control of a product is in the hands of one group. I personally believe that this definition needs to be changed. If a single company owns 51% or more of an industry based on how the economy works they would be able to control the price of the product. Think of each type of business like it is it's own business and having a majority of the shares means that you have control of the whole thing. If an individual owns 51 out of 100 total shares of a company that person then controls the whole company because his voice has the most power and financial backing. This individual business thinking seems to be exactly like how an industry operates. For example Monanto's seed owns 90% of the total soy bean seed, meaning that essentially they own nearly all of the seed and that 10% is quickly getting lower and lower. That is a clear monopoly! unfortunately their supporters have high influence in the government and nothing can be done. Someone needs to step up to fix these problems and recognize them or we will never get out of this recession.
The video proved that there were multiple monopolies in the system that had to do with the meat packing, the animal producing and the seed industries in farming. How are all of these things not classified as monopolies, has the definition or specifications for calling something a monopoly changed. A monopoly is when all of the control of a product is in the hands of one group. I personally believe that this definition needs to be changed. If a single company owns 51% or more of an industry based on how the economy works they would be able to control the price of the product. Think of each type of business like it is it's own business and having a majority of the shares means that you have control of the whole thing. If an individual owns 51 out of 100 total shares of a company that person then controls the whole company because his voice has the most power and financial backing. This individual business thinking seems to be exactly like how an industry operates. For example Monanto's seed owns 90% of the total soy bean seed, meaning that essentially they own nearly all of the seed and that 10% is quickly getting lower and lower. That is a clear monopoly! unfortunately their supporters have high influence in the government and nothing can be done. Someone needs to step up to fix these problems and recognize them or we will never get out of this recession.
A petition!
I know I just posted, but I just discovered something I needed to share.
I am for some reason subscribed to e-mails from Stonyfield--that organic company that makes yogurt and such. Ironically, when I just read the e-mail they sent me today it went along with class so perfectly.
The message was written by the CEO of Stonyfield and it read as:
"I recently got together with Eric Schlosser—author of "Fast Food Nation” and co-producer of the documentary “Food, Inc.”—to write an op-ed about your right to know when you’re eating genetically modified food.
The long-term human health and environmental impacts of genetically modified foods are unknown. Fifty countries, including the European Union, require genetically engineered food labeling, and we think the US should too. "
The long-term human health and environmental impacts of genetically modified foods are unknown. Fifty countries, including the European Union, require genetically engineered food labeling, and we think the US should too. "
It has a link to a website which actually has a petition you can sign which will go to the FDA about labeling genetically engineered foods.
I don't know if this petition is even close to having a bill passed or anything, but it's definitely worth checking out!
See it here...
The wool over our eyes
In society today so many businesses are all about pulling the wool over our eyes and making the best use out of the ignorance the average consumer has. I for one am an example of this because I go to the store and i buy something and don't think twice about how it got there I am usually to busy thinking about how good the food is going to taste or the outrageous price they are charging. most foods that we have always thought were natural are not, whether it be fruits, vegetables or even milk is not something that is natural anymore. fruits and vegetables are genetically altered to grow larger over shorter periods of time to sizes that are unnaturally larger than ever before. Cows are being fed things other than grass and are even being injected with things that allow them to produce more milk than ever before. Most milk then has chemicals and preservatives added to it to change its color and make it last longer. The big question then becomes do companies not want us to know how foods are produced because we won't want to buy food that is fake or do they realize that the food is dangerous to consume when its full of who knows what kind of chemicals.
Society especially in America is well known for keeping its people in the dark in order to create what they call truth. Society utilizes our own ignorance to sell more products, they really are just a bunch of liars and in the rare occasion they are not lying I can guarantee that they are not telling the whole truth. What then can any individual do against the monster society has become?
Society especially in America is well known for keeping its people in the dark in order to create what they call truth. Society utilizes our own ignorance to sell more products, they really are just a bunch of liars and in the rare occasion they are not lying I can guarantee that they are not telling the whole truth. What then can any individual do against the monster society has become?
