Recently I observed a young family shopping in WalMart, raiding the floor-to ceiling frozen food lockers opposite the produce section. Mom and Dad were slightly plump, not obese, and the three kids were kids, excited when Mom grabbed boxes of lasagna and pizza to toss into their cart, already loaded with soda pop, boxed cereal, and other synthetic foods.
Michael Pollan, who has written several books on how we get our groceries, calls it a “subversive act” to cook from scratch and grow your own food. I don’t blame those parents. When our kids were little we had a productive organic garden, but when they got bigger and had to be chauffeured to extracurricular activities, out-of-town events, baseball or soccer practice, we often relied on frozen pizzas or supermarket fried chicken.
But it’s not just the prefabricated food. Lettuce and greens usually come in plastic bags, as well as other produce, meats, cheeses, eggs. Many shoppers buy cases of bottled water, generally just tap water from Dallas or California.
For the heck of it I looked at a package labeled “Simply Potatoes.” Ingredients include dextrose, potassium sorbate, disodium pyrophosphate, sodium bisulfite and xanthan gum – not simply potatoes. Back in the produce section, though, you can buy a potato in shrink-wrapped plastic labeled “microwaveable.” Why can’t someone microwave a potato without a plastic coating? Or cook potatoes without the “simply” additives?
Almost anything we buy now is encased in plastic – toilet paper, batteries, pet food, toothpaste, light bulbs, clothes. Many jars have a plastic outer ring (think peanut butter or pickles) as well as an inner seal.
We read about giant mats of plastic floating in the oceans, birds and fish necklaced by six-pack holders. Microplastics are infinitely small pieces from packaging and synthetic fibers that work their way up the food chain and through the topsoil. If you wash and dry clothing and bedding made of polyester, tiny little pieces go into the air and the water table, ending up in our lungs, guts and livers.
Among the original meanings of “plastic,” before we invented the ubiquitous products made from petroleum, are “pliable,” “adaptable.” The human brain was considered plastic, rhymes with elastic, because it had the capacity for flexibility and rearrangement. Our brains must be hard plastic now – incapable of reformation, solid, impermeable, and day-glo.
A neighbor stopped me on our road. “I just heard on the car radio that Israel developed a vaccine for coronavirus, and it could be shared. But would Bernie Sanders, who hates Israel, volunteer to take this vaccine? Or if he were president, would he allow trade with Israel to get ahold of it?” The radio told him that this would not be on the news, because “the media” and the Democrats just want to blame Trump.
Like “simply potatoes,” this prefab “news” story has a built-in lie – because the story will not be reported by “the media,” it must be true!
Any day now, the government will mail every U.S. household a census packet to fill out. A recent survey reported that 70% of Americans believe that the question, “Is this person a citizen?” will be on the form, even though the courts have thrown it out and the feds finally gave up. The theory is that persons who fear deportation – whatever their legal status – will not complete the forms correctly. How many thousands will not be counted in Arkansas?
I don’t claim to be a genius, and I am naive about many things, but I am baffled by the gullibility of our populace, that plastic food, plastic news, plastic lies have invaded the natural brain plasticity which led the human race to use our stereoscopic vision and opposable thumbs to go from looking at the moon in wonder to sending a few guys up there to walk around and collect samples, plant a flag and play golf.
Every generation says the next one is doomed, but these daze it seems it may be true. For today, I’m a-going to sip my coffee and watch the birds on the feeder and forget about the whole thang.
Kirk Ashworth