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bad habits' is the fact that every one of us has grown up in a culture that, for its own profit, has done nothing BUT encourage those very same bad habits. I'd like to expound upon a prime example.
In the 60's and early 70's when I was in high school, we did not have soft drink machines, Taco Bells, candy machines, etc., on school property because the prevailing societal mores said that it was not good to encourage kids, especially kids in a custodial environment like a school, to indulge in harmful foods--especially since that would suggest that such foods had the 'blessing' of the administration. I realize this will seem really quaint to younger DUers, but attention was paid to the ramifications of any action.
In ensuing years, we saw the fight begin for the money of the school kids, and the companies wanting money started calling the shots. I remember many parents protesting at school board meetings about not wanting junk sold to their kids on school grounds, but they were ultimately overruled, most likely by kickbacks that either enriched the school district or the pockets of school board members. The attempt by parents to keep their kids out of the gunsights of the junk food companies failed, but not for their lack of trying.
Fast forward to today, and you get the astounding RW argument that taking junk food out of the schools 'destroys free choice'! Everyone, including children, should have free choice to eat junk food anytime, anywhere! This of course is the mantra applied to everything. My argument is that even if every junk food was taken off the market tomorrow, each of us would be perfectly able to consume whatever junk food we wanted (cookies, burritos, etc.) but that we would have to cook it first. Then we get to the REAL argument--people actually believe that corporations should be able to sell whatever crappy stuff they want with whatever propaganda/social engineering they want to use in its pursuit of more money.
And so now it is all up to us to refuse to eat/use/act/do anything that might harm us, even though the majority of the airwaves, radiowaves, magazine ads, etc., push us inexorably toward the things that are bad for us. I submit that this is not the normal way a culture works; generally, a culture that is not self-destructive will attempt to put its main focus on emphasizing actions that are mainly good for the culture and the individual. Am I the only one whose mother didn't give us snacks because it would "ruin our appetite" for dinner? That was the culture back then--you didn't eat all day. Now, because people have been gulled into snacking all day they are, not surprisingly, becoming greatly overweight. Who benefited from the surge of articles about how snacking was good for you because it upped your metabolism? Only the snack food companies. It was the only way they could sell more of their fast food.
Do you see what's happening? In the very near past, CULTURE drove the MARKET--now the MARKET drives the CULTURE. Our 'culture' now consists almost entirely of the actions/attitudes needed to move the most product the fastest, no matter whether that product is junk food, American Idol, or weight loss pills.
So, in conclusion, blaming people who believe and participate in the debased 'culture' they have grown up in is simply blaming the victim. The fact that a few thousand, or a few million, people can see through this farce of a culture doesn't mean that everyone will, or that you should expect everyone should.
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