WTF!!
Seriously, what the food is going on in our country. It looks like the Bush administration has messed up our country in yet another way. I'm sure things were already going down the wrong path before, but the film showed that several members that were a part of his administration passed legislation that favored big food production companies, and in particular, Monsanto seeds, who own 90% of seeds in our country.. These laws not only make it impossible for smaller companies and small time farmers to compete, which is creating a monopoly, which is illegal, but also have severely loose restrictions when it comes to sanitation and customer care for food production. The lawmakers, as well as the CEOs of these companies do not care about the well being of the general public, and i'm sure there is no way they eat the food they produce. They have the money to buy much more expensive "organic" foods, so why wouldn't they. While we are stuck, being forced into buying cheap as dirt hamburgers they are yet again enjoying the inequality our country allows. They are also passing laws that even restrict you from publicly bad talking burger companies...Oprah was sued for complaining about mad cow disease on her show... The elite few in this country are jeopardizing our integrity and compromising the constitutions first amendment. They are taking our choices away and forcing us into buying non-safe products. Our country is going down a bad path, and there's not much we can do about it really. We need help from people with money and lobbyists who have influence, but clearly they don't care.
This is just crazy.
So, Food Inc. definitely made me completely sick. And I'm not even referencing to the grotesque scenes. I am so disgusted at this country. I can't believe the things that are hidden from us. It seems that nothing is left pure or untouched by the hands of capitalism. Something as simple and vital as food has turned into a money market where people, animals, and the environment are hurt.
The food companies chemically process almost everything we eat. Who knows how many chemicals are floating around our bodies? We try to eat healthy by eating fruits and vegetables, but even those have been touched by chemicals. People die from eating things like peanut butter, cantaloupes, and spinach! This is insanity.
This new age has basically turned food into a science, which is quite sickening. Things we put in our bodies shouldn't be scientific experiments. All of this processed and genetically engineered food is such a fairly new invention. It makes me wonder if anybody even knows the long term effects it can have on our bodies. I feel like we aren't biologically evolved to eat all of the stuff we eat, yet it's so hard to get away from it and it's all we are exposed to.
A little off topic, but what about this whole thing about pizza being ruled a vegetable now because of the tomato sauce? I don't know if that is 100% true or not (every time I look it up, it's not clear). If it is true however, this is a prime example of how little America is doing to fix our health problems.
Our government needs to do something to fix this issue, even if it does risk losing some money. We shouldn't be exposed to harm when we eat.
Genetically modified food
Watching the end of the Food Inc. proved that genetically modified foods are becoming harder to avoid. The Monsanto situation is ridiculous,I don't think you should be able to file lawsuits over a seed, regardless of genetically modifying it. The farmers who don't want to sell out to Monsanto's seed shouldn't have to deal with being sued if their product somehow ends up in that farmers fields due to nature.
When it comes to plants and their byproducts and being genetically modified, I don't think it's very healthy. It hasn't been something that humans have experienced in the past, and i'm afraid there will be negative side affects to eating food that's so processed, and made in a lab.
I think that everyone must take their own responsibility in avoiding foods that are genetically modified, whether it be eating meat that's given a hormone or with plants. The knowledge is out there if you research, but of course the FDA doesn't permit it to be stated explicitly on packaging. I also think that the representative from California in the movie is wrong when she thinks it would cause "unnecessary fear" to label these products, it would just steer people away from eating their foods that are treated with synthetic compounds.
When it comes to plants and their byproducts and being genetically modified, I don't think it's very healthy. It hasn't been something that humans have experienced in the past, and i'm afraid there will be negative side affects to eating food that's so processed, and made in a lab.
I think that everyone must take their own responsibility in avoiding foods that are genetically modified, whether it be eating meat that's given a hormone or with plants. The knowledge is out there if you research, but of course the FDA doesn't permit it to be stated explicitly on packaging. I also think that the representative from California in the movie is wrong when she thinks it would cause "unnecessary fear" to label these products, it would just steer people away from eating their foods that are treated with synthetic compounds.
