For those who say food is a matter of choice

[jollyreaper2112]

With the New York Times article about how food is made addictive, this is a great opportunity to ask a question of our conservatives.

Do you believe food is a personal choice? Yeah! You blame companies for making food delicious and selling it to us, you liberal shit! Blah blah personal choice liberty don't take my guns.

Ok. Do you believe in drug prohibition? The drug war? Pretty much any conservative who isn't libertarian does. Why? Drugs are addictive, have no good, kill you ruin communities, blah blah.

So, you don't believe people should be trusted to personal choice with pot or coke or heroin but you do believe they should have that choice with weaponized foods, foods that exploit the same addiction pathways, that the manufacturers have engineered to be addictive and habit-forming.

How do you explain the cognitive dissonance between these two beliefs?

[Angry Dragon]

1. The Answer:

I know you have seen those puzzles that you draw lines between dots to create a picture ...
There never has been a republican could figure out how to do the picture .......... they can not connect the dots

[jollyreaper2112]

2. Heh

The dots clearly indicate a giraffe but they end up seeing a faked birth certificate and a dedication to Kenyan Islamic socialism.

[ThomThom]

6. rednecks smoke and grow cannabis

it is not just a liberal thing
they have for a long time

[chervilant]

3. Addictive food

is the underpinning of several massive industries:

* the diet industry

* the health care industry

* the exercise industry

* the drug industry

* the agri-business industry

*the pesticide and herbicide industry

Plus, it's a big bonus that most addictive foods keep us anesthetized, or completely depressed.

No one wants to hear about how heart disease, obesity, osteoporosis, and diabetes are directly linked to the animal products and processed foods we over-consume. Sad, really ...

[longship]

4. No hamburger. Cheeseburger!

There are no choices. Cheeseburger and Pepsi is all you get.

My advice. Stay away from the Billy Goat Tavern.

[chervilant]

15. Overeaters Anonymous

has helped thousands of compulsive eaters. Those of us who are in recovery still must face the demon of our addiction at least three times a day--as anyone can acknowledge, we MUST have food to live.

I am now a Vegan, and I recognize that the greatest gift my recovery has given me is freedom from relentless, CONSTANT thoughts about food. I'm confident that, as a recovering addict, you can appreciate that aspect of recovery.

[aptal]

17. My mother was in OA for years and is in recovery herself.

The fact still remains one needs food, it is a necessity of life.

And since you are a recovering addict you know, or should, that it isn't the food/drug it is us and our allergy to it.

[aptal]

5. As a recovering addict, I see your comparison as apples to oranges.

The things I have done, seen people do, and heard of people doing for drugs...

I haven't heard much of people stealing from family and friends or pawning all their shit to buy a Double and some fries.

On the other hand, I try to eat as organic as I can, although I love me some Taco Bell from time to time.

[jollyreaper2112]

8. Depends on how far down you've sunk

A fast food meal is cheap for most people with jobs. Drugs are always expensive. People without jobs will steal to eat but that goes for vegans and health nuts, same as fast food slobs.

[aptal]

12. Doing something because you are hungry, which is natural

VS doing something because your DTing is two different things.

You have to eat to live.

You do not have to use to live.

APPLES TO ORANGES!

[jollyreaper2112]

14. depending on your food sensitivities

It can be just like DTing.

[chervilant]

16. Please see my response (15) above

which was intended for you.

[OceanEcosystem]

7. The drugs you mention are probably far stronger in addictive effect.

People love sweet doughnuts and hot, salty french fries, but I think very few people would compare them to, for instance, heroin or cocaine. The addiction and rehab that is associated with heroin or cocaine is far more severe.

I don't think the withdrawal symptoms from quitting doughnuts or french fries are significant - if there are even any symptoms at all.


Your comparison is really quite far off.

[jollyreaper2112]

10. Well

I've heard some pretty subjective experiences. Guy tries all the hard drugs, cigs are the hardest to give up. My mom had a super tolerance for painkillers and needs a far heavier dose than most to get any effect.

One person might not experience an addiction as strongly as the next.

Regardless, what is the conservative threshold for responsibility? At what point is an addictive substance no longer a French fry but w crack rock? When can we no longer trust citizens to exercise personal responsibility and let the government decide instead?

[OceanEcosystem]

11. I think it's really a very blurry line.

I agree with you that it is very difficult to draw a line and say, "OK, drugs below this level of addictiveness are acceptable; drugs above this level are not." But at the end of the day, some things are very addictive, and some are not.


A lot of things are grey in definition; not black and white - yet, there will be one end of the spectrum that is nearly all white and one end that is nearly all black.

[jollyreaper2112]

13. This is true

But nobody contests the black and white extremes, the grey areas are where reasonable people question their beliefs.

[Marie Marie]

9. Sugar is the gateway drug.

It is the substance that we are first introduced to at an early age that triggers the pleasure sensors of our brain.