your turn wrote:
I think you can demand high standards for your food. You've actually succeeded and been rewarded with Whole Foods market etc... It's the complaining about Wal-Mart for selling the skin, eyelids, blah, blah, blah. Don't eat it if you're trying to live healthy. Don't bitch about it if you buy it at Wal-Mart. You're the one who walked through the door. On one hand, I want to say let people make their own decisions but on the other hand, I have to say we shouldn't let some people make the choice to breed.
The responsibility is on us. Not Wal-Mart or any other business. Free market will eventually reign. Money is what talks, not your complaint. Once again, if you want to let commercials tell you what to do that's your thing, I personally will not. The hypocrite part I'm complaining about is when people listen to the commercials, do what they tell them to do, and then complain about them. For example, all the SUV's in Boulder with Greenpeace stickers on them. I'm sure you get the point as I can sense some intelligence in your post.
I'm very aware and agree there is more to why people hate America than I pointed out. I love America and being American. On the other hand, I hate America's world views and attitudes (for the most part). Unfortunately, I don't believe I have the money to make a difference. But...I do vote.
Well put. I agree with almost everything you say--except the part about the free market ruling. While I wouldn't describe myself as a socialist, I'm certainly no laissez faire capitalist, either. Muckraking has its place--I'm engaging in my own extremely modest variety of that--and so do certain forms of government regulation. (Similarly, although I'm a libertarian in many respects, I think self-regulation has an important place in human affairs. Animals that foul their nests eventually kill themselves and their brood off.)
Whole Foods is certainly one answer. But so, too, is my suggestion: demand that Wal-Mart do better.
Last night my wife brought home a package of three chicken breasts, purchased at Wal-Mart, that described themselves as "all natural." No hormones, no bad icky stuff.
I squinted at the fine print. "Injected with up to fifteen percent chicken broth."
Now come the f--k on. Since when do chickens grab the tourniquet in their teeth, let the vein swell, and plunge the syringe home?
Wal-Mart is Evil.