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| Rob's Soapbox | ||
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Congratulations!
You have finally landed on the one page on this entire site (and on the entire internet for that matter) that is purely without bullshit... my soapbox page. There are a lot of times during our show that, whether it's because of time constraints and other obligations, I don't always get to address some issues that I feel don't get the attention they deserve. There are even more times when I just don't feel like waiting until the show the next day to get some things off my chest. Thus, I have started the "Rob's Soapbox" page. If you have clicked on this page looking for someone to coddle your fragile sense of self-esteem, or tell you what you want to hear or to reinforce your outdated world view, then exit this page right now and go somewhere else. If you are in search of the last forum for reason and common sense left in the world, then sit back, relax, and enjoy. I make only one promise with this soapbox page... if you read long enough and often enough, you will eventually be offended. So here's my latest soapbox. Listen up, 'cause you just might learn something... |
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"ANOTHER DEFEAT FOR THE FOOD POLICE" America was founded on the principle of freedom in all areas. As long as you weren't violating anyone else's rights, you could do, say, feel, try, eat, drink and think anything you wanted to about anyone, anywhere. Then came the 1960s. Those damn hippies ruined everything and we've never recovered. We have become a nation obsessed with controlling other peoples' behavior. We do it whether we honestly believe that the behavior in question is interfering with someone else's rights or not. It began with smoking. In the beginning, the anti-smoking campaign was masked as a violation of other peoples' rights by using the second hand smoke argument. In an attempt to "protect the innocent," we spent 30 years demonizing smokers and making almost every building in the nation smoke free. If the anti-smoking crowd was really, truly motivated by protecting people from second hand smoke against their will, they would declared victory and allowed honest hard working Americans to continue smoking in the privacy of their own homes. That's when the truth came out. It wasn't ok that Americans were still smoking on new terms; the truth was that we needed to control their behavior and stop smoking all together. As I write this, there are countless laws waiting to be passed in dozens of states to outlaw smoking in cars and peoples' personal homes. Next up, we outlaw the behavior completely because the control police must control your behaviors. (Never mind that prohibition proved that this won't work). Once the smoking police proved that Americans' behavior can at least be demonized, if not controlled, the floodgates were open and have never shut. We have spent the past 4 decades trying to control all aspects of other peoples' behavior. We have tried to ban guns in a nation founded on the right to bear arms, we tell people what they can and can't say in a nation of free speech, and we tell people what they can and can't watch in their own homes in a nation founded on privacy rights. Many people spend their entire lives telling other people what is and isn't ok when it comes to raising their own children. Others decide they want a hand in how you handle your own personal health care, and still others try to control your personal decision to either protect or not protect yourself, whether it be riding a bike without a helmet, driving a car without a seat belt or having sex without a condom. The newest controlling police to have the most clout in our society is the food police, a handful of busy-bodies who are so appalled that you have the audacity to eat food that tastes good that they feel you must be stopped to protect yourself from… well... you. The food debate in America may be the breaking point. This may finally be the topic that causes us to all stand up in unison and say, "Enough is enough." If it's not food, then it will be alcohol. Once the control police attack America's liquor, they will lose. This nation loves its hooch too much… but I'm getting ahead of myself. The food police simply cannot tolerate you choosing what goes into your body or your children's bodies. For a while, just like the smoking police, they tried to "educate" you on why you should eat healthier and exercise more, but when they saw that America wasn't choosing that option, they sprung into action and started trying to force you to change your behavior. Sodas and junk food have been banned from schools, restaurants have been publicly maligned and ridiculed for having larger portions of fat-filled foods, and companies have been sued for the ingredients in some of their foods that we freely choose to consume. Yet, the food police aren't winning. America is fighting back. In the beginning, restaurants acquiesced by eliminating larger sized portions and in some cases, getting rid of their fattier dishes. Healthy alternatives were added to the menus to appease the food police and, by extension, offer America the choices we really wanted. Then, the strangest thing happened; America decided, on its own, to tell the food police to screw off. Restaurants reported minimal, often non-existent, sales of their healthy choices. Additionally, in lieu of the now missing "super sized" meals, customers were simply; imagine this, ordering twice as much. Many restaurants started to once again eliminate or minimize their healthy choices and began to bring back exceptionally fattening entrees. One of the more famous ones was the Burger King "meatnormous" omelet breakfast sandwich which increased Burger King's breakfast sales by 20% in its first year, proving that America loves its fat food. Recently, another nail was driven into the coffin of the food police. Carl's Junior and its Eastern sister, "Hardees," recently introduced giant sized, fat filled burgers. In one case an enormous burger is covered with, of all things, steak! The results speak for themselves as the restaurants business has soared based on sales of enormous, fat filled entrees. Here are some excerpts from the recent story profiling the success of Carl's Junior and its fattening new choices: And what did CKE Restaurants Inc. do? The operator of Hardee's and Carl's Jr. unveiled a jumbo-sized cheeseburger smothered in sliced steak. "I think the health craze is happening mostly among journalists," said Andrew Puzder, CKE's president and chief executive officer.The key strategy is simple: Give people what they want, not what they think is good for them. "The way people like to think they eat, and the way they actually eat is usually very different," Puzder said. He pointed out that CKE puts salads and low-carb burgers on its menus. "We sell very few of them," he said. You can read the entire article by clicking here
The food police will have all sorts of asinine arguments to lamely try to refute the American consumer and there is no sign that they are backing down any time soon. This summer will see a book blaming fast food joints for childhood obesity and a another similar movie next year, but at least so far, the American people are holding their own in this battle. Long live the fat American.
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