Click here (huffpost) for a tongue-in-cheek (albeit still serious) look at one of the latest food security predictions to be making the rounds...
Why might it be, in your view, that economic supply-and-demand dynamics sometimes attract the spiritually-charged language of apocalypse and prophecy??
7 comments:
The reason, I think, that economic supply and demand dynamics attract the terms like apocalypse and prophecy is because people are trying to sugar coat the situation to make themselves feel better about it. It seems that the problem is "coming out of nowhere" even though it's really the economy that is causing the drop. The bacon shortage isn't happening because pigs are disappearing, it's happening because pigs are getting sold for less money than before and farmers are trying to use pigs that are smaller to still make a profit. It's not going to be the end of the world if bacon production slows down, I won't be happy with it, but it's all about supply and demand.
Saryn
I feel that economic issues frequently attract emotionally charged responses because of the way that people associate with products. Consumers sometimes feel their product choices to define parts of themselves. When it comes to food, this is no different - especially bacon. People take bacon seriously. Once people find out that I'm vegan, the next question is nearly always "How do you survive without bacon/cheese?" Like I said, this is heavy stuff. So in this specific case, it would be easy to write in hyperbole and incorporate terms like apocalypse. In other (less dire) situations, hyperbolic language is seen when a product is understood to be intimately connected to the way that we exist within the modern world.
Sophie
He who rules the food rules the world. So of course food is emotionally charged subject.
I am sad if there is going to be a shortage of bacon. I love the smell and taste of bacon.
Then we do have the fact that Americans are getting bigger and bigger because we do not understand that a person should eat for one person not five so we might slim down.I understand it is easy to overeat bacon.
Lisa
I find it hillarious to consider a bacon shortage. Why not simply a pork shortage? I mean if the bacon runs short shouldn't we also worry about the chops and hams and sausage?
I always find these things amusing and wait for the next tragic shortage to rear its head.
Bob
I found this article very amusing. As a vegan, I wouldn't complain about a bacon shortage at all, however the use of spiritually/emotionally-charged language makes me realize how important bacon is to some people!
I think this topic brings in apocalyptic language in a very humorous way. I think it uses such language because the idea of an apocalypse it is incredibly dramatic and devastating, ultimately leading to doom, and to many the idea of a bacon shortage is exactly that.
Lauren Cavanagh
Good point about how this article 'carves up' the pig, Bob... no pork chops or pork rinds, either! Not that everybody would complain, surely.
Nice comments, all... keep 'em coming!
pdk
I think that the economy uses the deep seeded belief that the world is on the brink of disaster to force people to buy and buy quickly. This causes quick turnaround in the demand of the product.
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