Food, Inc. --A Commentary
Capitalism is defined loosely as free enterprise, which can be further defined as the unrestricted activities of individuals or groups of individuals (corporations) as they relate to the acquisition and maintenance of wealth. Unrestrained free enterprise is what some would argue creates a socio-economic condition conducive to the stratification of society into the “haves and have not’s”, “upper class” and”lower class.” While the principle motivator behind capitalism is the acquisition of wealth in terms of finical gains, wealth as a term can be broadly extrapolated out to include power and choice.
When capitalism functions in such a manner as to control the individuals in society to such an extent that their thoughts are pre-programmed to benefit the “corporation or individuals” in power then a society of mis-informed and purposely under-educated individuals can be held captive to the desires of the corporations or individuals in a position of power.
I recently watched the eerily unnerving documentary Food, Inc. The documentary clearly and succinctly places the contextual background around the mass production of food and demonstrates that the right to pure food is a commodity to be bartered and traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, NASDAQ, and Wall Street and even on Middle America’s kitchen table. In short, corporations such and McDonalds and Tyson Brands absolutely controls everything from the GNP (gross national product) of the US and foreign trade agreements and the average citizen’s pocket book.
According to the documentary, McDonalds and Tyson Brands, for example, dictate the way chickens are raised and control the farmers who raise them. Food is a weapon, a weapon that can cause the collapse of a whole society—economically and financially. What the documentary Food, Inc exposes is the dirty secret behind the mass production of food for a society engulfed in consumerism.
The mass production of food requires that farmers who have contracts with Tyson and McDonalds corporation force the artificial maturation of chickens to make them market ready early in order to garner every dollar from the unsuspecting consumer. When farmers speak out against the tactics involved by these corporations, like Carole Morison a farmer who raised chickens for the Perdue processing plant she and those like her suffer dire consequences.
Ms. Morison cooperated with the making of the documentary Food, Inc. and subsequently lost her contract with Perdue. What she exposed during the filming of the documentary is that the average debt of a farmer is approximately 500K but the average pay received is only 18K. The corporations then demand that the farmers make expensive upgrades to farming equipment and as a result the relationship of the formerly independent farmer and the corporation becomes one of a “company town” like arrangement.
The rampant use of antibiotics and growth hormones, the living conditions of the animals and the unnatural physiological changes that occur in the animals are deemed “necessary” by corporate spokes persons whose only job is to protect the corporation’s ability to turn a profit. Theoretically, if society knew how food appeared in its neighborhood grocery stores they would reject this form of mass produced death and seek a healthier alternative, theoretically.
In the end, it will be the consumer that will determine if the corporations go a different direction. When the consumer releases misguided ideas about perfection and accepts that not all fruit is perfectly round and un-bruised; or that it all does not come from the friendly farmer down the street but by overnight flight from Chile then and only then will the production of food in the United States change.
