Enjoy your organic food! But then, shut up about it.
It's not often that I rant.. well, or that I post an LJ at all, but after seeing crap about this everywhere constantly.. TV, radio, internet, stores, ads, books, and anyone who can push the idea, I'm getting very annoyed at the rampant stupidity involved in this huge organic food industry and its supposedly 'green' supporters affecting consumers and the cost of food. I'm keeping comments off in this rare instance because I recognize it's fairly volatile, I've seen how proponents act/feel, how they respond, and I've been exposed to the opposite arguments moooore than enough.
I'll make a simple statement... I'd have all the respect possible for the organic food industry if on their products or as a company description, they simply said, 'we believe in a different way of growing food', correctly listed what they did, and hell, you can obviously say 'and we think it tastes much better because of it!'. There, you've explained your purpose, and you've promoted it without misinformation or bullshit. A curious consumer may be turned off by the higher price, but still may try it after hearing how it might taste better. Then he/she can decide for him/herself. There, done, and respected all around. We all have a right to know the truth of products we buy and have the ability to make our purchasing decisions because of it.. otherwise, why would there be such outrage whenever it's discovered that something was a lie or made by sweatshop workers or whatever the issue?
Giant is a good example of the way things should be done, and I'm not saying that because I worked there.. they have a line of their own "nature's promise" organic products... and that's it. No claims of anything, just the fact that they're organic. People have the choice, and no misleading bullshit about it. That's how it -should- be. It's not a superior lifestyle, or an 'educated' lifestyle, it's just a choice some people make. Or at least again, that's what it should be.
But sadly, various activists groups and even the companies themselves take things to the complete extreme. Almost everywhere there's a consistent smear campaign about commercial foods, offering misleading, inflammatory and emotional slams against traditional food. Rallying against the use of herbicides and pesticides in vegetables, growth hormones in cows, and industrial production of poultry instead of free-range. Why is that okay? Companies are allowed to compete against each other, but how fast would Coca Cola be in court if it even suggested Pepsi was poisonous? Organic activists are allowed to because they unfortunately fall on the lovey-dovey, emotional side of the spectrum, while science and engineering is somehow evil. Plus, it's okay for products to make false claims.. remember those strap-on muscle stimulators that were supposed to give you a six-pack while you layed around? Well if you bought that, then good news, organic food makes you immortal =D
For some reason, there's this huge bias in a lot of people these days about words like "synthetic", "man-made", "chemicals", or anything ending in "icide". It's as if someone along the line of history suddenly said oh wait, it's the earth making people healthy, and people that are trying to kill us. ...what? We wouldn't have ever needed to develop processes for treating foods, we would never have had to develop cleaning products, we would've never needed to cook food, and hell, why would we even need shelter if mother nature was just embracing us in open arms? Because frankly, she's a harsh bitch and we're the only creatures thus far who've developed enough to make use of the ways she's good to us and combat the ways she makes us violently die.
Yet eeeeverywhere, it's this idea that those fresh fruits you're told to eat 5 a day to stay healthy.. are actually -killing- you. Yep, they have PESTICIDES in them, and who wants to eat those? Hell, there are even CHEMICALS. Gasp! So, of course I'd love to know how we came to the conclusion that because something was used in the process of growth, you're thus eating it. Funny, though organic produce still uses manure (oh, and can need almost twice as much in some cases to equal that of high-yield farm outputs), no one seems to care that they must thus be eating cow shit too. And then herbicides, but they kill plants! =( Well yeah, except that weed control has been one of agriculture's toughest problems since the dawn of man, and herbicides have allowed farms to control weeds without having to resort to heavy tilling that in turn, weakens and erodes the soil. So right, actually better for the earth.. how -dare- they.
