The Age of Rage

In my Interdisciplinary Studies Capstone class last semester, we focused on ethical dilemmas surrounding our lives and at one point the decisions we make about what we put into our bodies. We read a book called In Praise of Slowness by Carl Honore. He continuously noted how our culture was consumed by the need for speed, which was becoming detrimental to our lives in many aspects. We somehow got the notion that everything is better faster, which he applied to our eating, parenting and schooling notions. One chapter I remember in particular was titled, “The Age of Rage,” which further developed Honore’s ideas about our constant need to press fast forward. The key concept throughout his book is not to go too slow, or too fast, but to recognize the right speed. We need to begin to savor the moments in the present and not constantly be trying to get ahead. Honore also includes the idea of the concept of quality over quantity. This concept especially I feel we need to apply to our current philosophies about food.

Fast Food Nation has highlighted how our notions of food came to where they are today. TheOmnivore’s Dilemma notes what is currently going on and how the decisions that we are making will heavily affect our future. Carl Honore believes that by living at the right pace we can solve many of the problems we are currently encountering. Imagine if we created and ate every meal slowly. We would be more aware of what goes into our food, what goes into our bodies and over time I feel we would recognize how drastically different our bodies would feel. We spoke about in class how vicious of a cycle the food industry is, that we can’t seem to break the tumultuous path we have created for ourselves. By making our own food, i.e. growing our own vegetable gardens or making our own dinner, we can help to break the cycle because they are small forms of resistance to the fast food super power we have created.(Photo Credit)

Technology has helped us in a way dig our hole deeper. I feel technology is one of the main reasons why our world is under pressure to keep up because there are constantly new technologies emerging to make our lives “simpler,” but in all reality, is more of a detriment because they take away face-to-face interactions. Think about all of the jobs that technology has replaced, especially in the food industry. The impersonality of our food and the process that goes into making it has become a commodity. The reason our food can be so cheap is because there are shortcuts taken to remove “unnecessary” expenses. That means removing all of the love, care and compassion from the food process and replacing it with artificial flavoring. How tantalizing. Unfortunately, amyl acetate, amyl butyrate and methyl heptine carbonate have now replaced real strawberries in my Burger King strawberry milkshake to provide just the illusion of the taste of real, handpicked strawberries. (Schlosser 125) The real question is, if we know all of this why do we keep buying and supporting this lifestyle? The more money we put into this industry the more, in reality, we are continuing to hurt ourselves in the long run. We have successfully shut down millions of family operated farms, sold them to corporation tyrants and all because there is demand for McDonalds products. The demand we are placing on McDonalds French Fries and their now all white meat chicken nuggets has given the non-verbal go ahead that this lifestyle is acceptable and even encouraged. (Photo Credit)

After reading an article I found online called Social Media Addiction Can Ruin Your Health, by Jonathan Benson it reinforces how technology runs our lives. This “keeping up with the Joneses” and always being available notion has become an addiction, just like our need for speed and our fast food dependence. Benson notes, “Researchers from HUST recently performed a social experiment in which they deprived the university's entire 800-student population from using social media for a week. What they found is that social media addiction is similar to drug addiction, in that people go through similar withdrawal symptoms.” (Benson) I feel this reaction would be similar if we removed all fast food from our campus. This would mean goodbye Subway and Taco Bell, hello Whole Foods and a farmers market.

Overall, we are consumed by the Age of Rage, as Honore named it, and as Benson notes addicted to the certain lifestyles we live. When will we finally be pushed to the breaking point and realize that we are hurting not only our own future, but our children’s as well. It may be too late if we continue at this pace. (Photo Credit)