Engineered Human Obsolescence "Unpacking The Agenda"; Part 2

Unpacking The Agenda

In the previous chapter, we peered through dirty manufacturer's windows in a loose attempt to spy into the heart and soul of the Fortune 500 corporate machine. Opaque panes of glass they were. Stained with the blood, sweat, and grime of countless labourers. Belching forth from the bowels of a monster, we uneasily recoiled at the expected oily stench of corporate malfeasance.

Further to our investigation, we discussed how our manufacturing masters commit to grinding out an endless array of useless widgets. Material fodder, stamped out by machines, eternally suckling upon the bloody teat of humanity. Some of us, feeling compelled to witness the process, insist upon taking the time to smell the sewage. In doing so, we regretfully acknowledge a conspiracy must be afoot.

Do we look away? Or, do we challenge ourselves to investigate our surroundings? Through even a cursory investigation, we illicit facts to support, or possibly refute, our conspiratorial hypothesis? 

Humanity wilfully ignores the beast as it feeds upon our brethren. Rarely do we humans seem capable of looking our challengers square in the eye. This head-in-sand passivity has not proved a reliable strategy. Distracted by frivolity, greed, and materialism, or left immobile by ignorance, anger and fear, we stand idle as over one in seven humans starve to their deaths. Not satisfied with just killing our own species; our choices, or lack thereof, contribute to the shocking decline of flora and fauna throughout the globe. Speaking of the devastation to Mother Earth; most of us sheepishly admit to being caught averting our eyes as she is repeatedly raped by the all-powerful mechanical monster.

Again, I ask myself; is this the best humanity can manage?

Could any sane person suggest the present course of destruction is sustainable, rational or even remotely logical? Could even one (non-psychopathic) human make an argument that all living creatures should not be respected, cherished and loved? Of course not! Deep down, we all want to love each other. Humanity has not been shy to openly state a desire to see Mother Earth, and all her creatures, thrive.

Do we allow the corporate beast to run amok, or do we, at the very least, try to throw a pebble into the massive monstrosity of consumptive gears?

How have we arrived at a state where society values and chooses money above human life? 

Why are few people prepared to discuss the massive fallout of our debt-biased monetary system?

Corporations and their marketing machines have taught us to tie our sense of self-worth directly to the material success we can manifest. Avarice and desire are emotions the elite use to expose humanity's sordid underbelly. Rich or poor, corporate masters have enslaved us all. Creating weakness, and extorting ignorance, money masters plague the globe like filthy cancerous vermin.

Many people suggest the movie "The Matrix" is not so far from the truth? They maintain the human experience simulates a battery, whereby, we exist to produce energy in the form of work hours. For various reasons, the powers that be want to get a handle on our lifespan.


First, they build the machine!

Second, they enslave it!

Third, they decide when and how it dies!



The following is an assembly of observations I maintain a working theory that corporations are deliberately engineering the life expectancy of all global inhabitants. I caution the reader that I have done no bonafide research and that my hypothesis is based solely on intuition and observations relating to trends I believe are manifesting in health, globalisation, food and pharmaceutical production, corporatism, economics, politics and social engineering.

Corporate Machine:

First, I hope we agree upon one simple fact; corporations run the world. Aside from the obvious role played by the essential production of goods and services, corporations also assume a covert, but ubiquitous, impression upon all aspects of societal expression. Masses have been indoctrinated to align their political ideology with one grotesquely heralded voice from a two or three-party platform. More often than not, voters, as they elect a douche instead of a turd sandwich, discover they have been forced to pin their sense of social justice onto, what most would consider, the best of a bad situation. Citizens are left wondering if there is any chance the next government will somehow utilise common sense, reason, justice, or compassion, as they rule yet another term under the illusory banner of democracy.

The media shouts outrage at the control corporate lobbyists exert on the rule of global governance. All the while, corporate masters wring their hands knowing the ignorant, befuddled, masses are allowed to see just the tip of a very, very, enormous iceberg. Banking, money creation, governmental fiscal policy, education, social safety nets, policing, justice, war or peace, taxation, environmental protection, media, health and safety, to name a few. 

