Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser--9/10

My freshman year of college, when I was living in the dorms, my roommate Sara took a class about current social issues. She had to read Fast Food Nation, and when I think about this book I have always remembered the day when she got to the chapter about the unspeakably awful conditions of beef slaughterhouses, and started reading aloud to me. I remember being physically sickened, and deciding I didn't want to read that book. 


Just a couple months ago, Mike and I were talking, for some reason, about The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair. I've known of the book for years, and heard it mentioned many times in high school. But I had no idea what it was about (basically, the same thing as FFN, only much earlier). And when Mike told me, I said to him, "Well, I'm never reading that."


Now, only weeks later, I find it funny and surprising that that would have been my reaction. With my interest in food reformation right now, wouldn't you think that's something I'd want to read? So the other day at Half Price Books, I found a copy for about a dollar and bought it. But the experience just made me aware of how, in the face of such situations, our strongest instinct can sometimes be to look the other way.


If you're interested in facing the facts of what is going on with our food, read Fast Food Nation. It isn't just a description of slaughterhouses and fast food restaurants, although those things are included. It's a commentary on the entire culture of our nation--the way we've begun to worship technology and the "free market," the way profits have become more important than human lives, and the way simple willful ignorance has allowed corporate greed to centralize and create a system that is not very different from the system of the Soviet Union during the Cold War.


You're thinking this sounds dramatic. I know. There were times throughout my reading that I had that same thought. And then I continued reading, and found plenty of evidence to back up that claim, and stories to make my stomach turn. I'll be writing more blog posts about this, and I'll share some of that information with you, so you don't have to start off by reading the whole thing if you're not ready. But I really think you should. 

Here's a sample, and a pretty good summary of what is going on:

Throughout the Cold War, America's decentralized system of agriculture, relying upon millions of independent producers, was depicted as the most productive system in the world, as proof of capitalism's inherent superiority. The perennial crop failures in the Soviet Union were attributed to a highly centralized system run by distant bureaucrats.

Today the handful of agribusiness firms that dominate American food production are championing another centralized system of production, on in which livestock and farmland are viewed purely as commodities, farmers are reduced to the status of employees, and crop decisions are made by executives far away from the fields. Although competition between the large processors has indeed led to lower costs for consumers, price fixing and collusion have devastated independent ranchers and farmers.

The antitrust laws outlawing such behavior need to be vigorously enforced. More than a century ago... Henry M. Teller, a Republican senator from Colorado, dismissed the argument that lower consumer prices justified the ruthless exercise of monopoly power. "I do not believe," Teller argued, "that the great object in life is to make everything cheap."

Having centralized American agriculture, the large agribusiness firms are now attempting, like Soviet commissars, to stifle criticism of their policies. Over the past decade, "veggie libel laws" backed by agribusiness have been passed in thirteen states. The laws make it illegal to criticize agricultural commodities in a manner inconsistent with "reasonable" scientific evidence.

The whole concept of "veggie libel" is probably unconstitutional; nevertheless, these laws remain on the books. Oprah Winfrey, among others, has been sued for making disparaging remarks about food. In Texas, a man was sued by a sod company for criticizing the quality of its lawns... In Colorado, violating the veggie libel law is now a criminal, not a civil, offense. Criticizing the ground beef produced at the Greeley slaughterhouse [in Colorado] could put you behind bars.


--Fast Food Nation, p. 266-67

The book feels daunting, but it's significantly shorter than it looks; almost the entire last quarter is research notes. Just when I was thinking I would never get through it, I reached the epilogue. The book was written in 2001, nine years ago, which means that it's possible that some of these situations have changed. (Not likely--but possible.) Research on that is the next thing on my list. Regardless, there is no way that enough has changed for this to no longer be an issue; which is why you need to read it. We desperately need change, but it can't happen until people decide to stop looking the other way.