The Bronx Is America
by tristero
Bloomberg's proposed ban on super-size sodas strikes me as on the Big Brothery side - which Bloomberg has a propensity for, as those who protested the Republican Convention will recall. I think heavy taxes make more sense.
Then again, when i read that 70% of the Bronx is overweight and 1 in 3 Bronx residents is obese, Bloomberg's proposal becomes a bit more comprehensible. Education and access to better food isn't helping nearly enough as anyone would like.
I'd still like to see taxes instead. But at this point, it's veering close to a public health emergency. I can't condemn Bloomberg's proposal, but if it ends up morphing into a tax instead, I'd be much happier.
Special note: Whenever I blog about this, the comments become peppered with food industry representatives masquerading either as lovers of freedom or experts on nutrition and biology. They deflect the conversation with ad hominems, non-sequiturs and irrelevancies and try to evade the basic issue.
That issue is very simple and it is not about freedom. It is about the incontrovertible fact that the modern food industries cynically and systematically manipulate basic human instincts in order to maximize profits. They do not, with any seriousness or consistency, take enough account of the effects that their often-dangerous products have on the health of the average American (and the environment).
The only issue of substance here is how to change the situation, to somehow get the companies to stop making money when they provide products - such as super-sized sodas - that injure their fellow Americans. This is not about the "freedom" to harm yourself. This is about industries exploiting deep basic desires that override both willpower and freedom of choice. No one who's looked at this seriously argues the basic thrust of the science, that massive quantities of sugar and other empty calories are deeply unhealthy for humans The only issue, a very difficult issue, is how to stop the companies from providing Americans so many dangerous - and dangerously ubiquitous- food choices.