Affluence Arrogance and Ignorance
I am Susan Allen this is OpenRange.
The chasm between the haves and have nots continues to widen. When I think of the children this moment dying of starvation in the Sudan or Somalia an article in the May issue of Vogue Magazine makes me livid. Midst the glossy Versace, Lauren and Rolex ads, ( luxury products I might add that cost more than a third world family makes in a year. ) I find yet another article degrading production agriculture, again targeting the beef industry. The author is distraught over antibiotic use in farming and contemplates going vegan until she discovers, “horrors” her greens and beloved kohlrabi are grown in soil fertilized with manure. She completes her three page rant with advice she gleaned from a celebrated organic chef whose restaurant Blue HillNew York, suggests “casually elegant” attire when dining. (an oxymoron, who are the morons? ) His advise to Dunn is to buy only local grass-fed beef and be sure to ask how the animal was raised and what it was eating. Thus poor Jancee concluded that if she doesn’t know where her steak comes from she won’t touch it. Well fork it over then my dear! Unbeknownst to you there are countless folks in this great country that have never cut their teeth on a forty dollar filet mignon. And Ms. Dunn where is the medical proof that veterinary antibiotics in cattle have harmed humans? Malnutrition sure has, so has a vegan diet, (especially dangerous for children). Without veterinary resources, antibiotics and immunizations, quite simply the beef industry would lose it’s production capacity. Meaning In the end, only the affluent, like yourself would be able to afford meat for their family, much like the state of our nation pre world war II, before the advent of production agriculture. I wish you could comprehend how and why it is critical that our country continue to abundantly produce more affordable food than we consume. I get it. Without US food aid my son would never have survived his youth in an Ethiopian orphanage. He was immensely grateful for America’s nutritional assistance. Instead of arrogantly patting yourself on the back for refusing a perfectly good steak, Ms. Dunn why not express gratitude over the fact you have been financially blessed to be able to select your precious locally grown, grass fed beef.
