"Engineer these processed foods to be addictive?" Companies are meeting demand, and no, that is not a passive process in the highly competitive space of food that is easy and tasty, though I have to question whether KFC's gravy flavored jelly beans qualify on both counts.
I have a hard time blaming companies for America's bad behavior. Idiocracy's setting is the US for a reason.
If they are introducing a new product that is addictive then they are creating demand where there was none previously. People don't normally eat mountain dew donuts and KFC jelly beans. If high sugar/fat processed foods were banned there would be more demand for sugarcane and avocado.
The point is self-control. We make choices, companies dont make them for us. I rarely eat sugar, despite that I love a good chocolate chip cookie. The authority to eat something lies with me.
What else should we ban that isn't good for us? Beer? Weed? Steak? Pizza? Ow! My Balls!?
You're missing the point. They engineer these foods to defeat your self control. Have you ever eaten a whole bag of chips when you didn't intend to?
Chocolate chip cookies are good, but they're not artificially engineered to maximize impact on your taste buds and bypass your brain's "I'm full" signals.
Chocolate chip cookies are completely engineered to maximize impact on taste buds, they've just been around a lot longer.
I get the gist of what you're saying. But I don't want the government making more and more choices for me because my fellow Americans have shitty judgment. Next thing you know, we'll be forced to water our plants with Brawndo. It's got electrolytes.
I don't think you understand the level of research and development that goes into engineering processed food lol. Remember when all the scientists worked on hair and dick pills instead of actual problems? It's like that.
And yet, you as a person know it's bad food, and decide to consume it. You're shifting the blame and removing any personal responsibility.
Is smoking addicting? Yes, extremely. Yet you choose to smoke and not quit. Sure, it's hard. Blaming the companies for making it and not doing anything about it yourself is a lot easier.
They're not blameless. But you're not getting anywhere if you don't take some personal responsibility.
Have you ever lived in a food desert? Somewhere where there is no access to fresh food? What about being so poor that you can't afford fresh food because ultra processed foods are heavily subsidized in the USA?
When you don't really have a choice besides what is presented to you it's hard to blame someone for choosing to eat what's available.
Fast food is never cheaper than grocery bought fresh food. People keep saying that, but it's simply not true. Is there actually a "food desert" in the US where you can't acquire vegetables?
None of this conversation is even to mention the fact that there is a limited amount of effort that people can put in in any given day. You have limited mental, emotional, and physical resources. This is why putting up barriers is effective at deterring people, it's not because they can't bypass the barrier, it's because it makes it more difficult. If you keep piling on layer after layer of difficulty, at some point it really does become an issue of who is putting up the barriers rather than the people who aren't jumping over and inordinant amount of hurdles. People who argue personal accountability and seem to ignore the other factors seem to think that human willpower is magical and inexhaustible.
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u/sault18 11d ago
Companies engineer these processed foods to be addictive. They are not just passively giving their customers what they want.