Goodbye McDonalds, Hello Marlboros!

"Tax soda, pizza to cut obesity, research says" - Yahoo News 3/9/10



The above is a headline that explains a trendy argument of taxing certain food and drink items to curb obesity in the United States.


Whether you tax pizza, soda, hamburgers, snickers, white bread, whatever, that's not the ultimate point. The real issue is our consumption of these shit foods, how the problems's been ignored until recently, and the struggle it will take to rid America of these poisons (as I chomp on a salty Ritz cracker).


It's no joke that Americans consume too much fast food, foods high in transfats and other toxins harmful to our overall health, and all that bullshit (as I cut out and eat another slice of cheddar cheese). Of course, the ramificactions on our society: more cases of diabetes, heart diesase, and skyrocketing healthcare costs, are staggering. Instead of imposing ridiculous taxes on certain items, let's at least explore the root causes of, as one author coined, "Fast Food Nation."


In our capitalist society, capitalist country, capitalist western world, this is the bottom line: $$$$$$$$$$$. We consume what we want, when we want it, and those who produce the our beloved "consumer goods" reap the rewards with no regard toward the societal impacts. And those producers will use the $$$$$ that we give them to stay in power.


This includes those who produce, distribute and sell junk food (fast foods, soda, candy, potato chips, and everything else) They'll do all they can to keep the products flowing out the stores - even if their foods are creating major health hazards in their beloved consumers. It's amazing how many government subsidies go to corn production which facilitates and cheapens the production of dangerous high fructose corn syrup, which is in about every processed and packaged food today. Is this phenomena relatively new? Perhaps, but we probably could have seen it coming sooner.


From what I've experienced, and have read and observed, I feel sustained fast food/junk food consumption will have far worse implications on public health than other percieved ills such as smoking, drinking, or drug use. I'll go out on a limb and say junkfood is just as harmful, if not more so, than those of cigarettes. alcohol, or opiates (as I drink another glass of Coca-Cola).

Lately, I've taken look at my own social habits. I don't drink too much, don't smoke too much, and don't abuse drugs. However, I do eat too much, and I eat many foods deemed unhealthy.
With all the research only now showing the harmful long term effects junk food and soda, I have to ponder the question: "Are my eating habits just as unhealthy as any steady smoker, or alcoholic? Do my eating habits make me unhealthier?" Yes, I do wonder, "If had been a smoker for the last 15 years, but ate a healthy diet, would I be healthier than I am today?"

I know I'll never know the answer to that question, but I bet it's damn close. Yes, smoking wreaks havoc on the heart and lungs, no doubt. But junk food, really hits the heart, can clog the arteries. Plus there's the threat of diabetes from high sugar intake. Who knows?

I also think of a scene from Morgan Spurlock's "Super Size Me" documentary about McDonald's. In that scene, a doctor or psychologist commented that people will not hesitate to tell a smoker to quit smoking because it's bad for your health. However, no one will tell a fat, overwight person, "Hey, you shouldn't eat that chocolate cake. It's unhealthy." It considered rude, socially unacceptable. I'd say now it shouldn't be. Only time will tell the long term effects of my generation and our mindless consumption of junk food. I mean my mom always tell us of how she never at at a fast food restaurant until she was 19 or something. That whole generation never ate as much shit as we do. This is relatively new.

Now I know hindsight is 20/20, and not an effective argument. But think about it, what it junkfood/fast food IS more harmful than smoking or drinking? Have we been barking up the wrong tree over the past 60 years? Should we have banned Ronald McDonald from TV ads along with the Marlboro Man? Should soda ads go by the wayside along with the old Joe Camel ads? Should the Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE: To Keep Kids off Drugs programs in US schools make way for the SAFE eating program: Students Aware of Fastfood's Effects? Should we show kids graphic pictures of enlarged hearts and bad arteries from soda and Taco Bell just like we see those pictures of smokers' black lungs or alcholics' damaged livers?

Forget the stupid tax argument, I doubt many junkfoods will ever be taxed. The powers that be won't let it happen. I can't help but look at my current country, Korea. Yeah there's McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts popping up everywhere, but you can still get very healthy meals for dirt cheap. I know what we eat is our own damn fault, but it's definitely easier to do over here.

Perhaps I should give up the McDonald's and Burger King and Pizza Hut and soda and candy forever, and start smoking instead. That would still be unhealthy, but it could be healthier than a junkfood addiction.

Yeah, no more junkfood or fastfood, I'll just smoke instead. Wait, no, that's crazy! Or is it? . . .