[sudo-discuss] DystopiaNews: "Let them eat bugs!"

[GtwoG PublicOhOne]

YOs-

The oligarchy has its own vision of the World of Tomorrow, and the world
they're preparing for us to live in whether we like it or not.  I'll be
writing occasional pieces about items in the news, to point out what's
behind the chirpy spin.  This is the first of many.  Fasten your seat
belts and keep a barf bag handy.  

-G.


Let Them Eat Bugs. 

The United Nations today released a report that touted the benefits of
eating insects as a solution to world hunger. 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-22508439  

Hint: it's not really about hunger, it's about making you submit.

Humans have four main categories for things they could potentially put
in their mouths:  Food, Not-food, Dirt, and People (cannibalism).  (The
categories "Medicine," "Drugs," and "Poison" serve a different set of
purposes.)

Food is stuff you want to eat: such as a piece of fruit.  Not-Food is
stuff you don't want to eat, but the thought of eating it doesn't gross
you out: such as a piece of paper.  Dirt is stuff you don't want to eat,
and the thought of eating it does gross you out: such as a turd.  And
the thought of eating people (cannibalism) also grosses you out: such as
roast leg of human. 

Much of this is cultural.  In American culture, cow is Food (beef); in
Hindu culture such as in India, cow is People (reincarnation of human
souls).  In some regions of Africa, fish is Dirt.  To Muslims and Jews,
pork is Dirt, and to Jews, shellfish is also Dirt.  In some parts of the
world, insects are Food, but to most of us in America, insects are Dirt. 

The fact that culture plays a role does not change the fact that the
thought of eating something you've been raised to regard as Dirt (or
People), triggers feelings of disgust and often an involuntary vomit
reflex.  Try eating breakfast while looking at the results of a picture
search for "feces".

It's not about world hunger.

The wealthy nations presently throw away enough food to feed the hungry
of the world.  Beyond that, even a slight reduction in meat consumption
would be sufficient to free up enough vegetable calories and protein to
do the job. 

In terms of ecological impacts, the root causes of hunger are
overpopulation (animals including humans multiply up to the limits of
their food supply) and overconsumption (e.g. Americans are about 5% of
the world's people, consuming about 28% of the world's resources). 
There is no real empirical need to persuade you to eat wormburgers
("would you like flies with that?"). 

However, the oligarchy has no desire to offend Big Church by supporting
family planning and birth control.  And the oligarchy has no desire to
offend its own major religion, Big Capitalism, by supporting lower
consumption levels as a cultural value.  Why piss off your cronies, when
you can manipulate the masses and open up a whole new "market" with vast
opportunities for profit...?

Notice what wasn't said.

The UN didn't say "encourage family planning."  The UN didn't say "equal
rights for women" or even "equal education for women", which are known
to reduce birth rates to sustainable levels and increase economic
security as women gain choices and power.  The UN didn't say "wealthy
nations should reduce waste."  The UN didn't say "eat a little less meat
each week." 

Also the UN didn't say "stop growing corn to produce alcohol to put in
your gas tanks, and use that land to grow food for humans."  And the UN
didn't say "let's find ways to turn algae into food," algae being an
abundant source of vegetable matter, usually thought of as Not-Food but
rarely thought of as Dirt.  How do you feel about eating a burger made
from algae?  How do you feel about eating a burger made from beetles?  

This is a useful technique for analyzing media: looking at what isn't
said, the problems that aren't mentioned, the solutions that aren't
discussed, the proposals that aren't on the table.  Very often the
exclusion zone isn't obvious.  Would you have thought of algae? 

What it's really about: shock & awe.

Envision the headline, "UN urges Muslims to eat pork to fight world
hunger!" or "UN urges Jews to eat shellfish to fight world hunger!"  The
outrage would be obvious.  Even if you happen to like pork or shellfish,
the thought of your Jewish and Muslim friends being somehow obligated
(typically by economic pressure) to eat them, would make you want to
stand with them and fight for their right to say No.

Eating bugs is part of the cultural "shock and awe" treatment on the
American public, along with "no more privacy" and "free speech zones"
and mass foreclosures and domestic drones.  If you can be forced (not by
threat of prison, but by threat of economic consequences if you don't
"choose" to do as you're told) to violate one of your most visceral
personal and cultural limits, a limit that's backed up by your vomit
reflex, you aren't going to resist when they try to force you to do
other things against your will. 

Your will does not matter to the oligarchy.  Only their will matters. 
And their goal is to impose their will upon yours by every means
possible.  If they get you to "like it" or at least "adapt," it becomes
that much easier to get you to "like it" or "adapt" to the next thing
and then the next.

It's like getting people to "accept" pervasive domestic surveillance by
first getting them to "accept" torture as policy.  If people don't
revolt against the biggest outrage of all, they aren't going to revolt
against the next smaller one, and the next after that.  Failure to
revolt is acceptance by acquiescence.

Ultimately it's not about the bugs, or even the algae.  It's about
getting you to submit:  "You are going to do what we tell you.  And you
are going to like it.  Because we say so." 

As far as the oligarchy is concerned, it's all about human husbandry: 
YOU are Food.

-G.  (creative commons; non-commercial use, with attribution)