eric schlosser who?

Fast food what? Slaughterhouse where? McDonald's when?

Apparently, Eric Schlosser found these questions important enough to be answered in a 270 page research paper (nice citations, buddy) turned documentary which consisted of redundancy, idiocy, and liberal advertisements. Certainly, this book was not written as a research paper, but it very well might have been. Who's to say a high school senior couldn't have written the same thing (in fewer words, no less) since it contained ill-researched material and a huge amount of "fluff"? In the "What's In the Meat" chapter, I felt like I was reading the same thing over and over...and yet it continued to go on! If Schlosser wanted to write a book about slaughterhouses and all of the problems with them, he should have said so. He certainly shouldn't have disguised it underneath a clever title about the large quantity of McDonald's that America (and the rest of the world, as he carefully points out) consumes every day. The beginning of the book did an excellent job describing (fascinatingly, perhaps) the history of fast food, how it came about, who initially began the industry, and why Americans were drawn to the instant gratification of fast food. There were a few negative remarks (which Schlosser stated as concrete fact without giving any other information) toward republicans that I was slightly offended by, but nothing I couldn't handle. By the "Meat" section, however, it seemed that every other sentence was discussing how the terrible slaughterhouse industry was being encouraged by the Republicans and the sweet, sympathetic little democrats were crying their eyes out and doing everything in their power to stop the awful industry. Sure, republicans make stupid decisions sometimes. But democrats certainly do as well! I just had a bit of a problem with this guy constantly blaming the state of things on republicans, while he simultaneously lifted up the Clinton Administration. Hello?? This guy's either blind or he's a flaming liberal idiot. Unfortunately, I think it's the latter.

The book in and of itself was fine. It was somewhat informative and, at times, quite fascinating. But the redundance killed me and made reading it miserable along with the frequent negative references to the republican administrations, be it Bush, Reagan or Roosevelt (whom he actually supported...but wasn't Teddy the one who was a lot more like a democratic republican?).

Enough said about that.

Orientation was today, and aaaah I loved seeing all my precious people again. I've missed everyone so much and they're the only reason I have to look forward to school. And, I think it is safe to say that Emily Clemons is officially the greatest hugger--ever. Also, some fabulous little things happened that those of you who spoke to me in person will know about. :D

Love to everyone, and I'll see my school posse tomorrow!

God bless,
lv