Den of the Beastly Bear
Hi Folks!
I've been fulminating this little rant for a while now.
Like most "created" crisis's the ingredients are the same:
A little bit of truth.
A lot of disinformation.
A dash of ignorance.
A healthy dose of fear.
Remove all common sense.
Now with all ingredients mixed together, whip up to a media frenzy, and WA-LA... created crisis!
The particular one that is chaffing my ass these days is the whole *here use deep reverberating Godlike voice* GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD CRISIS!!!
I'm sure you're all familiar, so I won't rehash here.
But I will summarize: Scientists (always evil in these) have genetically modified our wheat, fruits, and vegetables to the point that they are now actually dangerous to consume.
First of all, we humans have been genetically modifying things for centuries...we just called it something different. Selective breeding.
Want proof? Look down at your feet, or in your lap.
That dog, or cat curled up there...a product of genetic modification!!!
Whether it's a Great Dane or Chihuahua, Shitzu or Bulldog none of these occurred in nature!!!
Look outside, admire your beautiful lawn of Kentucky Blue Grass...genetically modified.
Go to your local greenhouse, tell the helpful clerk you'd like to buy a rose bush...they will gladly point you to an area where they have no less than 30 varieties for sale and the ability to order about 150 more, all products of genetic modification!
"Ah Beastly" you say "but these are not food!"
Let me tell you boys and girls, l-o-n-g before technology allowed us into the DNA of plants and animals your food was genetically modified!
Take that morning cup of coffee you enjoy everyday, genetically modified. That's why a pound doesn't cost as much as the family car.
You see once people started roasting coffee beans to drink as a beverage, two things were discovered.
1) the highland species produced the largest, most flavorful beans. Was very hardy, but produced relatively low yield of beans.
2) the lowland species produced bounties of beans that were smaller and lacking in flavor, and they were less hardy and prone to frost damage.
So, enterprising fellows a couple hundred years ago, cross bred the two in an effort to create a hardy bush, resistant to frost that produced large quantities of large, flavorful beans. This new, genetically modified plant made commercial coffee production possible.
The cream for that coffee, and the milk in your cereal, the butter for your toast? Thank the guys that selectively bred domestic cattle to produce the Dairy Cow...genetically modified.
Enjoy a banana on your cereal? Bananas as we know them...genetically modified.
Broccoli, cauliflower? Man made...by genetic modification.
You probably like apples! Delicious, Granny Smith, Fuji, Gala...all genetic modifications.
People used to spend careers, even their whole lives dedicated to creating a fleshier tomato, a drought resistant wheat, a seedless orange....or a Persian cat!!!
Sure technology has allowed us to speed up the process...and there have been some notably failures.
Killer Bees come to mind.
But every time I hear some blowhole spewing forth about how genetically modified foods are killing us... as they sit there eating their organic banana and Granny Smith apple I just shake my head.
I've tried to educate them...but it's much like trying to teach a pig to sing, all it does is waste your time and annoy the pig!
The world as you know it is genetically modified folks, like it or not...me? I embrace the fact that roses smell sweeter because someone spent their life in that pursuit!
Well, that's my two cents worth...
Well, that's my two cents worth...
Here's hoping your day is rosy!
Be Well!!!
Beastly Bear
And who can afford to eat organic? Yeah I'm tired of all the food hoopla. I'm also beyond annoyed at the non-celiac disease gluten free crowd. OK if you have an allergy to it, then don't eat it, but stop the madness that gluten is bad. I'm sick of hearing it. Too many food nazis out there.
ReplyDeleteGot a guy at work that has decided to go vegetarian... We give him a month tops! So now on top of no meat he's going on about genetically altered foods....he just. Won't. Shut. Up. !!!
DeleteYes!! I'm warn out listening to the panic, I just nod my head.
ReplyDeleteMany of these people live in California. Some live in Burbank.
It does seem a preponderance of Looney theories come from the "left" coast! ;-)
DeleteFunny, just yesterday, someone was telling me how grains are killing us. (That's a relief... I actually thought it was the pastries and excessive amounts of chocolate I tend to eat.) There are so many things out there that will kill us. The only thing I know for sure is that eventually, one of them will succeed.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Janna! Yes it seems every day it's something new!!! I expect to read soon that scientists have discovered that saliva will kill you, but only if swallowed in small amounts over a long period of time... Lol
DeleteFirst of all I'm sick of the whole gluten thing. Gluten has been in everything forever and JUST NOW people are having issues? Whatever.. Anything bought in the grocery store has been modified, period. There are a select few ranches across the U.S. where you can actually trace the DNA of their cattle back to where they originally came from and those select few have not been modified. - Ranchers are proud of their cattle and you will pay extra for that clean line of DNA.. - And even tho we personally grow the majority of what we eat out here and for us it is all natural, we're still selective about the seeds we use to plant our gardens. For us, heirloom seeds are the best, even better if you get them from a long time resident, and I mean looong time resident. It's a tough gig this whole eating natural thing and/or expecting unmodified anything, it takes time and it can be pricey so we all hope for the best and at this point, just not having grandchildren or great grandchildren sprouting 2 heads and 8 arms is golden for me. :/
ReplyDeleteLol MiMi, if the great grandchildren DO have two heads....do you have to name each one?
ReplyDelete