Private Executives in Public Offices

The corruption that is pervasive throughout the USDA is making agricultural reform extremely difficult. There is a beneficial marriage between agricultural executives and high level public offices. In a segment in Food, Inc, when they show all the connections between fertilizer, meat processing, and transportation companies with high level government positions such as the director of the USDA and many advisors to the President. The American public is completely ignorant to all the back door deals between the government and the agricultural businesses. Many corporation executives slide into government positions to push their agenda through the government. Even more unfortunate, is that these agricultural businesses do not even have followers in government, they simply hire well connected lobbyist to make their agendas possible.

The U.S. Democracy is actually an oligarchy consisting of affluent executives from many different corporations. The U.S. government is supposed to be reflect the values and desires of the American people. But these executive/government officials are literally controlling every aspect of agricultural behind a legion of lawyers. If a major agricultural company needs a chemical that is harmful to people, they can push it through congress by investing billions of dollars into lobbying, and by using insider politicians. As Joel says in Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, “The USDA is being used by the global corporate complex to impede the clean-food movement. They aim to close down all but the biggest meat processors, and to do it in the name of biosecurity. Every government study to date has shown that the reasons we’re having an epidemic of food-borne illnesses in this country is centralized production, centralized processing, and long-distance transportation of food.”

Alternation of all living beings

If one takes Pollan’s arguments further, one can see that the industrialization of our food system is negatively changing the evolution of all species on the planet. All our planet’s vegetables, fruits, trees, and even flowers are being sprayed with pesticides and other chemicals that are incrementally changing the genetics in these plants. We can see how the alternation of plants leads to a whole species change by looking towards the beginning of the food chain. When plants are sprayed with chemicals, they are eaten by cows and other farm animals, which ultimately leads to people.
The really sad thing that is going on is that major farming corporations backed by the USDA are supporting farm animals to eat the U.S.’s cheap surplus of corn although their bodies are not designed to do so. This act is tampering with an old process that evolution that humans still barely know anything about.

My New Diet thanks to Pollan

Michael Pollan’s clear and digestible way of presenting information through the Omnivore’s Dilemma can easily affect one’s notions about their relationship with food. However, even with the awareness of all the unhealthy foods, it is extremely difficult to make a transition to a healthier life style due to produce prices are sky high and the fact that produce rots quickly. Last night my roommates and I decided to go to Kroger to go grocery shopping. They have the typical college student appetite. As soon as we stepped in the store, they dashed off to the soda section, and then jetted to look for any bargains on Cheeze- Its and microwaveable popcorn. Typically, I would be leading the way to get the biggest bang for my buck. But this time, I decided to let them go ahead while I sneak around to the produce isle to find something cheap and healthy. Pollan’s words were in my head.

My first impression of the produce isle was that everything is quite expensive. Tomatoes, apples, nuts, berries, and everything else on the perimeter of the store was costly. However, I decided that for once in my life, I will attempt to try a diet that consist of various vegetables, fruits and nuts. After I filled up my basket that almost looked like the Garden of Eden, I met with my roommates in the self check-out isle. Right when they saw me they laughed. One of my roommates said “Baron, after you check out, I can guarantee that you won’t have any money to have fun with.” I decided to call his bluff, which ended up being costly error on my part. Although both of my roommates carts had almost doubled the food I had, their bill was just a little over half of mine. I was shocked and felt foolish. They had food that was able to last them for months. Warm up noodles, chicken and even vegetables. My expensive produce and fruits expired within a week and then I was hungry again. That one week I had with the produce was great. I felt more light and I had more energy. However, since most college students, including myself, don’t have steady and large incomes, it is irrational to spend lots of money on produce. Produce is expensive and it expires quickly. I think I will try a healthier diet when I have a full time job, if I still heed Pollan’s words.

Cell phones and The Inability to Focus

Ever since the American Industrial Revolution, Americans have felt compelled to have the most luxurious cars, houses, and clothes. We unconsciously felt that our self-worth was directly connected to our bank accounts, and that our image was better or worse depending on how fancy our cars and clothes were. As one Wall Street banker bluntly said, “Net worth equals self-worth.” Many new happiness studies have suggested that Americans have built this false notion that happiness is created by consuming more than your neighbors. This is still true today. However, there is an attention addiction that is replacing the consumption addiction.