Expressions of hidden enslavement that prove to be core aspects of our day-to-day lives. Rarely do we seem capable of waking up to the fact the drama of our reality has been entirely mandated by a greater, corporate, agenda. Corporations make the rules, develop the social policies, write the laws, and decide what we learn, eat, drink, read, listen to and watch. Damn, when we get down to it, there really is nothing Big Brother does not infect.

Technology, filtered to the masses, furthers their control. Like a spigot with a bolt affixed in the end, we get drips and drops, never satiated by the full flow of knowledge we know corporations hold in reserve. When, they finally roll out technological advancements, more often than not, we find a double-edged sword awaits. The "Smart World" of home appliances is a great example of a dangerous sword. They claim we save precious energy but fail to tell us about the many microphones, sensors, sound recording and video devices implemented within the devices. In addition, they don't tell us about the dangers of EMF radiation, nor do they admit to how they plan to use all this surveillance data. Pity our brethren fail to see the candy they give us is poisoned.

Orwellian consumerism at its best; develop the thirst, poison the water, then rescue the fool with a costly pharmaceutical cocktail. Somewhere along the line, the corporate mother ship decided our TVs, computers, dishwashers, phones, and stereos, could all become spies tasked with feeding information to the master about the living habits, desires and weaknesses of their consumer-driven offspring.

Hard data fed to mother by our "Smart Appliances" later becomes augmented by an endless stream of data mined from the complex web of social media. Coupling these two massive sources of intelligence has empowered Big Brother to become an information-rich beast. The complexity and ubiquitous nature of social media is the icing on the corporate mother's cake, ensuring our master knows everything about everyone.

George Orwell would blush to see the efficiency of his corporate masters had in fact outpaced his wildest visions.

Accepting that government is a puppet extension of the corporate machine, let us rid ourselves of the expensive fancy that, someday, somehow, the right vote will make a difference. The by-products of true democracy should be equality education, good governance, fiscal responsibility, freedom, health, social justice and human rights. We the people, will never emancipate ourselves from the fields of debt slavery until we insist a social safety net exists for all brethren. Humanity cannot reap the riches of democracy unless it first breaks free from the false illusions created by adept corporate spin doctors.

Food Production:

Assuming that we agree there exists a corporate monster, let us now take a quick peek at how they manage our food supply. After all; they say we are what we eat!

If you never have, please take the time to compare the quality of food now to fifty years ago. One shocking statistic, among many, is that from 1950 to 2000 American's consumption of sugar increased by 39% to 150 pounds per person per year. Just look at what corporate mother is feeding us! What scares me most, is the divergence between the quality of food consumed by the rich juxtaposed to the slop fed to the poorer members of my community.

Times sure have changed indeed; in the sixties, there were quite a few choices for the grocery shopper. I remember well those good old days. We used to buy many of our meat, produce and dairy products from the farmer direct at his home. Back in the sixties, the farmer played an integral role in the daily supply of community foodstuff. Most farmers would simply hang a sign on their property indicating the fare available. In the absence of down-home advertising, community word of mouth was often enough to get the products from the field to the table. Summertime meant veggies were always grown at home. By mid-June, we, like most families, had a productive backyard garden that supplied just about every vegetable your heart could desire. Families would share, or barter excess produce in trade, a process which ensured the table bounty expanded well beyond one's garden patch capacity.

Dairy items we couldn't acquire from a farm were delivered to us by the milkman, who, faithfully stopped at our door every Wednesday morning around 5 am to read the note, left by my mother, indicating our family needs. (Every milkman worth his salt plied his trade between 3 - 7 am in summer and 7 - 11 am in winter)

Hunters often made deals with the local abattoir. The abattoir would process the meat and the two would share the game. Homemade wine was often involved somewhere in that conversation. We were not a hunting family, as a result, Dad would share a heifer or a pig with a friend or two. Each year, my Dad and his pals would consume a proper amount of homemade wine, then head to the local farmer with a jug or two so they could commence the valued ritual of selecting just the right beast. This was a time when a handshake was bond enough to enable the farmer to undertake to process the beast and drop it off at the local butcher for processing. Right as rain, the very next week the farmer and abattoir were paid and the old man would be loading about 200 - 300 pounds of meat into our freezer, enough to take care of most of the family's beastly needs for the year ahead. Fish consumed by our family, more often than not, was caught at some of the local holes, eaten fresh, or possibly stored for a winter treat.

