Monday, February 2, 2015

Soda and Circuses ?


Once upon a time, in ancient Rome, a satirical poet observed:
The people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions, and all else, now concerns itself no more, and longs eagerly for just two things - bread and circuses! (Juvenal, Satires1)
But in our day, now that the once nourishing bread staple has become “gluten-toxic” to tens-of-thousands, we seem to have found the perfect substitute for our sedation. What better companion (or not2) could we have invented to stash within reach of our numerous e-circuses?

But the question is: Have we given up the staff of life for the addictions of life?

When do we clue in that the business of addiction is BIG Business aided by degraded science? Here once again (déjà vu upon déjà vu), we close our eyes and ears to the witness of real science and sensibility. We eat, drink, read, watch, smoke, inject, and medicate with things that have been engineered to maximize their addictive potential.3

Here are two samples of a voice that the majority seem to have ignored:

Salt Sugar Fat: NY Times Reporter Michael Moss (Time: 18:26 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3fiYKnYECQ



In Conversation with Michael Moss on Salt Sugar Fat | GBCHealth Conference 2013
(Time: 44:50 min.)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxFmqajTn3c
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1. Translation from http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Juvenal/
Another translation from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses
… Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, [we] the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses. (Juvenal, Satire 10.77–81)
2.  http://time.com/3558281/soda-tax-berkeley/
3. See also: http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.ca/2013/07/in-house-of-our-friends.htmlhttp://www.dejavu-times.blogspot.ca/2013/03/blissful-ignorance.html


 
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