Homework #10: Food Inc. Response

            Our food system is generated out of industry and organic farming. The Industrial food industry is completely corn and chemical based. These chemicals that are fed to the cows and put on the corn eventually infect our bodies in the form of viruses such as E. Coli. Corn has become subsidized, making it possible to use it cheaply to extend many different products. This in turn supports an unhealthy diet, especially for impoverished people. The industrialized food production system makes it so that they only food they can actually afford is the unhealthy food. On the other hand we also have the organic food industry. There are farms such as Polyface farm that supply meat from grass fed animals. Joel Salatin sees his farm as natural: the animals do all of the work. This type of farming uses no chemicals and the slaughtering of at least the chickens is done directly on the farm performed by him and his workers. This type of farming introduces a healthy alternative to industrial farming. Through our industrial farming we have developed an “I to It” relationship to the world and its inhabitants. In other words, a pig for example, is only a mere object to us with no life quality. We need to start seeing everything as “I to You”.

            A movie is a visual adaptation of a book, but the two do not always demonstrate the significance of information equally. In The Omnivore’s Dilemma everything is thoroughly explained through narrative and facts. The reader is able to form their own visuals in their mind, leading them to their own degree of insightfulness. During the film, the visuals are already provided, which I guess you could say is hard fact. We are then able to interpret everything from seeing, but no longer have an in depth explanation by those whose creation we are watching. The viewer has full freedom to understand what they are seeing in a unique way. Food Inc. offers the ideas of two different authors and this physical view of what was being examined. But secretly, they do influence our interpretations through the music that plays in the background. Anything that they consider bad has a very dark and sinister beat, while the more natural farming presented is accompanied by happy, upbeat music. The book does not alter our thoughts in this way; it only provides what it thinks through words, which we analyze through the process of reading.

            The movie was a lot like the book, and the book in turn filled in many of the gaps in the movie, so I do not have too many questions left. I can say though that I agree with the ideas presented. Our food system is really out of control and is no longer humane. The government is promoting bad health habits in impoverished areas, and then says it is their own fault. Instead of placing the blame on the poor, we need to stop subsidizing junk food, which is causing all of these problems. This food system is at fault for so many of the things wrong with our country. These diseases that are breaking out just because of infected meat are ridiculous. Why do people seem to care so little about food? It is such a personal and accounted for object in our lives.  Not only that, we seem to have learned to ignore the value of life. The animals that we are killing live in such unhealthy states and are slaughtered without playing their actual role in nature. We could say that we do not value our own lives either, because we feed ourselves these infected foods and encourage people to buy unhealthy foods because of their low price. The entire system is corrupt, from the processing of the food, to those who should be evaluating the processing. We have the wrong people in charge; the people, who themselves worked in industrial farming and started this ongoing fad. The entire system needs to change, but it probably never will.