Is Ignorance Really Bliss?

I'm taking a break this week from my series on being a humane consumer to talk to y'all about another important topic.  Food safety.

A few weeks ago I began watching the documentary “Food Inc”.  This documentary really got m
e thinking about how ignorance is a really bad thing especially in situations like this.  Ignorance is affecting our ability to change things.

For example, the movie shows Wal Mart corporate employees working with Stoneyfield Organic – a brand I happen to love.  The employee said that Wal Mart began carrying some organic products based on consumer demands.  Consumers changed one of the largest corporations in the world.   We have the power to change things, but we also have to power to keep them the same.

The guy who founded Stoneyfield was often accused by his friends of selling out but explains that by getting his product on the shelf at a place like Wal Mart, more people are seeing it and getting educated.  He also said it proves that you can produce foods safely and organically and still do very well on the business end.   So more people are exposed to eating organically than if he just targeted health food stores.   I completely agree with his strategy.

This is why this next part really bothers the crap out of me.

When I put my initial reaction to the documentary on Facebook, a lot of people said they’d never watch it because they just don’t want to know.  I’m sorry, but that is the stupidest fucking thing I have ever heard!  Like, ever! 

Our government is basically supporting the poisoning of its citizens because of money, but you’d rather not know?  Let me know how you feel about that after you or a loved one contract E Coli form a burger you ate.   How are we, as consumers, supposed to affect change if we just ignore the issues because "the burgers just taste so good" or “it so cheap"?

This is a huge problem!  I wrote a seven page research paper in my research writing class about the effects of antibiotics in animals on our health and on the environment and let me tell you, it’s not pretty.  And this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as what’s wrong with the way food is produced.

I would rather know the gory details so that I can choose my food more wisely.  I would rather know what’s happening and make the choice not to support it.

The same goes for animal testing.  It’s not pretty, so people pretend it doesn’t exist so they can go on buying the $2.00 bottle of body wash and not feel guilty that some poor animal had to be tortured so they can be cheap.

Yes, I do spend a bit more money on food, toiletries, and cleaning products but I know what I’m putting on and in my body is safe and that animals were not abused in the making of the products.  I also know that my fruits and veggies are not filled with nasty pesticides or sprayed with gases.

Being ignorant is not a good thing.  Consumers have the power to affect change by what they buy and what they don’t buy.  If we support local non-factory farms over the products sold in stores or that we know are produced by factory farms, we can really change the food industry. 

However, if we do nothing, things will stay the same and we will continue to poison our bodies in the name of money, laziness and corporate greed.

Watch Food Inc. on Netflix and let me know your reaction.  I would love to know what others think about it.