Tastes awful, needs more filling
Your recent cover story by Gary Ruskin and Juliet Shor, entitled “Junk food nation” [August 23] was chock full of baseless jabs at the food industry and out-of-hand emotional dismissals of common-sense approaches. However, it was curiously sparse in terms of real evidence to support their dismissals, or even basic common sense. Let’s examine:
The notion that lack of exercise, and not so much food, is largely responsible for our fattening up is waved away by the authors as if it could not possibly be true. However, there is no backup to support this dismissal. In fact, over the past several decades, while our kids have been getting fatter, their average caloric intake has risen, roughly, by a mere 1 percent, while their physical activity rates have plummeted by about 20 percent. This fact alone is enough to render most of the article nothing but alarmist nonsense.
They laugh at the idea that food companies are not responsible for our fattening, as if we are all mindless sheep, powerless to fend off a TV advertisement for Oreos or a billboard for a Big Mac. I take offense to the notion that I possess no self-control! Not only that, but they pay no heed whatsoever to parents’ roles in what their children eat.
They make a great many claims about the influence of “big food” over the government, but fail to construct anything but weak, thrice-removed links based on campaign contribution figures. Nowhere is any causality established.
They attack industry lobby groups like Center for Consumer Freedom, but base their attack solely on the fact that CCF doesn’t hold public health advocates in the highest of regards, and promotes the industry’s point of view. This alone is nowhere near enough to discredit any group.
Their only solid figure is a Wall Street Journal poll indicating that the majority of Americans support tighter restrictions on public school food. While this alone is all well and good, it is obvious that the authors are using the common ploy of “What About The Children!?” to loosely tie the entire obesity debate to defenseless kids. This is a common tactic of shameless politicians, but it has no place in journalism.
They translate that one narrowly tailored WSJ poll on school food into the odd conclusion that America demands a “vigorous government response” to the obesity “epidemic.” Huh? That just doesn’t follow. Not only that, but any lack of action on the part of the government is, according to the authors, automatically a case of the government protecting the profits of “big food.” What a mendacious set of conclusions!
It is quite clear that the authors came to the table with a viewpoint in mind, and then set about the task of trying to justify it. This is dishonest journalism, plain and simple. It is not reporting; it is the pushing of an agenda, no better than the industry lobbyists they so abhor. However, if the authors really wanted to push their viewpoint, the least they could have done was present some solid facts and figures to back it up, rather than relying on guilt-by-association logical fallacies and baseless dismissals of common-sense approaches. Not only was the article dishonest, it was poorly delivered and shabbily researched.
Evan F. Williams
Charlottesville
CORRECTIONS
In last week’s Get Out Now section we listed the Charlie Pastorfield and The Believers show on two different dates at Satellite Ballroom. The correct date was Friday, August 26. We apologize to any Pastorfield fans who missed the show.