Many Americans from all age brackets believe that their self-worth is directly dependent on how much attention they receive through the cyber world. Presently, Americans have become more addicted to being online than any other nation. Blackberries, I phones, Androids, and Nokias, have become our drug that always allows us to exit the reality we are in now, to enter into the cyber world. These smart phones keep people connected to the news, social networks, friends, and work twenty four hours a day, every day. Nowadays, you can’t even take a quite walk on a beautiful summer day without feeling your pants vibrating to alert you that someone five seconds ago posted a funny comment on last weekend’s parties. I see everyday people who can’t even think if they forget their cell phone at home. They typically say “my whole life is on that thing, I need to be connected.” It's a sad shame that Americans cannot live in the moment. We not only cannot focus in reality, but we feel as if we don’t get constant stimulation through the web, that we are nobody, that nobody cares about us.

Smart phones have created a sense of insecurity in virtually everybody that has one. Personally, if I don’t receive a text message at least once a hour, I feel as if nobody cares about me, and that nobody is thinking about me. I am not alone. In fact, if you just watch people around you, you will see that anyone with a smart phone is constantly checking it, regardless if they have a new message. If you are sitting in a class, or eating at a restaurant, just watch people. People will slyly pull their phone out from their pants just to see if they have a new message. The unfortunate thing is that many people check their phones to see if they have a message even if they know they don’t have one. They stare at the screen waiting for it to vibrate. They wait for it to let them know that someone is thinking about them. This insecurity is unfolding a variety of problems that we may not know the deep side affects until more studying has been done. But from simple observation of addicted cell phone people, we can see one major problem that is affecting the foundation of society.

The largest problem that is due to cell phone and internet addiction is the inability to focus. When I am at the library, I see students who try to read a book, but after every few pages, they check their cell phone and fire a text. How can one truly become involved in a book, follow its arguments, and create one’s own analysis if their train of thought is consistently broken by an incoming text? There have been many studies that suggest that addiction to text messaging is creating focusing disorders in children in young ages that are lasting all throughout their life. The inability to focus can pervade all aspects of our life. When people drive, they text. When they are at dinner, they text. And when they are just relaxing, they text.

Even the most ancient and spontaneous art we call conversation is slowly eroding because of cell phone and internet addiction. Before the day of cell phones, people would all sit around a delicious meal, a fire, or under the moon to discuss anything on their mind. Conversations would take turns, and interesting antidotes would fill the air. Everyone participating in the conversation was focused on the words flowing from the speaker. And everyone was thinking hard to put in their insightful input. But now, if a group of people are in a conversation, you can almost be guaranteed that people will come in and out of the conversation depending on when and who they get text from.

Sometimes you may be telling a story that people would typically find interest in, but while you are telling it, you see them reaching down towards their pants or purse to take out their phone to quickly check an unnecessary message. Then after they check it, they attempt to rejoin the conversation as if they never left. But you can tell that they missed important parts, and your feelings are also probably hurt because they felt that their little text message was more important than your personal story. My grandfather recently confessed “conversations used to be lucid memories like a movie with no commercials and advertisements, but now they are broken and fragmented like a short sitcom with plenty of commercials and advertisements.”

Hope can be found in Michael Clayton

The character played by George Clooney in Michael Clayton helped restore my faith in humanity. Not only did these characters stress the importance of business ethics, but they also demonstrated that money should never be worth people’s lives. The character Arthur in the story, who is considered to be insane, is actually the most sane and most caring character in the movie. When he finally realized that defending a corporation that was killing hundreds of people, his ideas about money and power changed, and he decided to switch sides and sue the corporation who was creating toxic chemicals that were killing innocent farmers and people. This would be wonderful if this plot actually was similar to the events that go in the real world.
Sadly, every single day, there are attorneys who are masking and hiding detrimental news about the actions of corporations, regardless if the actions or products could potentially kill people. For dozens of years, tobacco companies paid their top attorneys millions of dollars to fight grassroots organizations who realized that severe side effects that come with smoking cigarettes.

It took many years for the tobacco companies to post just basic health warnings on their boxes, and it took even more years before it became illegal for tobacco companies to advertise on television. The attorneys that were covering the bad side effects of tobacco didn’t care that cigarettes were causing lung cancer, gum cancer, and even heart cancer in millions of people. All they cared about is that they were getting big bucks to protect these companies. Michael Clayton and Arthur in the move “Michael Clayton” should be role models for all business peoples in attorneys. They should be looked at as people whom realized that money is powerful, but it is not worth killing innocent people. This is a moral issue that people in privilege and power go through every single hour.