SPREAD THE WORD!!
We need to spread this video around, more people need to see how the government and large companies are pulling the curtain over our eyes. Not enough people are informed and not enough people care. Maybe if enough people find out we can boycott meat products until we are satisfied with how our food is being produced. We are the consumers so even though we may not be able to directly do something we as Americans can come together and get healthier foods for our families!
America is not so great!
After watching Food Inc, I am truly disgusted, not only with the infected meat products, but with America period. It is unbelievable that people of higher power value their money more than other people's lives. Innocent children are dying because of the carelessness of our government. Everyone of higher power has their hand in the cookie jar and will go to ruthless lengths to get what they desire. It is not safe to do anything anymore, if you don't have the necessary money or connections anything can happen to you. Nowadays, you can be convicted of a crime that had absolutely nothing to do with you, and what can you do if you lose to the judicial system...NOTHING. The government really doesn't care about us, to them we are all just numbers.
meat.....EWWWWWW!!!!!
well i think this is a perfect way to get my 15th blog post!
this movie was soooo unbelievably disturbing that i cant even think about it! every time i think about it i start to gag and get extremely disgusted! i grew up a vegetarian because my mom is one so i always just followed her ways. when i started dating my boyfriend i experienced eating meat. not that i dont love animals o anything but i never excluded meat from my diet because of the thought of animal cruelty, i just never really wanted to eat it. however after seeing the things they do to the animals and the conditions they give them to live in, im just in shock. i guess i never realized this sort of thing went on. after this movie, i cant even bring myself to put meat in my mouth. that night, i went grocery shopping and was disgusted at the thought of putting meat in my cart. i think this is a good thing though because its healthier!
now about the farmers...i guess i don't understand why anyone would wanna borrow 500,000 dollars from the bank or wherever they borrow it from and then only make 19,000 dollars a year!?!?!? that is absurd to me and i do understand why people even wanna put themselves through it. maybe i missed something they said in the movie but how come the state or whoever is trying to fire farmers? can anyone fill me in?
all in all, i think this movie was one of the most beneficial ones that we watched in class. it was very informative and it really opened my eyes to what really goes on in the farming industry. i do however regret the fact of watching it because now i literally cant eat meat without the thought of throwing up!!
this movie was soooo unbelievably disturbing that i cant even think about it! every time i think about it i start to gag and get extremely disgusted! i grew up a vegetarian because my mom is one so i always just followed her ways. when i started dating my boyfriend i experienced eating meat. not that i dont love animals o anything but i never excluded meat from my diet because of the thought of animal cruelty, i just never really wanted to eat it. however after seeing the things they do to the animals and the conditions they give them to live in, im just in shock. i guess i never realized this sort of thing went on. after this movie, i cant even bring myself to put meat in my mouth. that night, i went grocery shopping and was disgusted at the thought of putting meat in my cart. i think this is a good thing though because its healthier!
now about the farmers...i guess i don't understand why anyone would wanna borrow 500,000 dollars from the bank or wherever they borrow it from and then only make 19,000 dollars a year!?!?!? that is absurd to me and i do understand why people even wanna put themselves through it. maybe i missed something they said in the movie but how come the state or whoever is trying to fire farmers? can anyone fill me in?
all in all, i think this movie was one of the most beneficial ones that we watched in class. it was very informative and it really opened my eyes to what really goes on in the farming industry. i do however regret the fact of watching it because now i literally cant eat meat without the thought of throwing up!!
Food Inc. Response
My picture of farming before watching this movie was of a hillbilly looking person working on his own in a corn field struggling to make a living for himself and his family but after seeing the first part of this movie my opinion really changed. Now i see a minority getting recruited to work in a chicken coup or factory while making little to no money at all with the possibility of getting arrested in their homes. Its kind of sick to think about how mechanized and unnatural the farming system is and how poorly the workers are treated. Its been making me think every time i go to eat something i know is made by one of the big companies like Tyson.
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