Autumn was always a time of plenty for the community, the farmer, as well as, the rural family. Farmers, after their harvest, often saved plenty to sell. Often, we discovered farmers vending wares by the roadside, or at one of the many local markets. Farmers who preferred not to use a retail location fared well by personally providing goods to the local community. Few children, fortunate enough to enjoy the days of barter and trade, would ever have thought the farmyard handshake could entirely disappear from the realm of agricultural commerce. Those wonderful signposts of prosperous community spirit have now been rendered illegal as farmers, in most Western communities, are banned from selling products in a non-approved venue.

Reviewing how drastically the food production world has changed, I regret that legislation has taken from our children the ability to interact, learn from, and conduct commerce with, those who have an intimate relationship with the produce and animals we consume. Back in the day, a "Sunday drive" in the country was just the tonic needed to segue into a late afternoon football game. Dad always loved the ritual, never more so than late October, when the leaves made a kaleidoscope of a million different colours. 

Roadside signs, barking out the promise of freshness, coupled with the smell of fresh manure, proved flashy enticements drawing customers young and old to visit crusty old farmers with inviting smiles. Inevitably, Dad and the family would be lured into vendors' driveways, where, another engaging encounter would end with happy faces all around. Half a dozen stops to chat with local farmers or friends, in Dad's book, constituted a successful Sunday drive.

Filling the grocery needs beyond what the farmer could supply, was managed with our bi-monthly visit to the big IGA store. The sixties version of a grocery store did not entertain anywhere near the same level of processed foods we have today. Frozen meals, like the "Hungry Man Dinner" were still a novelty item most good housewives wouldn't be caught dead serving their family. Processed foods were primarily found in the Goody section of our local food store. Our family, like most, modestly indulged the goodies. Perhaps a bag of potato chips, cookies or a small sac of penny candy would suffice for the week. Most of the groceries we purchased included canned foodstuff and bulk staples like flour, potatoes, pasta, cereal, bread, sugar, cooking oil, winter produce and similar primary foodstuffs.

Poor families in the sixties, I sure do remember many, ate much the same quality of food as the middle class. However, the poor had significantly less. More than often not, they eked out dinners from basic staples only. Instead of fancy, sugar-primed, cereals, the poor kids would be eating Quaker Oats, Cheerios, Wheaties or Cornflakes. Poorer households could never entertain processed foods for the menu, it was much less expensive to start from scratch making a stew or soup for dinner. Chips, candies, and chocolates were items rarely found in the shopping cart of poorer-heeled families. Vegetables, potatoes, meat, pasta and rice were the staples in our home during lean times.

More often than not, the community itself would help out the poorer families. There was never a big show made. Someone would respectfully drop by with an extra bag of potatoes, with the assurance, that the spuds surely would go bad if they could not be got to quickly. Another, finding himself flush with apples, might entertain an opportunity to trade a bushel or two, in return for a few hours of friendly labour. When a certain needy person visited the butcher for a few soup pot bones, it would not be uncommon for the butcher to find he had made up too much sausage or ground beef. Surely it would go to waste if not taken off his hands for free. Most of us who lived in those times knew the Milkmen charged different prices for the poor. Compassion within the community was expected. Where else should products that are past their " best buy due date" land, if not upon the doorstep of the poor. Now, of course, it is illegal to sell any product past its best-buy due date. Toss it in the bin. Perish the idea, that needy souls in our community should be cared for.

Today, corporatism, aided by rampant urbanism, has enabled a drastic change for the worse in food quality. Sitting down at the average dinner table, we discover a rather scary profile of mass-produced unhealthy foodstuff. Small farm start-ups are as rare as hen's teeth, as are backyard gardens. Throughout the Western world, crop production has almost entirely migrated from small acreage family production to corporate mega-farms. The trend toward corporate mega-farming started in earnest during the Dust Bowl of the Dirty Thirties. John Steinbeck wrote a fantastic novel entitled "The Grapes of Wrath" in which he documents well the early days of farming corporatism.

Steinbeck holds back no punches as he details how banking fraud and corporate corruption wreaked havoc in the farming communities of Central and Eastern America. The author asks us to witness the travails of thousands of "Okie" farmers, lured west by false promises of riches. Tragically, we later discover the farmers are inexorably enslaved by corporate farming masters.

