Went to the Commonwealth Club last night with Molly because they had guest speaker, Eric Schlosser, the man who wrote "Fast Food Nation." It's funny because I was just as peeved off listening to Eric talk as I was about reading his book. Granted I feel that Fast Food Nation was well resarched and very informative, but I just didn't agree with his tone. The writing style seemed a little "sensationalist or expose" - a la Fox News. And finally his recommendation for change was more about corporate social responsibility -- and not particularly the need for personal responsibility. It comes down to no amount of government regulation or corporate business practice will ultimately make that big of an impact unless people are held accountable for their own actions and decisions. And really, what happened to holding parents responsible for providing a good foundation for their children and teaching basic food and nutirition like fried food in excess = bad.
Also, how much of the American obesity epidemic can be blamed on fast food companies. There is an argument that government subsidies of agriculture or the influence of food industry lobbyists makes for bad food politics. Also, how much did the change in American family structure affect the increased desire for pre-packaged, convenient foods? America consistently has high productivity rates per capita over other countries...how much does our attitude towards work affect time spent at home, cooking with family? Or what if this trend is just a way of weeding out the population through evolution? In animal kingdoms, if you are not fast enough to run away from predators -- well, you're done. I think my point is that...the finger pointing should be at ourselves and not at everyone else -- food cannot be the scapegoat.
There was a book signing at the end...but I had to leave because I thought it would be rude to have him sign my book "socialism rules" or "i need someone else to tell me when to stop eating" or Mollys "Carla Marx".
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