COASTAL POST
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Bolinas CA 94924
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August,2000
GM Food$ and Market Myth$
by Frank Scott
Among the rationales for corporate capital’s genetically altered food
marketing is an alleged solution to problems of global hunger . This
argument concurs with the old population myth, the one that says there
are too many people and not enough food and that “they” will use up all
of “our” resources if we don’t stop “them” from procreating. Both ideas
are nonsense and would be laughable if they were not , tragically,
accepted by so many good people.
The over-population argument originates with Malthus, the 19th century
apologist for the twin moral obscenities of appalling destitution
alongside disgraceful wealth. His theories about expanding populations
of poor people and diminishing crops with which to feed them have long
been discredited. You wouldn’t know that to hear the present generation
of corporate apologists for the coexistence of wretched riches alongside
pathetic poverty.
The idea that there is a shortage of food is a comfort to societies
which madly and blindly over-consume, while complaining about the poor
folks who just can’t seem to get enough pizzas or condoms. The truth is
that there is, and probably always has been, a sufficient food supply
for the people alive at any given moment. The problem for those who go
hungry is not a shortage of food, but a shortage of money with which to
buy food in a cash or credit economy.
Some people eat too much, gain weight, suffer poor health and die
young. Other people don’t eat enough, lose weight, suffer poor health
and die young. Both groups could be healthier and live longer if we
would focus more attention on the the political economics of
societies, and less on nonsense about a shortage of food or an excess
of people.
Especially damaging when combined with the old over-population myth is
present corporate propaganda about increasing food supplies by
producing an abundance of laboratory-created calories . This will only
benefit capital in its marketing of food, based on buying and selling
among those with money, and the hell with the rest. It will also
threaten agriculture itself, with new and unknown outcomes of this
tampering with nature that focuses on profit now, and research about
outcomes later.
Crowded and hungry populations are mainly the result of a society’s
material development, and the status of its women . The two are closely
related: developed societies have smaller families, reasonably adequate
health care and birth control , and especially, emancipated women who
will not allow their bodies to simply be treated as nature’s maternity
ward. Those societies have better fed populations, even though some of
them have to import much of their food supply. If they need more food,
they buy it. So much for a food shortage.
Nobody has an empty stomach because there is no food. People go hungry
because they have empty wallets. Those with money go on diets, those
without money go hungry. Should we cut the food supply to the
overweight and unhealthy , who are forced to take drugs to fight the
diseases brought on by too much food? Does that sound stupid? Under a
system in which money equals food and most people haven’t enough money,
the idea that more food will feed more people is even more stupid.
It may be possible to create healthier food supplies that will better
the lives of humanity, but that isn’t likely under a system that
works to the advantage of some only at the expense of many.
Commercials about feeding the hungry with new GM foods are worth as
much belief as used car ads . At least the car dealers often humorously
acknowledge their ridiculous claims. Corporate capital hires shills,
like the cadaverous David Brinkley, to chant its market mantras in
serious tones. They should be accompanied by laugh tracks .
Having recently turned its back on the television convention fiascos ,
our public has shown its ability to disregard these multi -million
dollar corporate facades for hysterical irrelevance masquerading as
democracy . We would do well to be as critical of corporate food
marketing, which is only different in that one pollutes our minds,
while the other contaminates our bellies. Both are bad for our health,
and equally dangerous to the planet and its reproductive systems, on
which we depend for our future.
Parson Malthus offered his 19th century rationale for poverty and wealth
by claiming they were acts of nature and could not be changed by
society. Present fables about over-population and feeding the hungry by
creating laboratory food products continue the mythological
rationalizations of injustice and greed.
We need new systems of political and economic governance, with
democratic control of resources that will benefit all, not just some.
How many people there are and how much food they can buy are less
important than how much power those people have over their society,
their planet, and its resources.
No amount of genetically created, privately owned food products will
help feed anyone who is hungry, in a world in which finance is
controlled by a minority of corporate capitalists and their minions.
This, while the majority live in debt, despair and hunger. That hunger
is the result of problems with social justice , freedom and democracy,
all of which are related, and none of which can be solved in a
corporate laboratory .
Under the reign of corporate capital, we have material abundance
combined with spiritual sterility, and a murderously wasteful society
that scapegoats the poor and “other” people of the world. Myths about
population and fables about food need to be countered by information
that can help end the belief in such nonsense, and begin the formation
of a democratic, peaceful and just society.
frank scott
http://www.marin.cc.ca.us/~frank
email: [log in to unmask]
225 laurel place, san rafael ca. 94901
(415)457 2415 fax(415)457 4791
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