The Politics of Food: Freedom to Choose ≠ Freedom to Impose Costs on Others

Image courtesy stevendepolo via Creative Commons.

For my blog post today, I’m sharing a recent post I wrote for One Green Planet, a website dedicated to ethical choices. Here’s an excerpt from "The Politics of Food: Freedom to Choose ≠ Freedom to Impose Costs on Others":

"Although nothing Glenn Beck says surprises me anymore, it seemed rather unconservative to lambast Michelle Obama’s efforts to combat childhood obesity. Beck is quoted as saying, 'Get your damned hands off my fries, lady. If I want to be a fat-fat-fattie and shovel french fries all day long, that is my choice.'

On the face of it, the statement sounds reasonable, if not overly bombastic. After all, this is supposed to be a free country. But those who express such sentiments are often the same people who oppose mandated health insurance. Ironically, if an uninsured obese child or adult faces years of health care costs they can’t afford, or winds up in an emergency room, the rest of us foot the bill through our increased insurance and health care costs. And when meat and dairy products, processed foods, and Big Ag are subsidized through our tax dollars, while organic, small farms are not, all of us wind up paying the costs of unhealthy diets, even if we personally choose to eat healthy, plant-based, organic foods."

Read the complete essay.

For a humane world,

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm, Above All, Be Kind, and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDx talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach"

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