首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Fight unhealthy food, not fat people It’s hardly breaking news that junk food is bad for us. But just how bad— and just how
Fight unhealthy food, not fat people It’s hardly breaking news that junk food is bad for us. But just how bad— and just how
admin
2013-10-17
37
问题
Fight unhealthy food, not fat people
It’s hardly breaking news that junk food is bad for us. But just how bad— and just how much food companies know about the addictive(添加剂)components of certain foods, and just how much they deliberately target the most vulnerable consumers knowing they are doing damage—is still being discovered. The New York Times offers the latest installment in this weekend’s magazine with an article about the science of junk food addiction.
Nearly everything written about food in the mainstream media relies on the same narrative: Obesity is bad. That kind of reporting is part of what’s keeping us sick.
There’s no denying the fact that the American public has gotten larger in recent decades. Along with getting fatter, we’ve also seen a rise in illnesses like heart disease and certain cancers. Instead of focusing on how our health is hurting, most of the media coverage uses the term " obesity," making the story more about weight than about health—to the point where it’s become an accepted truth that " fat" equals "unhealthy".
That’s not actually the case, though. While "the obesity epidemic" may be a convenient catch-all for the illnesses and health problems related to our food chain, it’s a lazy term and an inaccurate one. Are we actually worried about public health? Or are we offended by fat bodies that don’t meet our thin ideals? In all seriousness: What good does a focus on body size actually do?
If we’re actually concerned about health, then we should focus on health. The addictive qualities of our food, the lack of oversight(监督), the high levels of chemicals and the government subsidies(补贴)to make prices lower making the worst foods the most accessible should concern us and spur us to action.
Nutrient-deficient(营养缺乏)chemically-processed "food" in increasingly larger sizes is bad for all of our bodies, whether we’re fat or thin or somewhere in between. So is the culture in which fast food is able to thrive. Americans work more than ever before; we take fewer vacation days and put in longer hours, especially since the recession hit. The US remains the only industrialized country without national paid parental leave and without compulsory annual vacation time; we also have no federal law requiring paid sick days. 85% percent of American men and 66% of women work more than 40 hours per week. In Norway, for comparison, 23% of men work more than 40-hour weeks, and only 7% of women.
Despite all this work, American income levels remain remarkably divided into the poorest and the richest, with the richest few controlling nearly all of the wealth. In one of the wealthiest countries on earth, one in seven people rely on federal food aid, with most of the financial benefits going to big food companies who are also able to produce cheap, nutritionally questionable food thanks to agricultural subsidies. The prices of the worst foods are artificially depressed, the big food lobbies have enormous power, and the biggest loser is the American public, especially low-income folks who spend larger proportions of their income on food but face systematic impediments(妨碍)to healthy eating and exercise.
With demanding work days, little time off and disproportionate amounts of our incomes going toward things like health insurance and childcare that other countries provide at a lower cost, is it any surprise that we eat fast-food breakfast on our laps in the car and prefer dinner options that are quick and cheap?
Reforming our food system requires major structural changes, not just saying no to put down that bag of chips. We need to push back against corporate interests. Food companies are incredibly good at positing themselves as crusaders(拥护者)for personal choice and entities simply dedicated to giving the public what it wants. Somehow, big food companies have convinced us that drinking a 32oz soda is a matter of personal liberty, and that the government has no place in regulating how much liquid sugar can be sold in a single container.
In fact, we know—and they certainly know—that human beings are remarkably bad at judging how much we’re eating. Food companies use that information to encourage over-consumption, and to target certain consumers who tend to have less disposable income to invest in healthy food—poor people, people of color, kids.
Food is a social justice issue that has disproportionately negative impacts on groups already facing hardship. That should be an issue for every socially conscious person. But when looking at the large number of problems caused not only by our big food industry but by the policies that enable them and our cultural norms that incentivize poor health choices, too many people simply turn " obesity" into the boogeyman(具有超人力量的恶巫).
Doctors even blame fatness for all sorts of medical conditions and people don’t get proper treatment. Fat women go to the doctor less often for routine cancer screenings, and patients report doctors focusing on their weight and ignoring real medical problems like broken bones and asthma(哮喘).
On the policy side, promoters of laws that incentivize health or push back on corporate food interests such as Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative, bans on extra-large sodas, and extra SNAP benefits at farmer’s markets inevitably target " obesity" in their campaigns. That strategy has the effect of maligning(诽谤)the beauty of certain bodies instead of encouraging everyone to be healthier and countering the enormous influence of big companies. As a result, many people who should be the natural allies of health-promoting initiatives are put off by the shaming fat language.
