The other day I was visiting some friends and they were watching an online video about the horrors of the food (and in particular the meat) industries. One particular activist appeared over and over in the video talking about how they mistreat cattle, they mistreat their workers, they use illegal labour, the food is processed under deplorable and disease inducing conditions, cruelty, wickedness, etc. The depictions of the horrors of industry were shrouded in tear jerking images of the depression era and Woody Guthrie folksongs sung in a way as to bring forth as much emotion from the viewers as possible. A case was even brought out about one woman who lost a child due to food that was tainted with e.coli. However, in the video I saw no clear connection between the food industry and this particular and unfortunate e. coli incident. E. Coli is a rather common bacteria and can reach the food chain at many different levels.
The second part of the video we see this same activist just happens to be involved in the production and sale of "organic foods". of course he depicts his "organic food" business in just the opposite of the way he depicted the mainstream food industry. His business is built on humanitarian and environmental principles, traditional farming methods, cleanliness, and upholding the values of the American farmer and the American worker. We also find this same "organic food activist" cozying up to Wall Mart, but with the perfect pitch.... not that he likes Wall Mart's business practices or the way they treat their workers, but, they are selling his products in some of their stores and, that is a big step in creating a sustainable world... Huh ??
My friends saw this whole production as an expose' on the horrors of the food industry. I saw it as one big sales pitch. You blast the mainstream food industry in an emotion wrapped tear jerker video while promoting your own "organic food" business. The guy even mentions at one point in the video that his environmentalist friends have criticized his cozying up to Wall-Mart. But when he explains the "sustainability" and "traditional environmentally friendly farming" ideal to them their anxieties over Wall-Mart allegedly fade away.
Of course my friends rolled their eyes when I explained to them that far fewer people die from food poisoning eating mainstream industrial foods nowadays than they did 100-200 years ago when "old fashioned traditional, sustainable" farming and food processing was done. They also rolled their eyes when I mentioned that on average people live longer today than they did 100-200 years ago. I guess facts are meaningless when emotions take over reason.
I am not trying to say that everything pointed out in the video was wrong. I am sure that a lot of the criticisms of todays mainstream food industry that were shown in the video are quite valid and there probably is a need for some kind of regulations to force the food industry to clean up its act
Nonetheless, a sales pitch is a sales pitch and this video appeared nothing more than that. It's amazing how people are so easily swayed. Besides, isn't all food "organic" ?