Grassroots must challenge McDonalds

Today I was fortunate enough to see Eric Schlosser, the author of Fast Food Nation: The Dark side of all The American-American Meal, discuss the rhetoric behind America’s fast food giants about the hidden marketing tactics towards small children and how that has resulted in a nation that is addicted to the cheap and tasty fast food.

An interesting point that Schlosser discussed was how these fast food giants target children as early as nice months old using Walt Disney’s tactics of using adorable cartoon characters that would appeal to small children. McDonalds did not figure this out by themselves. There was one point in McDonald's history where they thought they should dispose of the arch to save money. But instead of making a hasty move, they hired scientist to do some research to see if the arch attracts young children and retains their loyalty though out their lives.

The conclusion of the study stated that the McDonald’s golden arch is the “mother’s breast of McDonalds” and that more importantly, small children are attracted to the arch at a very young age, and that many of the children do retain brand loyalty thought out their lives. The same principles that attract children to the arch can also be applied to cute characters. So McDonalds corporation created Ronald McDonald, a red headed clown who is geared towards making children laugh, and a whole wide range set of cartoon characters that all love to eat hamburgers. The basic theory behind this is that if one sees a peer doing something and enjoying it, that they will also feel compelled to do it to fit in that group. McDonald’s tactics to target young children have caused a whole generation of children heart diseases, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and especially diabetes.

McDonald’s toxic discourse has truly created an unprecedented amount of unhealthy food in the United States, and people who are suffering from multiple diseases at very young ages. Congress has been really lax about coercing McDonald’s to change their marketing tactics towards children. Michelle Obama has attempted to fight the major conglomerate, but has made little success. The largest voice out there right now who is targeting McDonald’s and demanding them to change their tactics is Eric Schlosser. He has created a wave of lawyers, consumers and even congressmen who are determined to change the way McDonald’s markets. But the question remains, is that enough to take on a multi billion dollar company?

Unfortunately, the big bucks McDonald’s pay lobbyist to shut up congressmen has made the chances of congress actually passing any laws that will prevent their money hungry marketing practices are very low. What must be done is that normal people, like you and I, must create grassroots organizations to fight against the way McDonald’s targets children. We need butchers, lawyers, college students, professors, doctors, nutritionist, and anyone who wants to see our children live healthy lives to join together under the cause. These grassroots organizations don’t simply have to be towards McDonald’s marketing strategies, but towards a whole range of issues such as the unsafe and unsanitary production of food, and the a way to make the food more healthy. The painful truth is that as long as McDonald’s isn’t pressured to change their ways, they won’t change. They are making money. It will take millions of concerned and organized individuals to challenge McDonald’s to make our country healthier, and to prevent our children from being targeted.

Thoreau's issues

William Cronon's essay really makes one rethink the whole blissful and enlightening experience of the wilderness. Cronon makes many great points about how the wilderness, since the beginning of time, has been known as "barren", "desloate", and a "waste." He uses many persuasive arguments that support his thesis. He argues that even in the Bible, the wilderness was depicted as a place with the devil in it. Cronon uses examples such as Jesus being tempted by the devil for forty days and Moses' experience in the wilderness.

The critiques Cronon demonstrates makes me question if mankind truly has a place in wilderness. I feel that just about all of us human beings have become so dependent on each other, that it would be virtually impossible, and perhaps foolish to go back. I can guarantee that almost nobody in the civilized world has the abilities to be able to survive in solitude in the wilderness for a long periods of time. People nowadays can't make houses, can't create clothes, can't hunt for food, and don't know the difference between an edible plant and a poisonous one.. In a since, civilization is man, and man is civilization. We are a species that depends on each other.

Every passing year, people become more dependent and connected with each other. With the invention of the written language thousands of years ago, people figured out ways to communicate with each other and to exchange information. When the telephone was invented in the late 19th century, the world became even smaller and more connected. And with the internet, the world became flat and small, like a ball. Nowadays, people can have specialized factories create anything they want with the click of a mouse. People can go to college on the internet and speak to professors and learn how to communicate and specialize. People are becoming more independent and specialized as the world becomes smaller. If one wants to survive in this world, one should not run off in a forest and be a cave man, instead, one should should find his part in the civilized network, and play his part to make it work for him.