The general decline in standards today

[PoohBang]

So vending machines in grade schools full of junk food is great idea... Right? Don't all ten year olds know what's best for them.

I guess I just never looked at it like that.

Why do we put railing on stairs, hell, everyone should know not to fall off. Or lines on the street. That's silly.
Everyone knows what side to drive on. I guess I had it figured all wrong.

It's just that mean government telling us what side of the street to drive on!

 

[ButteMT61]

@ V.C.: It's because fast foods are racist here...

 

[TidiousTed]

Originally Posted by PoohBang
right. Everyone is lining up at the library. Plus, everyone can read.

Actually no. More than 10 % of the population in the western world are unable to read more than the simplest texts. And that does not cover the ingredients list on food.

 

[jamespowers]

You mean potential demand. Before the late 1980s, Chile was a country without a McDonald's and without any homegrown McDonald's clones to speak of. If there had been a demand, then where was the supply? There was no supply ... because Chileans weren't clamoring for it. They had their farmers' markets daily and their inexpensive lunchtime "diners" where the food was simple but fresh, and heavy on fruit, vegetables and fish.


Then, McDonald's comes along with its billion-dollar battering ram of advertising, mushrooming franchises, hegemony over suppliers, etc., and Chileans find themselves told on the radio, billboards, flyers, and television that McDonald's is better than local ways of eating. It's First World! It's Prosperous! It's located where your local lunchtime diner used to be! No mention of the prospects of obesity, e. coli, high blood pressure....

And? Your point being that they invaded them and forced them to eat their food? Are you saying they are that gullible? I truly doubt it. They simply like it and don't care what others say----they ignore the facts as well or they just proceed anyway. You know, of course, that the government has talked about and in fact acted on putting warnings on fatty foods, creating junk food taxes and a host of other warning. Do you think that will truly deter people from eating it?[huh]
I agree with Nelba Villagran:“The tax would have no effect anyways,” said Nelba Villagran, president of the Nutritionists Association. “It’s impossible to determine what is junk and we would run the risk of being unfair with some industries. Food isn’t intrinsically bad; what’s bad is how it is composed and combined.”

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Who is going to enforce what people should eat.

Well, it'd be nice if the food manufacturers themselves would have enough self-control (and regard for consumers) to not produce toxic junk, even if it means forgoing some profit. But since some of them don't, I'd like a government that's big enough to curb those big manufacturers' big appetites --a government that I vote and pay for-- to stand up to them. For my sake.

 

[jamespowers]

Well, it'd be nice if the food manufacturers themselves would have enough self-control (and regard for consumers) to not produce toxic junk, even if it means forgoing some profit. But since some of them don't, I'd like a government that's big enough to curb those big manufacturers' big appetites --a government that I vote and pay for-- to stand up to them. For my sake.

Now you are using government as a battering ram for what you want. Every one says "there ought to be a law" but they have no idea what the consequences will be---in the area of Murphy's Law. I think we ought to leave government out of it for this discussion as it is going to definitely become political.:eusa_doh:

 

[LizzieMaine]

The thing is, there's some evidence that HFCS *is* addictive -- the body doesn't metabolize it like it does regular sugar, and it doesn't satisfy hunger in the way that sucrose does. So you keep eating more and more of it without feeling sated. It's insidious.

I agree with Marc on this. Someone needs to have the guts to grab Archer Daniels Midland by the collar and say *Enough already.* And to slap their dirty bribes to the ground when they're offered.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

@ V.C.: It's because fast foods are racist here...

Strangely enough, there was an urban legend some years ago concerning Church's Fried Chicken claiming that it was secretly owned by the KKK and that the chicken had an ingredient that was designed to render African-Americans impotent.

 

[ButteMT61]

^^ Or, don't keep re-electing the same bOObs to office that are in their pockets????

 

[ButteMT61]

Strangely enough, there was an urban legend some years ago concerning Church's Fried Chicken claiming that it was secretly owned by the KKK and that the chicken had an ingredient that was designed to render African-Americans impotent.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, surprises me any longer...

 

[jamespowers]

So vending machines in grade schools full of junk food is great idea... Right? Don't all ten year olds know what's best for them.

I guess I just never looked at it like that.

Why do we put railing on stairs, hell, everyone should know not to fall off. Or lines on the street. That's silly.
Everyone knows what side to drive on. I guess I had it figured all wrong.

It's just that mean government telling us what side of the street to drive on!

You are comparing apples to oranges. We would hope adults can make thier own choices. Children, however, are a different story.
And again, this is getting political.

 

[C-dot]

Well, it'd be nice if the food manufacturers themselves would have enough self-control (and regard for consumers) to not produce toxic junk, even if it means forgoing some profit.

It would be nice, but realistically, they aren't ever going to select integrity over profit. So we as individuals need to make the choice, and not succumb to the mob mentality.

You can't fight city hall - at least, not by yourself.

 

[jamespowers]

I agree with Marc on this. Someone needs to have the guts to grab Archer Daniels Midland by the collar and say *Enough already.* And to slap their dirty bribes to the ground when they're offered.

I want to see the first politician who is actually going to do that.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

And? Your point being that they invaded them and forced them to eat their food? Are you saying they are that gullible?

I repeat: if Chileans liked the idea of McDonald's food so much per se, then why didn't they create their own successful version of it in the 1970s and '80s? Here's why: because no homegrown version of McDonald's would have had a McDonald-sized financial and advertising war chest to destroy Chile's long-held healthy eating habits. It took a lot of money, a lot of advertising, to introduce obesity to Chile. But McDonald's did a bang-up job of it.

 

[jamespowers]

It would be nice, but realistically, they aren't ever going to select integrity over profit. So we as individuals need to make the choice, and not succumb to the mob mentality.

Exactly! There are plenty of good members here as examples.

 

[ButteMT61]

I want to see the first politician who is actually going to do that.

It's the ones we don't keep putting back in office for 30-40 years!!!

 

[jamespowers]

I repeat: if Chileans liked the idea of McDonald's food so much per se, then why didn't they create their own successful version of it in the 1970s and '80s? Here's why: because no homegrown version of McDonald's would have had a McDonald-sized financial and advertising war chest to destroy Chile's long-held healthy eating habits. It took a lot of money, a lot of advertising, to introduce obesity to Chile. But McDonald's did a bang-up job of it.

So you are saying they are gullible then.:eusa_doh:[huh]

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Ironically I haven't been to Les Arcs D'or in years and avoid it like the plague.

 

[TidiousTed]

The thing is, there's some evidence that HFCS *is* addictive -- the body doesn't metabolize it like it does regular sugar, and it doesn't satisfy hunger in the way that sucrose does. So you keep eating more and more of it without feeling sated. It's insidious.

Any type of sugar product is addictive and one of the hardest habits to kick. Some scientists say it's more addictive than heroine. But the producers are powerful. Our former prime minister Gro Harlem Bruntland was squeezed out as the leader of the World Health Organization when she tried to attack the sugar producers.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Hey..just found out that we are having 'chili' in a few minutes!! Hot Damn..!!:hungry:
Picked up on that aroma as soon as I walked in the house! I'm gonna run in there and read each can and container to see if it's good for me before I eat any,though. Oops..too late! There's a steaming bowl..with crackers and cheese sitting right beside me now! Sure smells like it's good for me..Wow tastes like it too.. I'm sayin..I made a damn good guess...