Letters to the Editor
dendrio
Published Letters: 200 Editor's Choice: 27
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As usual, it isn't simple from any perspective
[Read the article: We are what we eat]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I worked in the natural foods industry for three years while going through grad school. A mom and pop health food store and a mid-sized co-op. I feel compelled to reply to both calls of elitism and unrealism and of bootstrapism, because in my anecdotal experience, it isn't as simple as either side posits.
I've educated a lot of people over the years about organic, natural and healthy foods. People for whom a trip to the health food store is an exotic, wild adventure. I know that it's not that people simply are shortsighted and lazy and therefor they don't buy what everyone knows is good for them. I've spoken with enough people who know litteraly nothing about organic and natural foods to know that you simply can't take that for granted. They come to my store only knowing that they don't know. The fact that they've even walked through the door is a major event and a lot of time family members will wait outside because such a store is so weird and unfamiliar.
The one down-side I see to mainstream grocery stores entering the organic and natural foods market is that they don't offer the same kind of educational service that staff in small independent grocers do. In order to educate yourself without help, you have to know what questions to ask, then you have to know where to get the answers. And you have to have the time to do both. Not everyone has these. There are vast swaths of America where there are no specialized health food stores, and as I said, the local grocery may carry some organics, but they don't provide education to let anyone know why they should buy them.
On the other hand, I also think there is an element of fear of the unknown and some mental laziness afoot. The old 70's image of bland tasteless health food really persists. The stores I've worked in sell alot of organic chocolate, which elicits chuckles from shoppers because they assume anything that "organic" is just another word for tasteless and yucky and healthy. Ew. Who wants healthy chocolate? We ended up creating a flier to set by the chocolate explaining what "organic" actually means. Whenever I went to community events to represent the store, I'd always take samples of tofu because that is one thing that would really catch everyone's eye and make them totally freak out. It got their attention enough that we could start a dialogue.
The foods that we eat are incredibly important to our self-images. Think about how you feel when you mention something that is your absolute favorite food on the planet, and the person you're with says, "BLECH! GROSS!" You feel a little personally affronted, don't you? The foods of our childhood, the foods of our families and friends, these become part of us. We don't want to hear anyone malign them and we certainly don't easily give them up. We are what we eat, and I'd go easy on people who aren't willing to change who they are just because someone says so. Progress is being made, more and more people are becoming educated. Getting all impatient about it just makes people defensive and reactionary.
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CJ's Comment
[Read the article: Immigration nation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]CJ's point ("Why the hell is it America's job to ensure a robust economy, democracy, etc in Mexico? Let those many thousands marching here in support of illegal aliens go march in Mexico in support of a democratic, non-corrupt government,") puts me in mind of Edward Abbey's suggestion at the end of his essay "Immigration and Liberal Taboos":
"If we truly wish to help them we must stop meddling in their domestic troubles and permit them to carry out the social, political, and moral revolution which is both necessary and inevitable. Or if we must meddle, as we have always done, let us meddle for a change in a constructive way. Stop every campesino at our southern border, give him a handgun, a good rifle, and a case of ammunition, and send him home. He will know what to do with our gifts and good wishes. The people know who their enemies are."
We no longer live on a continent rich in land, resources, and an easily dispossessed populace. I'm sorry that the Indians lost their land. I'm sorry that my Irish and Italian ancestors came through the wide-open door. And no - it's not "fair." But our country's population is closing in on 300,000,000 souls. More people means more strip malls, housing developments, trailer parks, urban crowding, rural poverty, and more McMansions for the affluent whites who continue their Great Migration from cities to suburbs to exurbs.
What the capital-P People need is democracy, justice, and prosperity in the whole of the Americas.
Which is to say: We're all doomed.
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Big Brother Doesn't Give a F*ck About You
[Read the article: Nullifying the press]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength."
This is all that needs to be said about this administration and its "communication" strategery.
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Secrets?
[Read the article: Whenever he comes by for an evening, it takes him days to leave]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Maybe your friend has a secret. Maybe his secret is that he is unhappy. Maybe his secret is that he can't control his drinking."
Maybe his secret is that he's a pitiful man-child who has nothing better to do with his days that loaf and lounge.