Frankly it just pisses me off how there can be such a lapse of logic in these claims, yet they're spoon fed to people constantly, making it the "feel good", or even "smart" way to live. If this massive production of food is supposedly killing us, why is humanity at the healthiest point in the history of mankind? Why did our life-expectancy just rise another year, if every big of fruit and vegetable we eat is riddled with poisons? Why are we taking steps backward by promoting the idea that because something is "natural", it's healthier. I could almost swear that it's actually mother nature herself that produces all these food-borne illnesses that have plagued humanity and had us searching for ways to improve our food intake.. but apparently I'm just a tool of that big food industry that charges reasonable prices for 'frankenfood' (read: safe food).
Traditional farms can't fight back, and our society is so biased against true science that there's no true way to combat the claims. All you have to do is throw claim after claim until the FDA is a cruel organization bent on money, power and destruction. It's amazing, but it works. Tell a mother that your child eating a healthy diet of produce and fruits will help his/her health, and she may buy some. Tell her it's poisoned and will kill your son/daughter, and she'll gladly shell out twice as much for your 'safe' kind. And then whenever the recent health break comes out, before any conclusion can be given, editorials come out blaming the industrial food industry, and even "neutral" outlets can say "Well we're not sure if it's organic or not, but why take the chance? Buy organic!" because it has the people's hearts. Ironically, organic crops are up to three times as likely to have dangerous strains of bacteria, or infestation from insects and outside sources due to their refusal to use certain methods/products to control their safety.. making that 'lesser of two evils' argument quite ironic.
Plus, in the (very) rare case that an article comes out in -defense- of high-yield farming (not in opposition to organic, mind you.. that shit would get you in so much hot water with activists and proponents that you'd be in better shape to call jesus the N-word at the Super Bowl during the National Anthem).. all I see is a bunch of hippie arguments like (verbatim here) "Hope you enjoy your check from Monsanto!" It's always that, or some quote/link to some pseudo-scientific facts from organizations with an agenda using very unscientific methods to prove their dubious claims. Really, your organization proved that organic farming could perfectly feed the world? Then let's all move to Cuba since they're in such good shape doing that!
Meanwhile activists can also keep us from say, using irradiation, which safely destroys microorganisms and disease-causing strains like salmonella and E. Coli because it's just another man-made, cruel invention. Nevermind that the spinach outbreak of E. Coli a year or so back came from organically grown spinach that got runoff from a grass-fed-cow farm (another 'green' idea is not to feed cows grain). Sure, three people died and hundreds got sick, but you not-scientists certainly know what's better for people. Paying more money for your products is what's best for people~
Fear-based marketing tactics are nothing new, but when the facts are -so- far against the scary claims made by people who profit on people, it's bothersome. Not everyone buys into the bullshit, and some people may but still decide it's not worth the extra price.. but still, the organic food industry is booming, and it's not because it's a new development and people really feel so strongly about it... Hippie/"natural" philosophy has been around for a while and even stronger in the past than now, and that didn't make things boom. Sure, some people may believe in the ideal beyond the bullshit, and some may actually believe organic tastes good enough to pay the extra money (which may be highly psychological, but I digress), but that alone wouldn't drive an industry. Otherwise, the rise in vegetarianism would seriously hurt the meat industry, and that sure isn't the case. Instead, the bullshit scare tactics are new and powerfully effective. Thus, people buy, buy buy, paying whatever ridiculous premiums, figuring that hey, at least I'm not going to drop dead from that other food! Scaring people is exciting and effective, informing them is very difficult (science = boring. death = news.) and hard to manage with groups ready to swoop in and claim it's all a lie.
Personally, I'm going to keep avoiding them as much as possible. Every time a lower yield organic farm is created, it has to clear out more of our gorgeous nature than would've been needed for a traditional one.. or barring that, will need more water and manure to grow things, while using 'natural' pest control habits that are potentially damaging to local ecosystems. Same goes with 'green' cow farms that thus need more water and food to create the same amount of milk, and if ill, can't be treated with antibiotics in order to keep the 'green' nature of their production.
