The Real Issue in the Nutrition Wars

When considering what must be called the Nutrition Wars I think many are actually missing the real issue.

By Nutrition Wars I mean the whole range of argument and debate over organic vs. industrial foods, arguments over preservatives and chemicals and so forth.

Some people I encounter believe there's some massive government plot at work. But at that point, the argument splits into two different camps.

1. There's some kind of vast conspiracy to poison us all. This either takes the form of some kind of mind control conspiracy, or perhaps an attempt to make us contract cancer, reduce population, make people compliant or something along those lines.

2. Another argument following the government conspiracy model argues in a different direction. They (by which they mean the supposed Leftist Government) secretly want us all to be vegetarians and to impose a host of regulations upon us. They're trying to scare us so that we'll call on the government to save us. It's a case of manipulation and a back-door to Statist controls over our choices. Nothing from industrial farming hurts us they insist. In fact Industrial farming has enabled the massive world population to stay fed. These methods (including GM crops) have been a blessing.

Interestingly I hear both strains at work within Christian circles and this creates quite a bit of debate. Some Christians are semi-hostile to the whole Organic movement. They attack the science and believe the Organic people are being duped by Environmentalism etc...

The Organic crowd believes the other side is uneducated and blind to the obvious conspiracy.

I will admit my presentation of these two categories is something of a reductionism. There are certainly more views and many nuances but these are the two generalized views that I've encountered. I believe both sides are wrong.

Both have missed the real motivation in creating industrial farming which utilizes all of the toxins, chemicals, genetic manipulation and antibiotics.

It's very simple. It's profit.

If you want to maximize profits you do things on a large scale and in the most efficient cost effective way you can.

The Capitalist system itself has driven the industry in this direction and if there is some kind of attempt to introduce regulations, the result is laws that benefit the largest corporations.

Again the notion that we 'vote' with our purchases is long gone. Many of you will have seen this diagram and yet I wonder how many have really thought through its implications?

http://www.policymic.com/articles/71255/10-corporations-control-almost-everything-you-buy-this-chart-shows-how

These companies have worked hard to crush Localism. They don't want to see the organic movement grow, unless they can control it. They've already invested in it where they can and have worked to undermine it by blocking any legislation requiring them to properly label their products.

When a corporation gets big enough, it moves beyond the realm of competition and tries to control the market itself. Our governmental system allows this to happen.

It is these companies which have destroyed the family farm, the local economy, and have largely taken over the relevant parts of the legislature. The conspiracy isn't really on the part of the government. It's the influences behind it. The government serves the people who write the checks in our system of legalized bribery. In the realm of industrial/consumer agriculture and household products the boards of these companies are the government.

In addition to these companies, there are the insurance companies that in light of a health disaster or something else would have to pay out. They play a part as do the hosts of lawyers who work to support the various business interests that come into play.

There are environmentalists who have worked to expose industrial farming. I'm thankful for them and I've seen some of it firsthand. It's hard to want to eat a lot of supermarket foods when you see the process.

Of course under the new Bush-Obama Security State those working to expose the activities of Big-Agra are subject to 'Patriot Act' definitions of terrorism. Freeing chickens or photographing cannibal cows is now the equivalent of Al Qaeda activity.

Who do you think pushed for that legislation?

To be honest I can't even watch a lot of the documentaries which expose this stuff. If I do, I can't eat anything except out of our garden. I must have a weak stomach because I can't watch that stuff. It's way to upsetting.

But I don't blame it on a government conspiracy to turn me vegetarian. I blame it on a system that puts profits over people or basic human decency. I'm not a PETA fan, but I don't like to see animals abused let alone people in other countries.

BigAgra is seriously harming peoples and cultures in the Developing World. Our system is destructive on all fronts. Only those at the top of the profit pyramid are really benefitting from all this.

I don't believe the government is trying to poison us. I believe our government is evil but ultimately they want us to keep paying taxes, sending our children to die in their wars and they want to keep us fat, happy and distracted. There's plenty of evil they're involved in. Interestingly it is when I bring up that type of evil... that's when Christians get mad at me and start calling me names.

I do believe these corporations and many others... and the bankers behind it all... have grown incredibly powerful. I am positive they care nothing about you or me or what diseases we might contract... unless it somehow leads to litigation that harms them.

If you know anything about how these questions function within the regulatory and judicial world then you'll know there's little hope in that.

It's just sad to me that so many people are worked up about all of this and yet have missed the real culprit. Of course it's kind of difficult when we've been taught by the wolves among us that this very system is nothing less than Biblical Christianity applied to society.

In fact how many people (even those who are upset) are invested in these consumer companies and others like ADM and Monsanto? How many of them own stocks in these companies without even knowing it? Look into your mutual funds. You may not like what you find.