Wendell Berry on the "industrial eater"
"The industrial eater is, in fact, one who does not know that eating is an agricultural act, who no longer knows or imagines the connections between eating and the land, and who is therefore necessarily passive and uncritical... We still (sometimes) remember that we cannot be free if our minds and voices are controlled by someone else. But we have neglected to understand that we cannot be free if our food and its sources are controlled by someone else. The condition of the passive consumer of food is not a democratic condition. One reason to eat responsibly is to live free."
- Wendell Berry
Comments
This is the kind of thinking we could use more of in this country. Actually, it'd be helpful if people would think at all instead of following the crowd, and getting sucked into every sales pitch that comes their way! But how can we lay blame? For too long now, the government-monopoly, compulsory (forced), public school system has been teaching generation after generation just that...don't think. Just wait for the answer from an "expert". If you are on this website, I have to assume that you wish to swim against the tide. So do a major clearing of the cobwebs from inside your brain, on the issues of freedom, community, and our food system, and RUN out to find any Wendell Berry book. You will be challenged and filled with hope that there are still lucid voices in America.
Posted by: Jana Ball | December 30, 2006 10:15 PM