Theres been a story making the rounds about how Facebook founder and multi-billionaire Mark Zuckerberg is following a diet that involves him eating only meat that he kills himself. He doesnt idolize Ted Nugent; it is his effort to gain a greater appreciation for the foods he eats. Zuckerberg says hes eating healthier food, becoming more of a vegetarian and learning a lot about sustainable farming and raising animals.
Really, who gives a crap? And someone needs to friend Big Z and tell him that he isnt a vegetarian if he eats meat occasionally. You arent more or less of a vegetarian, you either are or you arent. Kind of like being pregnant.
Zuckerberg has a great story. Hes made a fortune thanks to nobody but himself and serves as a great example of how people can still accomplish amazing things in America. But over the past year there have been a couple of stories about The Big Z that worry me.
First there was the news last spring that Zuckerberg was committing $100 million (you must say this with your Dr. Evil voice) to Newark, NJs failed school system, a school system that already spends about $22,000 per kid. Hed be better off throwing the money into the Hudson River, at least hed see where its going. On a side note, if spending money on education like a drunken sailor and having exorbitantly high taxes were a successful formula, New Jersey would be the crown jewel of the United States. In case you dont know, we aint. Anyway
The Zuckerberg Diet story is the height of arrogance, conceit and any other negative adjective that you can come up with to describe the condition where the super rich and successful decide that they are going to show the rest of us little people how to live. Zuckerberg says that hes killing his own meat because at a pig roast he had at his home guests talked about not wanting to think about the fact that the pig was alive at some point. He states that this attitude is irresponsible.
Most people are too busy deal with this kind of silly navel gazing and Zuckerberg and his cronies are out of touch; the vast majority of meat eaters have no problem dealing with the this thing was once alive, issue. When our society progressed to the point where we produced more food with less resources, do you think people wasted time wondering about the kind of life their liverwurst had before it was liverwurst? Doubtful. But I digress.
I wonder if Zuckerbergs wealthy pals feel the same way about the gold and diamonds they wear; will they only sport jewelry with precious metals and stones that they themselves have mined with their callous-free mitts? After all, the working conditions of those who actually mine these materials are pretty harsh, and the plight of these workers is at least as bad as that of a soon-to-be-slaughtered pig.
Maybe the Silicon Valley movers and shakers can all grow and harvest the cotton and other natural materials needed to make their clothes. Id really be impressed if Zuckerberg and his elitist cadre made their own toothpaste. And t-shirts with witty sayings on them.
If you read the story its clear that all Zuckerberg is doing is following the high-tech, high-wealth Silicon Valley crowd. People want to give him credit for being responsible when all he is doing is acting like one of the sheep he will kill for lamb chops, or mutton if its an older sheep. He also needs to know that he shouldnt feel guilty about not having to be concerned where is next meal is coming from or how its being produced. He can be a responsible citizen without being a sap.
This movement is clearly not a well-thought out one. Well, not thought out for anyone who has to work and raise a family and worry about making ends meet. The reality is that we are not an agrarian society anymore and we do not need to devote a majority of our work force to producing food. Which is a good thing, because us regular folk dont want to work on farms. Farm work sucks.
The dirty little secret that skulks in the shadows of the organic farming/sustainable farming movement is that a lot more man and woman power is needed to produce food this way. Not only dont we have the people to do this, we dont have the land. And even if we had the land, where would the labor come from?
Heres a good bet, the rich who are currently play farming wouldnt be at the top of the list of the new farm labor crowd.
My bet is that Zuckerberg and his pals would have commoners shifted to food production, while those at the top of the social and economic pyramid could feel good about themselves and appreciate their food more. This move to shift members of society to farming was a big plank in Pol Pots platform to reform Cambodia. That didnt turn out so well, by the way. But at least wed learn a lesson and feel more of a connection to what we eat.
So I hope Mark Z and his Silicon Valley buds are happy with themselves. Im sure the animals they slay will be happier knowing that they will be eaten by people who really care about them.
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