Observations
About a year ago, some dude whom no one had previously heard of named Morgan Spurlock released his documentary about the dangers of fast food (particularly Mickey D's) Super Size Me. Spurlock's documentary followed him through a rather hellish thirty days, in which he restricted himself to eat nothing but McDonald's food (well, we all know this already. I'm just saying it because).
Bleagh.
The results were pretty predictable. Spurlock's health went off the high dive, and by the time the thirty days were up, he was in a, well...pretty bad state. He escaped death, and that's the important thing, but his escape was pretty narrow. On top of this, and pretty obviously, he gained a lot of weight.
Sprinkled in with footage of his ordeal, Spurlock included numerous little snippets exposing various nasty parts of the fast food industry, and what it does to people. Combine this information with Spurlock's disastrous health by the end of the documentary, and you had a pretty damning case against fast food.
And after this damning evidence was released, what happened?
Not much, it seems. All that really happened was that McDonald's removed the Super Size option on their fries, and began to offer some more healthy foods, which no one really eats anyway. I mean, what kid would choose apple slices over fries? Yeah (oh, and, as Spurlock said in the video release of Super Size Me, McDonald's didn't seem to have fully repented of it's ways, as it also launched, along with it's health foods, the fat'n'grease crammed McGriddle sandwich).
Anyway, point is, Spurlock's documentary doesn't appear to have cured America of it's fast food craving. This isn't a failure on his part, as Super Size Me was well made and presented a powerful case against fast food. But I doubt anyone was really converted from eating fast food by it. It maybe only strenghtened the resolve of those who were staying away from it in the first place.
My point? I just seemed to realize something rather sad about the world. It's hard to gain converts to anything. No matter how powerful your evidence, no matter how convincing your case, people don't listen if they don't want to. We keep eating fast food, some of us often, some of us occasionally, even though we know it's wreaking cardiovascular havoc. People still resist what is true, (whether that truth be obvious or harder to find) if it disagrees with whatever habits, worldviews, or beliefs are stuck in their heads. Unfortunate.
However, there's always hope. Keep plugging, Morgan; you might convert us someday.
Bleagh.
The results were pretty predictable. Spurlock's health went off the high dive, and by the time the thirty days were up, he was in a, well...pretty bad state. He escaped death, and that's the important thing, but his escape was pretty narrow. On top of this, and pretty obviously, he gained a lot of weight.
Sprinkled in with footage of his ordeal, Spurlock included numerous little snippets exposing various nasty parts of the fast food industry, and what it does to people. Combine this information with Spurlock's disastrous health by the end of the documentary, and you had a pretty damning case against fast food.
And after this damning evidence was released, what happened?
Not much, it seems. All that really happened was that McDonald's removed the Super Size option on their fries, and began to offer some more healthy foods, which no one really eats anyway. I mean, what kid would choose apple slices over fries? Yeah (oh, and, as Spurlock said in the video release of Super Size Me, McDonald's didn't seem to have fully repented of it's ways, as it also launched, along with it's health foods, the fat'n'grease crammed McGriddle sandwich).
Anyway, point is, Spurlock's documentary doesn't appear to have cured America of it's fast food craving. This isn't a failure on his part, as Super Size Me was well made and presented a powerful case against fast food. But I doubt anyone was really converted from eating fast food by it. It maybe only strenghtened the resolve of those who were staying away from it in the first place.
My point? I just seemed to realize something rather sad about the world. It's hard to gain converts to anything. No matter how powerful your evidence, no matter how convincing your case, people don't listen if they don't want to. We keep eating fast food, some of us often, some of us occasionally, even though we know it's wreaking cardiovascular havoc. People still resist what is true, (whether that truth be obvious or harder to find) if it disagrees with whatever habits, worldviews, or beliefs are stuck in their heads. Unfortunate.
However, there's always hope. Keep plugging, Morgan; you might convert us someday.
posted by James at
3:26 PM
