The thing to remember about Food Inc….

…is that it is trying to manipulate you. How? With lots of shocking images of industrial food production. They aren’t pretty, but then there’s no shortage of ugly things in the world of industry. Heck, there’s no shortage of ugly things in the world in general — one of them is blogging at you right now!

The problem is that what Food Inc. seeks to do is take the revulsion you feel for that ugliness and the rare (but let’s face it, inevitable) mistakes of the modern food system and try to turn it into political activism — and that makes it propaganda.

Ugly or no, the modern food system is the reason most of us are even alive to watch a film like Food Inc.. That system has many urgent problems, problems that need to be addressed soberly and constructively. The makers of Food Inc., however, aren’t interested in that, but rather with simply burning the whole thing to the ground — and throwing away the decades of advances responsible for feeding people and extending life expectancies the world over. They advocate a perfect, organic utopia that will never, indeed CAN never, exist.

So if you are concerned about what you’re eating, go talk to some farmers. Get informed — get involved! But get involved a real discussion about the real issues. Don’t get seduced by the sensationalism and easy answers served up in Food Inc..

And with that I’ll get off my own personal soap box, thank you very much. Monday, we return to our regularly scheduled programming. Happy weekend — and happy movie going — to all!