When I was a kid bread was Wonder, cheese was Velveeta and wine was Thunderbird. And you could travel Europe on $5 a day. Those who did visit Europe came back and started a revolution toward good food. I am a life member of Puget Consumers Co-op, which stated as a "cheese conspiracy." In the 1950s a dozen families would buy a ten kilo round of an imported cheese and divide it among themselves. People copied the bread and beer from Europe. Jimmy Carter deregulated the laws forbidding small companies from producing good food outright. Kids of these people went on to start all of those specialty food companies and restaurants we now esteem.
At the same time, following the fascist policy of "get big or get out" industry proceeded to produce the kind of food that makes people obese and diseased:
I believe it is genocide, ethnic cleansing, something I don't care for, or perhaps, more to the point, just don't have the stomach for. Also, still a little too close to home. There is nothing said today on the most rabid comment sections of websites about the ancestrally African that was not said about the Irish 100 years ago. If anyone objected to denigration of the Irish back then, the powers that be would simply provide the scienterrific evidence that the Irish not only act inferior, they were genetically inferior. And, not to put too fine a point on it, the means to ethnic cleanse Ireland of the Irish back then was called the "Corn Laws."
For good reason people do not want to know. In the face of implacable injustice, people resort to violence, in spite of the fact that violence serves the oppressors. (Ireland used violence to gain its "independence" and is now back under the British boot.) But there are alternatives to violence. Compare Iceland. (Iceland is reputed to be largely Irish genetic stock.)
To my mind there is a distinction to be made, victim vs survivor. Same event, the victim accepts passively, the survivor refused to cooperate. Violence only serves the bad guys, so the options, if not violence, for non-cooperation are narrow indeed. But, by the Grace of God, there are options.
The more I look into the trade of food worldwide, and the more I see nonsense and madness, in equal measure I see opportunity. But using food for political ends is nothing new. Looking at the facts on the ground may enrage someone, let off a siren that drives an Odysseus mad. (Odysseus had his crew plug their ears as they sailed by, and Jason relied on louder music.) And the effect of the Sirens was to starve to death. Funny that. The point of those myths is to teach a truth, when you get past the part that makes you crazy, you can see so many options.
The world can be a wicked place, and that is good to know. Acknowledge that when you see it, and then see where the opening is, and take it. Like a group of people buying a round of cheese, good things grow from small initiatives. All hail small business!
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
At the same time, following the fascist policy of "get big or get out" industry proceeded to produce the kind of food that makes people obese and diseased:
As previously described by investigative reporter Michael Moss, author of the book Salt Sugar Fat, food manufacturers go to great lengths to find the perfect blend of salt, sugar, fat, and additional flavorings to excite your brain’s reward center, thereby assuring you’ll be back for more. In addition to those basics, the food industry also employs other strategies to increase their products’ addictive nature.Sodium, sugar and fat were all highly subsidized and turned into food for the very inner cities who were the target of massive welfare payments. Corn provided two of the three industrial ingredients, oil and syrup (fat and sugar). The fact that these foods were subsidized means people could "afford more" and so they could spend more on consumer items, advantage WalMart/China. Massive subsidies and distorted demand brought ever more land into the hands of big Ag, especially Monsanto whose history was saccharin, asbestos, DDT, agent orange, BGH and now GMO. (Almost nothing cooked you eat is without corn oil, and something like 90% of the corn in USA is GMO.) Talk about modern living through chemicals. Tax-payer money flowed into the Ghetto, and the dollars flowed out to huge corporations, and the middle-folk got sick slowly. The drug dealers saw this model, and moved in. That money then brought in the intel agencies to the game, for off-budget funding sources, and the rest is history.
I believe it is genocide, ethnic cleansing, something I don't care for, or perhaps, more to the point, just don't have the stomach for. Also, still a little too close to home. There is nothing said today on the most rabid comment sections of websites about the ancestrally African that was not said about the Irish 100 years ago. If anyone objected to denigration of the Irish back then, the powers that be would simply provide the scienterrific evidence that the Irish not only act inferior, they were genetically inferior. And, not to put too fine a point on it, the means to ethnic cleanse Ireland of the Irish back then was called the "Corn Laws."
For good reason people do not want to know. In the face of implacable injustice, people resort to violence, in spite of the fact that violence serves the oppressors. (Ireland used violence to gain its "independence" and is now back under the British boot.) But there are alternatives to violence. Compare Iceland. (Iceland is reputed to be largely Irish genetic stock.)
To my mind there is a distinction to be made, victim vs survivor. Same event, the victim accepts passively, the survivor refused to cooperate. Violence only serves the bad guys, so the options, if not violence, for non-cooperation are narrow indeed. But, by the Grace of God, there are options.
The more I look into the trade of food worldwide, and the more I see nonsense and madness, in equal measure I see opportunity. But using food for political ends is nothing new. Looking at the facts on the ground may enrage someone, let off a siren that drives an Odysseus mad. (Odysseus had his crew plug their ears as they sailed by, and Jason relied on louder music.) And the effect of the Sirens was to starve to death. Funny that. The point of those myths is to teach a truth, when you get past the part that makes you crazy, you can see so many options.
The world can be a wicked place, and that is good to know. Acknowledge that when you see it, and then see where the opening is, and take it. Like a group of people buying a round of cheese, good things grow from small initiatives. All hail small business!
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
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