And hell, while I'm at that real quick, please don't pay more money for milk that says it doesn't use hormones. Cows already have those hormones, and those given growth hormone produce milk with no difference in hormone levels. Milk is the single most-tested food product on the market, it's -safe-. Hell, the bovine somatatropin can even be injected straight into humans at no harm to them. You can pass up the claims/videos that say the cows suffer from mastitis and other diseases, because all cows can develop that regardless of the growth methods.. so while tragic, the hormone has no increased frequency of it, and at least those cows can be given proper antibiotics and care. And organic milk often has to be ultra-pasteurized, giving it a hugely long shelf-life at a cost of freshness, so don't buy the claim that it's necessarily fresher either. If it tastes better and you like it enough to pay the premiums, go for it, but don't do it because of those claims.
So, consider this a big middle finger to the activist society and needlessly aggressive organic industry pseudo-scientific fear-profiteers putting the fear of god into mothers and society as a whole as they drive up the price of products far and wide. Stop shoving your bullshit down ignorant people's heads (because people -do- believe what they're told), and quit with all the pressure on major organizations to adopt your hugely skewed world-view in order for them to use the more expensive food and pass the price onto us (Safeway has buckled on pressure about both milk and meat issues in the past years). I don't want your bullshit feel-good food or to pay because of your actions. I want milk from cows, veggies and fruit from farms that made a whole hell of a lot of it without insects laying eggs in it or clearing out unnecessary land, and I want chicken from industrial plants that meant they weren't exposed to disease from outside sources (avian bird flu, anyone?).
If you enjoy the food, and even if you believe in the way they grow things and treat animals.. that's wonderful for you, and I hope you enjoy it. But shut the hell up otherwise, because I want my cheaper, safer food to stay cheap and keep getting safer, thanks. And now that my gallon of milk suddenly costs four bucks, I want your bullshit to stop affecting the industry and making them have to raise prices to keep up with sudden competition and pressure. Plus, it just pisses me off anytime people use fear-based marketing directly at mothers. A mother will do -anything- to protect her children, and so many companies and groups use that to their advantage to scare them into paying twice as much for their products. It's not only unethical, it's flat out exploitation. If you care about people so much, then why the hell should they have to pay more for your products?
Finally, I don't want to keep wishing I could punch people that hop onto whatever communication source and claim that organic is the only way to be healthy in lieu of all the pesticides and hormones. Because frankly, I like people, and I'm just plain not violent! =D
I'll make a simple statement... I'd have all the respect possible for the organic food industry if on their products or as a company description, they simply said, 'we believe in a different way of growing food', correctly listed what they did, and hell, you can obviously say 'and we think it tastes much better because of it!'. There, you've explained your purpose, and you've promoted it without misinformation or bullshit. A curious consumer may be turned off by the higher price, but still may try it after hearing how it might taste better. Then he/she can decide for him/herself. There, done, and respected all around. We all have a right to know the truth of products we buy and have the ability to make our purchasing decisions because of it.. otherwise, why would there be such outrage whenever it's discovered that something was a lie or made by sweatshop workers or whatever the issue?
Giant is a good example of the way things should be done, and I'm not saying that because I worked there.. they have a line of their own "nature's promise" organic products... and that's it. No claims of anything, just the fact that they're organic. People have the choice, and no misleading bullshit about it. That's how it -should- be. It's not a superior lifestyle, or an 'educated' lifestyle, it's just a choice some people make. Or at least again, that's what it should be.
But sadly, various activists groups and even the companies themselves take things to the complete extreme. Almost everywhere there's a consistent smear campaign about commercial foods, offering misleading, inflammatory and emotional slams against traditional food. Rallying against the use of herbicides and pesticides in vegetables, growth hormones in cows, and industrial production of poultry instead of free-range. Why is that okay? Companies are allowed to compete against each other, but how fast would Coca Cola be in court if it even suggested Pepsi was poisonous? Organic activists are allowed to because they unfortunately fall on the lovey-dovey, emotional side of the spectrum, while science and engineering is somehow evil. Plus, it's okay for products to make false claims.. remember those strap-on muscle stimulators that were supposed to give you a six-pack while you layed around? Well if you bought that, then good news, organic food makes you immortal =D
For some reason, there's this huge bias in a lot of people these days about words like "synthetic", "man-made", "chemicals", or anything ending in "icide". It's as if someone along the line of history suddenly said oh wait, it's the earth making people healthy, and people that are trying to kill us. ...what? We wouldn't have ever needed to develop processes for treating foods, we would never have had to develop cleaning products, we would've never needed to cook food, and hell, why would we even need shelter if mother nature was just embracing us in open arms? Because frankly, she's a harsh bitch and we're the only creatures thus far who've developed enough to make use of the ways she's good to us and combat the ways she makes us violently die.