Quietly, my generation witnessed the elimination of the small family farm. Possibly we didn't realise what we were losing. More than likely, our corporate masters fed us the perfect cocktail of sport, leisure and entertainment to ensure we missed their power play.

Failing to lure us with the banal, they also relied upon other standards like; gambling, sex, alcohol, drugs, fear, and violence. All tools of assured distraction, pacifism and abeyance. Hell, who could worry about the use of herbicides and insecticides as chemical weapons of mass destruction, when ISIS is about to rape and pillage in the streets of America. Why concern ourselves with GMO monopolising the food industry, when the latest episode of "The Big Bang Theory" is about to air. Who cares that our food is becoming dangerous to eat, let's update the latest celebrity gossip.

If the small farm is dying, can we rely on the corporate product?

Corporations, in their zeal to shave costs, mandate that crop and animal production focus solely on profits. Where once the farmer put his heart and soul into the quality of his/her produce, now, the only concern is the bottom line of a profit and loss ledger. Breeding and development programs turned their efforts solely toward yield. The economy of scale ruled. Big volume, at a low cost, became the only benchmark for farming success. Having the corporate production machine firmly focused on quantity over quality, produced predictable and devastating changes to the nutritional value of the food we eat. Idly we sit by and watch the animal husbandry and agriculture industries destroy everything they touch.

The list of issues facing the next generation seems insurmountable and endless. Soil depletion, rampant pesticide and herbicide misuse, and insane animal husbandry practices are too grotesque to mention. Genetic manipulations would make Frankenstein's Igor cringe. Breeding for yield, pharmaceutical control of disease and animal vaccination. Give ten farmers the chance to list all that is critically wrong with agriculture and animal husbandry, I assure you, a scary tale will be told. People seem to forget, whatever corporations put into a cow, ends up in a steak.

Did you know it is illegal to film a corporate animal husbandry operation? 

Do you think maybe you need to ask why? 

Corporations have had decades to present a safe, nutritional, high-quality product. Your local grocery store speaks to the value, or lack thereof, of corporate foodstuffs.

Are you satisfied our corporate masters have given your family the best food they can?

Many online studies confirm what we all intuitively know to be true; the quality of food is spiralling downward. Like a jet with a burning engine, food manufacturing is out of control. Anyone who knows anything about food production will tell you we are in the midst of a nasty nutritional crash. Much as I detest statistics, I will say most researchers suggest that over the last 50 years, the nutritional value of our produce, meats, and dairy has diminished by more than 25%. Go back another 50 years, they say that figure will treble.

Think about it! Is it really that hard to believe that one century ago food was 3 - 4 times richer in vitamin content?

Aside from nutrition depletion; you have to ask yourself, what are they doing to our food? Bovine growth hormones, steroids, genetic modification, vaccines, fertilisers, insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides, these are just a few of the crazy things corporations do that dramatically alter our bodies. Hell, even the packaging they use is causing health concerns. In addition to the aforementioned assault on the quality of our food, we find food production has moved at the speed of lightning toward intensified processing. The simple rule of thumb; the more processed the food, the greater the chance the ingredients within will cause harm. Most food professionals consider the "Scary Seven: additives to include; monosodium glutamate (MSG), aspartame, trans fats, artificial sweeteners, colours and flavourings. We can wrap it all up with the big daddy, high fructose corn syrup. Although the aforementioned additives are worthy of serious concern, there are countless other carcinogens and toxins found in our processed foodstuff, literally too many violations to list. To protect themselves from the nasties, Americans rely on the FDA. Run by a revolving door of ex-corporate food manufacturing CEOs and board directors, the FDA does little to protect consumers.

You would think the least they could manage would be to ensure a contaminant-free product reaches your table, but this is not the case. By FDA regulations you can expect a certain amount of "foreign matter" to be in your processed foods. Let us take a quick look at how stringent the FDA is with the corporate food processor.