"Obesity epidemic" language has also fed into the idea of body size and eating habits as social group. Thinner kale(甘蓝)—eating elite liberals in the Northeast are trying to force-feed cabbage to heavier real Americans in the South and Midwest. No one wins with that kind of cultural polarization.
Yes, let’s push back against big food companies and question their outsized influence in Washington and in our daily lives, and let’s focus on making healthy food more widely accessible. Let’s realize that the challenges extend beyond just what we eat. Let’s fight for the humane(仁爱的)work policies that will make us all healthier.
But let’s do that because public health is all of our concern, not because it’s culturally easy to point the finger at fat people. Giving every member of a society the chance to be as healthy as possible is a moral good. It saves money and it saves lives. So let’s do it the right way and the most effective way without lazily relying on the word " obesity. "
What’s the same idea in the articles about food in the mainstream media?
选项
A、Food companies are not responsible.
B、Junk food is bad.
C、Obesity is bad.
D、Most consumers are vulnerable.
答案
C
解析
本题考查主流媒体关于食品的报道的共同之处是什么。定位句提到,主流媒体关于食品的报道几乎都有同样的表述,即肥胖有害。C)直接给出了答案,故为正确选项。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/S2QFFFFM
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
WhenRobertoFelizcametotheUSAfromtheDominicanRepublic,heknewonlyafewwordsofEnglish.Educationsoonbecamea【S1】
WhenRobertoFelizcametotheUSAfromtheDominicanRepublic,heknewonlyafewwordsofEnglish.Educationsoonbecamea【S1】
A、Itwillleaveastain.B、Itspoiledtheparty.C、Itdoesn’tmatter.D、Itmadesomethingbroken.C对话中女士说那是一个很好的派对,只是很遗憾有人弄洒了饮料,
Thissupermarketputscommoditiesofbadqualityonshelves,which______(损害了消费者利益).
TheMissAmericacelebration【C1】______asabeautycontestin1921,butnowpreferstoavoidsuch【C2】______sincebeautyisnolon
A、Wemustn’tgossipabouttheboss.B、Theprincipalisnarrow-minded.C、Gossipmayhurteveryoneinvolved.D、Gossiptellspeople
SharingEconomicLossesThroughInsuranceEachminuteofthedayornight,everyonefacesapossiblefinancialloss.Ahome
SharingEconomicLossesThroughInsuranceEachminuteofthedayornight,everyonefacesapossiblefinancialloss.Ahome
Whydoestheauthorcongratulatehismalereadersatthebeginningofthepassage?WhatdoesCartmillsayaboutregularcheck-u
月光族中国经济的高速发展,带来了消费文化的日益流行,同时也催生了一批具有高学历,充分享受资本主义消费模式的年轻人,他们习惯于当月工资当月花。因而被称为“月光族”。“月光族”一词出现于20世纪90年代,是用来讽刺那些出身富裕、接受高等教育、享受
随机试题
A.精神、情感、人格、行为和智能障碍B.对侧运动障碍C.刺激性症状引起植物神经功能障碍D.瞳孔扩大,脉搏、呼吸变慢E.同向偏盲,精神性视觉障碍,视幻觉等
常用的硬母线都有哪些类型?
2010年12月9日,世界权威市场调查机构欧睿国际发布最新的全球家用电器市场调查,结果显示:海尔品牌在大型白色家用电器市场占有率为6.1%,再次蝉联全球第一,同比提升1个百分点。其中,海尔在冰箱、洗衣机、酒柜三个产品的市场占有率排名中继续蝉联全球第一。按冰
衡量学生思想道德水平高低的根本标志是()。
民歌:音乐
下列选项中,属于我国司法活动范畴的是()(2013年一综一第10题)
OnehundredandthirteenmillionAmericanshaveatleastonebank-issuedcreditcard.Theygivetheirownersautomaticcreditin
下列表达式中,表达式返回结果为.F.的是
IntheUnitedStatesthereareanestimated10millionproblemdrinkers.OfficialUnitedStatesstatisticsindicatethatin1996
Thegreatship,Titanic,sailedforNewYorkfromSouthamptononApril10th,1912.Shewascarrying1,316【C1】______andcrewof8
最新回复
(
0
)