Yet eeeeverywhere, it's this idea that those fresh fruits you're told to eat 5 a day to stay healthy.. are actually -killing- you. Yep, they have PESTICIDES in them, and who wants to eat those? Hell, there are even CHEMICALS. Gasp! So, of course I'd love to know how we came to the conclusion that because something was used in the process of growth, you're thus eating it. Funny, though organic produce still uses manure (oh, and can need almost twice as much in some cases to equal that of high-yield farm outputs), no one seems to care that they must thus be eating cow shit too. And then herbicides, but they kill plants! =( Well yeah, except that weed control has been one of agriculture's toughest problems since the dawn of man, and herbicides have allowed farms to control weeds without having to resort to heavy tilling that in turn, weakens and erodes the soil. So right, actually better for the earth.. how -dare- they.
Frankly it just pisses me off how there can be such a lapse of logic in these claims, yet they're spoon fed to people constantly, making it the "feel good", or even "smart" way to live. If this massive production of food is supposedly killing us, why is humanity at the healthiest point in the history of mankind? Why did our life-expectancy just rise another year, if every big of fruit and vegetable we eat is riddled with poisons? Why are we taking steps backward by promoting the idea that because something is "natural", it's healthier. I could almost swear that it's actually mother nature herself that produces all these food-borne illnesses that have plagued humanity and had us searching for ways to improve our food intake.. but apparently I'm just a tool of that big food industry that charges reasonable prices for 'frankenfood' (read: safe food).
Traditional farms can't fight back, and our society is so biased against true science that there's no true way to combat the claims. All you have to do is throw claim after claim until the FDA is a cruel organization bent on money, power and destruction. It's amazing, but it works. Tell a mother that your child eating a healthy diet of produce and fruits will help his/her health, and she may buy some. Tell her it's poisoned and will kill your son/daughter, and she'll gladly shell out twice as much for your 'safe' kind. And then whenever the recent health break comes out, before any conclusion can be given, editorials come out blaming the industrial food industry, and even "neutral" outlets can say "Well we're not sure if it's organic or not, but why take the chance? Buy organic!" because it has the people's hearts. Ironically, organic crops are up to three times as likely to have dangerous strains of bacteria, or infestation from insects and outside sources due to their refusal to use certain methods/products to control their safety.. making that 'lesser of two evils' argument quite ironic.
Plus, in the (very) rare case that an article comes out in -defense- of high-yield farming (not in opposition to organic, mind you.. that shit would get you in so much hot water with activists and proponents that you'd be in better shape to call jesus the N-word at the Super Bowl during the National Anthem).. all I see is a bunch of hippie arguments like (verbatim here) "Hope you enjoy your check from Monsanto!" It's always that, or some quote/link to some pseudo-scientific facts from organizations with an agenda using very unscientific methods to prove their dubious claims. Really, your organization proved that organic farming could perfectly feed the world? Then let's all move to Cuba since they're in such good shape doing that!
