Wednesday, 23 May 2012
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Does Organic Food Turn You Into a Jerk?
Living in Boulder, land of the perfectly healthy, educated and morally superior, I encounter these jerks everyday.
Imagine sitting at a restaurant.
Organic buyer- Are these rolls gluten free?
Waiter - Let me check.
Organic buyer - If you need to check, the answer is no. What about substituting rice for Quinoa?
Hiking with my friend.
Her - Do you mind if we stop at the Farmer's Market on the way back?
Me - Sure, I love their veggies.
Her - I am going to make sure they don't use any pesticides or raise livestock before I buy from them.
In the local Safeway, there is a "Nut Bar" with a wall of mixed nuts in every variety. There's medical marijuana shops that outnumber Starbucks, but if you light a cigarette you are scorned.
I am all for striving to be healthy, but the moral superiority that organic eaters has always irked me. Apparently I am not the only one. Dr. Kendall J. Eskine, assistant professor of the psychological sciences department at Loyola University in New Orleans, did a study of organic eaters and their level of "asshole-ness" (I made that up). These are his findings:
"the organic-food participants were more judgmental than those in the comfort-food category. They were also more reluctant when asked to volunteer time to help strangers, the study found, offering only 13 minutes vs. the brownie eaters’ 24 minutes. It’s like the group had already fulfilled its moral-justice quota by buying organic, so it felt all right slacking off in other ethics-based situations. Eskine labeled it “moral licensing.”"
It reminds me of a South Park episode where the world was being overtaken by the "smug" that was being omitted from hybrids.
Here is the full article.
What do you think?
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- From: BoulderChristina@xanga
- Name: BoulderChristina
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Comments (40)
i'm an asshole
So... I have been an aspiring veg-organic-hippie-yogi-nut for the past ten years or so. Unfortunately, I'm also one of those people who has "quit smoking" about a billion times, for about the same period of time. My mother is an exercise/health freak, complete Ironwoman... So she and I have a lot in common (now). The difference is where our judgement lies. Perhaps I am more lenient because I engage in a socially taboo activity from time to time (and used to be the at the complete opposite end of the spectrum than I am now) but I cannot pass judgement on those who are not going to be as picky about the food they put into their bodies as those in my immediate circle. I also can't judge those who are way crazier about it than me. People are going to do what they are going to do and it is a waste of everyone else's time to try and change them. I say let them hunt all over for free-range and grass-fed products... or let them eat at McDonald's daily! Speaking from experience, change can only happen when you want to create it within yourself - and that goes for becoming less of an asshole too. =)
@BoulderChristina@xanga - Yeah, can you do a study where we take them off their "superior diet" and see if they become nicer, more helpful individuals?! I'd put money on the fact that these people just have an asshole-ish disposition!
take away the right to feel morally superior to others, and you've taken away the only truly significant benefit of eating organic food. now YOU are the asshole!
@sonnigenmai@xanga - neither side SHOULD feel superior based on the food they eat, but one side has now been shown to do so more than the other. that's the point.
I am going to go with the idea that if you are adamant about anything you like like an asshole. It's why I hate hardcore religious people. I love to eat organic and eat healthy, but if I cant I cant. I grow a lot of my own food in my small backyard 4 months out of the year but the rest of the time I just eat normal food like everyone else. I think a lot of people get butthurt when people try to eat healthy and are adamant about it though. I have a lot of friends who have serious health issues and thus at restaurants end up being one of those people who have a lot of demands. If you are their true friend you understand.
You NEED my theory of toxic balance. These health nuts (they don't accept they must die) are in big trouble when they come to the Northeast, with its pollution and toxic waste...the perfect vacuum inside their bodies just SUCKS IN toxins from the environment.... Honey, you need to practice my theory of TOXIC BALANCE with your environment....here in New Jersey the only way you can achieve health is by creating a toxic environment INSIDE your body...be sure the stuff is not carcinogenic or too toxic that it kills you outright...so, a half-pint of scotch a day, plenty of real ice cream, a few grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches, a #4 Subway special with hot peppers,
should keep you going for quite a while...as for pot, well, I don't like what it does to the brain, and don't approve of it. guess you never saw that all-time New Jersey classic movie: Toxic Avenger...it is an absolute must for any modern person. see it, and soon too!You want to make sure that something is organic? Grow it yourself. Don't go around harassing everyone else about what you choose to stick in your gob. =/
@sonnigenmai@xanga - yeah pretty much this.
@Coffee_Kaioken@xanga - I'm a vegetarian and my boyfriend is a huge meat eater. Does it piss me off? Um...well no, not at all frankly. You shouldn't assume that someone who chooses not to eat meat would be "pissed off" that someone else was eating meat. It's sort of a asshole-ish thing to try to piss someone off by doing that (eating meat in a veg*n place) anyways. Why can't you just respect others choices?
I heard a really great joke recently:
How do you know if someone is a vegan?
They'll fucking tell you.
@themeaningofperfect@xanga - Yeah, this. Good to see someone else recognizes the people being assholes about their "education".
@neversettlefordecent@xanga - Are you not seeing the issue here? You wanna lecture about respecting people's choices, go tell the all-natural "go-green" elitists - I mean, activists - to stop getting on our cases for not knowing what's gluten free and what isn't.
Who says I had to actually try? Only the stuck up hardasses would've gotten pissed, and the chill vegetarians wouldn't have been offended, like your provided example. :)
@Coffee_Kaioken@xanga - You are generalizing a group of people. My boyfriend in a environmental scientist (aka he is a "go-greener") and he doesn't eat organic, he fears the "healthy food" isle, and avoids vegetables at all costs. Just because someone cares about the planet does NOT mean that they are: a hippie, a vegetarian, an "elitist", a health nut, etc.. etc. Someone that cares about the planet is just someone that cares about the planet. And someone that eats organically or vegetarian is just someone that cares about what goes into their body or cares about animals. No one is automatically a asshole for caring about the earth we live on or eating organically. Stop with the stereotypes.