intellectual properties

the Whole Foods-Healthcare debate

the topic is a little dusty now, but Food Democracy Now has a poll on whether you got riled up enough about the CEO of Whole Foods’ editorial on healthcare to boycott WF:

__I am boycotting but would reconsider if Mackey resigned.
__I’m not boycotting, but Mackey should resign.
__I am done with Whole Foods.
__Mackey’s entitled to his views; I am not boycotting.

also, read the Food Democracy Now argument about why boycotting won’t help health care reform.

i am well aware that many food democracy advocates already hated WF before this happened (not to even mention all those who think they’re just making bank off of rich yuppie types susceptible to greensumerism/greenwashing) and don’t really actually care about justice issues – it’s all just savvy, savvy marketing). i myself only shop there when i am in need of certain organic items that can’t be found elsewhere, or during times when i’m hungry or need something and it’s the only non-Safeway grocer open within 20 minutes of my house (HELLO BERKELEY BOWL AND YOUR EARLY CLOSING HOURS.)

i know that while WF is expensive and their clientele is about as bourgeois as you can get, but their buying practices and messages are well-intentioned and they support a lot of small farmers.

as for this particular instance, i basically agreed with Mackey’s 8 points for reform, but what got the boycott started and where he lost his followers were his statements after the 8 points on the moral arguments for public healthcare, such as this:

Many promoters of health-care reform believe that people have an intrinsic ethical right to health care—to equal access to doctors, medicines and hospitals. While all of us empathize with those who are sick, how can we say that all people have more of an intrinsic right to health care than they have to food or shelter?

and then goes on to say:

Rather than increase government spending and control, we need to address the root causes of poor health. This begins with the realization that every American adult is responsible for his or her own health.

Unfortunately many of our health-care problems are self-inflicted: two-thirds of Americans are now overweight and one-third are obese. Most of the diseases that kill us and account for about 70% of all health-care spending—heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and obesity—are mostly preventable through proper diet, exercise, not smoking, minimal alcohol consumption and other healthy lifestyle choices.

i pretty much agree with this taken at face value. i think we need to invest way more money in preventative healthcare and food and nutrition eduction, but for many of the liberal shoppers of whole foods, this sort of statement was unacceptable, with millions crying foul about how poor people don’t have the same kinds of access and choices that WF shoppers and employees have and so blaming them for their health problems and denying them access to public healthcare is unfair.

i don’t think that’s what he was saying though. i’m ALL FOR A PUBLIC HEALTHCARE OPTION (no matter how you cut it, it’s better than none), but i also think the American people need to be more responsible for their own well-being, and also that our food system needs some serious changes. i mean, did you see this, how that green “Smart Choice” label food companies have started putting on their processed foods somehow applies to things like Coco Puffs and Fruit Loops? (they’re made with whole grains!)

also, overall, while i am a huge proponent of voting with your dollars, and thus boycotts make sense to me, i generally find the ones that go around the internet to be baseless and ineffective (boycotting X gas company while filling your car up at Y does nothing to bring down gas prices, for example), and i’m also really not into armchair internet activism where you post some standard message to your Facebook status about healthcare (DO SOMETHING INSTEAD) or send around emails about how Barack Obama is a socialist while sitting there on your ass collecting social security and welfare checks.

anyway, i digress. no, i have not boycotted Whole Foods.

Filed in food, health & vegetarianism, politics and news, things you can do | Tagged with whole foods | Comment (0)