Meanwhile activists can also keep us from say, using irradiation, which safely destroys microorganisms and disease-causing strains like salmonella and E. Coli because it's just another man-made, cruel invention. Nevermind that the spinach outbreak of E. Coli a year or so back came from organically grown spinach that got runoff from a grass-fed-cow farm (another 'green' idea is not to feed cows grain). Sure, three people died and hundreds got sick, but you not-scientists certainly know what's better for people. Paying more money for your products is what's best for people~
Fear-based marketing tactics are nothing new, but when the facts are -so- far against the scary claims made by people who profit on people, it's bothersome. Not everyone buys into the bullshit, and some people may but still decide it's not worth the extra price.. but still, the organic food industry is booming, and it's not because it's a new development and people really feel so strongly about it... Hippie/"natural" philosophy has been around for a while and even stronger in the past than now, and that didn't make things boom. Sure, some people may believe in the ideal beyond the bullshit, and some may actually believe organic tastes good enough to pay the extra money (which may be highly psychological, but I digress), but that alone wouldn't drive an industry. Otherwise, the rise in vegetarianism would seriously hurt the meat industry, and that sure isn't the case. Instead, the bullshit scare tactics are new and powerfully effective. Thus, people buy, buy buy, paying whatever ridiculous premiums, figuring that hey, at least I'm not going to drop dead from that other food! Scaring people is exciting and effective, informing them is very difficult (science = boring. death = news.) and hard to manage with groups ready to swoop in and claim it's all a lie.
Personally, I'm going to keep avoiding them as much as possible. Every time a lower yield organic farm is created, it has to clear out more of our gorgeous nature than would've been needed for a traditional one.. or barring that, will need more water and manure to grow things, while using 'natural' pest control habits that are potentially damaging to local ecosystems. Same goes with 'green' cow farms that thus need more water and food to create the same amount of milk, and if ill, can't be treated with antibiotics in order to keep the 'green' nature of their production.
And hell, while I'm at that real quick, please don't pay more money for milk that says it doesn't use hormones. Cows already have those hormones, and those given growth hormone produce milk with no difference in hormone levels. Milk is the single most-tested food product on the market, it's -safe-. Hell, the bovine somatatropin can even be injected straight into humans at no harm to them. You can pass up the claims/videos that say the cows suffer from mastitis and other diseases, because all cows can develop that regardless of the growth methods.. so while tragic, the hormone has no increased frequency of it, and at least those cows can be given proper antibiotics and care. And organic milk often has to be ultra-pasteurized, giving it a hugely long shelf-life at a cost of freshness, so don't buy the claim that it's necessarily fresher either. If it tastes better and you like it enough to pay the premiums, go for it, but don't do it because of those claims.
So, consider this a big middle finger to the activist society and needlessly aggressive organic industry pseudo-scientific fear-profiteers putting the fear of god into mothers and society as a whole as they drive up the price of products far and wide. Stop shoving your bullshit down ignorant people's heads (because people -do- believe what they're told), and quit with all the pressure on major organizations to adopt your hugely skewed world-view in order for them to use the more expensive food and pass the price onto us (Safeway has buckled on pressure about both milk and meat issues in the past years). I don't want your bullshit feel-good food or to pay because of your actions. I want milk from cows, veggies and fruit from farms that made a whole hell of a lot of it without insects laying eggs in it or clearing out unnecessary land, and I want chicken from industrial plants that meant they weren't exposed to disease from outside sources (avian bird flu, anyone?).
If you enjoy the food, and even if you believe in the way they grow things and treat animals.. that's wonderful for you, and I hope you enjoy it. But shut the hell up otherwise, because I want my cheaper, safer food to stay cheap and keep getting safer, thanks. And now that my gallon of milk suddenly costs four bucks, I want your bullshit to stop affecting the industry and making them have to raise prices to keep up with sudden competition and pressure. Plus, it just pisses me off anytime people use fear-based marketing directly at mothers. A mother will do -anything- to protect her children, and so many companies and groups use that to their advantage to scare them into paying twice as much for their products. It's not only unethical, it's flat out exploitation. If you care about people so much, then why the hell should they have to pay more for your products?
Finally, I don't want to keep wishing I could punch people that hop onto whatever communication source and claim that organic is the only way to be healthy in lieu of all the pesticides and hormones. Because frankly, I like people, and I'm just plain not violent! =D