Buns Don't Kill People, People Kill People
Published June 04, 2006
Just how stupid do they think we are? In a report commissioned by the FDA, the Keystone Center, a non-profit policy center, determined in its infinite wisdom that maybe restaurants should follow federal labeling guides in providing nutritional information on their respective menus…
"…offering similar label information in restaurants would give consumers the "same kind of information to make those same kinds of (food) decisions away from home," FDA Acting Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach said.
I'm pretty sure that if a Pig Sandwich is going to wreak havoc in my home life, it's probably just as likely to screw up my fat count at Bubba's BBQ as well. Duh! Well, hold on a moment and let's just look at this dilemma, okay? If a cake had 200 calories per square inch in Hoboken and an identical cake was headed to Union Station at twice the metric speed of a base element in suspension, which carbs would land in what order on Aunt Fannie's fanny? Are they out of their ever-loving, maniacal, Hannibal Lecter, fava bean-eating minds? Since when is it the government's job to raise us as helpless lemmings in search of the cliff?
Last time I checked, Mom had a little say in what and how we learned to eat. Got Mom? No? Then how about we encourage the world to slow down just long enough to take responsibility for one simple thing in life, like say...what the fuck we eat?! I damn sure don't need Uncle Dick or Auntie George's special world domination recipes for Divinity Fudge propagated as my salvation. Here's a novel idea: if food, health, and disease control are such an important Pan-American thought process for today's citizens of the most powerful and health progressive nation on God's green earth, how about a little education, where education counts — in school?
We have no reason to assign the education of ourselves and our children to McDonald's as to what is and is not healthy human fuel, nor do we need Greenpeace to weigh in on the Joy of Fat, either. If you want a kid to grow up with a strong technical grasp, teach him math. If you want him to have intellectual diversity, teach him to read. If it is your goal that they should embrace a well-rounded view of the world, introduce them to art. If you want them to live long, prosper physically from good nutritional choices, and tax the declining American health system less, teach the little guy or gal the simple, yet sometimes complex facts about food.
- Buns Don't Kill People, People Kill People
- Published: June 04, 2006
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Tastes
- Filed Under: Politics: Policy, Politics: Law and Rights, Culture: Education, Tastes: Food and Drink
- Writer: Paul Jordan, Sr.
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- Paul Jordan, Sr.'s personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
McDonalds will sell you greasburgers if that's what YOU want or salads if you prefer. Corporations and the government are a reflection of the people and they are quite ugly aren't they.
I don't want lawyers telling me what to eat. I don't want you limiting choices or mandating useless 'facts' or attacking corporations who provide what you ask for.
I've got a novel idea. How bout the government just gets the hell out of the kitchen. People should be free to make and sell and buy and eat whatever the hell they want. Remember that little thing called FREEDOM, I doubt most of you do. Your too worried that somebody else will use their freedom to get fat, or eat something with cholesterol, gasp, must make laws to force them to change their 'bad' behavior.
I'd rather be a free 300lb fluffball than a skinny, bitter government control freak. It's not OK to mandate choices. It's not OK to ban foods from school. It's not OK to tax 'bad' food.
All you, fuck off and leave the rest of us alone.
Wake up from your stupor people, freedom to make only the 'right' choices isn't really freedom at all.
jordan's article reflects the same as the report:
"maybe restaurants should follow federal labeling guides in providing nutritional information on their respective menus"...
no where does it say nor is there any law that says the eatery must adhere to recommended guidelines...they're just recommended, that's all...
any changes the companies make, they make of their own accord...
no one is making anyone do anything...there is no breach or even a threat to anyone's freedom...
"I'd rather be a free 300lb fluffball than a skinny, bitter government control freak. It's not OK to mandate choices. It's not OK to ban foods from school. It's not OK to tax 'bad' food.
All you, fuck off and leave the rest of us alone."
Spoken like a true slave to advertising.
Diane,
You miss the point, The FDA is reccomending actual Laws to address this issue. They actually want to legislate this matter, and deny you of choice.
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/48748)
there's only one reason any eatery would alter its menu/portions/etc: a significant drop in sales...
while the "it's their fault i'm fat" whiners make the most headlines, the only line followed by corporate heads is the one on the profit graph heading south...if that line were heading north, trust me, there would be no changes in the menus or portions no matter how loud the cries...
the corporate heads don't give a rat's tail about someone's fat tail...their only concern is profit...it wasn't until hundreds of thousands of not-headline-making patrons stopped spending their money in these places that differences started getting made...
the corporations saw the profit line go south, did some research, determined it was all that "personal responsibility" on the part of the growing health-conscious consumer, and altered their way of doing things to draw that consumer's money back into their doors...
the only changes these corporations had to make was providing nutritional information which is provided only if you have a stepladder (they hang the notice a foot from the ceiling in many places) and a magnifying glass (they've redefined "small print")...