Individual choices don’t generally overpower corporate actions anymore.

Reading an article about “making better for choices” and generally getting away from processed food angered me today. What angers me even more were some of the comments.

I really should just skip the comments. Every time.

Talking about steps people can take to get away from highly-processed foods, including: 

— shopping local and organic; 

— making up whole meals in advance; 

— exercising the body to promote the kind of well-being that makes the body “want” more nutritious foods;

— removing yourself from the dependency on corporate food by growing your own;

All of these are lovely ideas, but they do not take into account those who are trapped by those same corporate policies:

— working multiple low-wage jobs to stay housed and keep the lights and heat on;

— living in neighborhoods that are filled with low-rent properties, which are poorly maintained by absentee landlords and zoned against green spaces and large-scale gardening;

— not having enough time or energy to prepare whole meals from scratch (because you have three jobs);

— not earning enough money to pay the higher cost of whole, healthy foods;

— highly-processed foods are subsidized by the government and corporations, while fresh produce is not;

— virtual wholesale control of large-scale farming and production, at the deliberate cost of family-owned operations;

— reduced access to post-high school education for the majority of Americans, especially those who are poor and/or of color.

Tell me that this is NOT some sixty-year conspiracy to shrink the middle class and return this country to the semi-feudal state of affairs that existed 150 years ago. 

I won’t be convinced.