• Canned mushrooms are a breeding ground for maggots. If there are over 20 maggots per 100 grams of drained mushrooms, or, five or more maggots two millimetres or longer, the FDA will pay attention. Otherwise, eat up, yum yum!
• Want some wholesome apple sauce or apple butter. The FDA wants you to know corporate manufacturers can't use raw apples with more than 12% mould. Less than that, well, you won't mind, right?
• Mouse or rat fur in your peanut butter? The FDA will have none of that, or at least not much. If they find more than twelve hairs per kilogram they issue a warning. Under the magic twelve, not a problem for the hardy consumer. Don't you agree?
• Animal faeces are probably not very tasty. Not a problem though for the FDA, as long as you guessed it, the manufacturer falls under the suggested limits per gram.
• Fruit flies love to deposit their larva into tomato sauce. Not a problem says the FDA. As long as there are less than 15 eggs per 100 grams. Wouldn't want any more than 15 eggs though, it might not taste so good.
• Sand, grit, cardboard, and sawdust in your peanut butter? The FDA will allow for as much as 25 grams per 100 grams sold. Wow, that is 25% sawdust and assorted "filler". Yummy, that sounds like a good plan to me, right?
• Thrips are slender thin, winged, insects that love asparagus. You may love to gobble up your Thrips with fresh greens, but not more than 40 thrips per 100 grams. Any more, and the FDA will complain. You don't want the corporations to charge you extra for the protein boost, do you?
• Many fish, like freshwater herring, are riddled with parasites. Copepodkils, are parasites the FDA thinks you will be happy to eat, as long as there are less than 60 per 100 fish.
• Do you like Thyme? Apparently, you have something in common with pooping insects. The FDA does not mind insect poop mixed in with your spices. As long as there are less than 325 pieces of insect poop per 10 grams of ground thyme, the FDA will give you a green light. Poop sounds pretty spicy to me!  
• Last but not least. "Sticks and stones may not only break your bones!" Apparently, the FDA says they may also be contained within your food. Hey, there is a limit. But, as long as the amount is within reason, let us gobble up some more yum yum.   

If you believe in the old saying, "We are what we eat" then good grief, God help us all!

Some people suggest it is nonsense to believe corporate manufacturers are deliberately using food as a weapon. Often, their argument belies confidence in the FDA, or possibly, they mistakenly believe the rich eat the same fare as the poor. Well, to answer this feeble pondering I say, take a close look at who is running organisations like the FDA. While you are at it, stop in a speciality food store, or take a peek at the organic aisle in your local market.

Where I shop, the organic section represents the least used half aisle in the store. I actually avoid the organic aisle altogether, as do most of the mid to low-income families in my neighbourhood. Organics in the produce or meat section at my local store also suffer the same lack of buyer attention. I know organic foodstuff usually tastes better and possibly they are a healthier, smarter, food purchase. However, to feed the average family of four on an all-organic diet, would run one's grocery bill through the roof. For myself, I like to think I would in fact suck it up and make the organic choice. If only it made a difference.

The crux of the matter is that we know living in Canada means no GMO labelling, as well as little food manufacturing control visa-vis additives, carcinogens and the countless other horrific things they allow in processed food. This little labelling detail alone means the vast majority of damage already done to our bodies by GMO sugars and pre-processed carcinogens is unavoidable. BGH meat, crop fertilizers and countless other deadly consumables can hardly be recommended with the purchase of the odd organic commodity. The truth of the matter is, aside from the pharmacist and local hospital, the local grocery store represents the third most dangerous place in Vancouver. The bottom line; the food we eat, often even the packaging it arrives in, slowly, but surely, is killing us all.

The powers that be know all too well that if they can control the supply of food, then they can greatly impact the health of the average citizen. Sugar intake is through the roof, food quality is plummeting, carcinogens are everywhere, microwaves burn off vitamin value and we are left wondering why our health is diminishing. We see cancer, obesity, and all the major diseases rising faster than a thermometer in a teacup. Yet we keep quiet and are often afraid our voice of concern will lead to us being considered one of those nutty conspiracy theorists.

When will we face the big corporate demons? 

Who will point at the elephant in the room and demand to know if the food corporations using food as a weapon?

   

What do you think?

Is the destruction of good quality food just a result of corporations gone profit crazy, or have you connected the dots enough to suspect a hidden agenda is at work? 

Does it seem unusual to imagine corporations are using food as a soft-kill weapon?

The next step on our journey will be to look into corporate hanky-panky as it relates to the air we breathe and the water we drink. Maybe we will even dip a toe into the pharmaceutical industry.

Until then, In Lak' ech brethren, take care, eat well, and stay healthy.