Trans Fats And The Hebrew Hercules

Tolerance, Intolerance: CBS' Dick Meyer Scolds The Scolds

(CBS)  This commentary was written by CBSNews.com's Dick Meyer.

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Grab your knives and forks because the nattering nabobs of nagging are narrowing their negativity on a last nook of nicety: eating in restaurants.

Self-appointed guardians of the public girth famously banned Satanic trans fats from being served in the People's Republic of New York City. Nutrient nags also forced some restaurants to add nutritional information to the menus.

Now Washington, D.C. and a host of other cities, states and penal colonies want to get into the nutritional nanny-state business. Please Dionysus, god of wine and pleasure, let them fail.

If the nutrient narcs pulled a stunt like this in Rome, Paris or Buenos Aires there would be high-cholesterol blood flowing in the streets. But we bovine belly-fillers of America submit to the scolding of gastronomic virtucrats without a moo. We meekly let the scolding industry spew their altruistic, we-know-what's-good-for-and you-don't propaganda medicine into every corner of life – and we ignore it.

The problem is it enables the hubris of the do-gooders and breeds a simmering resentment in we-who-don't know-what's-best-for-us that then fosters a backlash against the admittedly good intentions of the do-gooders.

First off, no one will pay attention to food labels on menus – don't be delusional. Consider: would any sane person eat this scary concoction?

Enriched flour (bleached and unbleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, and folic acid), semi-sweet chocolate chips (sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, anhydrous dextrose, milkfat, soy lecithin, natural and artificial flavors), vegetable shortening (partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oil), sugar, high fructose corn syrup, molasses, whey, polydextrose, crystalline fructose, modified food starch, sodium bicarbonate, propylene glycol mono- and digesters of fats and fatty acids, mono and diglycerides, soy lecithin, BHT, citric acid, salt, caramel color, ammonium bicarbonate, natural and artificial vanilla flavor, whole eggs.

No way, right? Well, those are the ingredients of Frito-Lay's Grandma's Chocolate Chip Cookies. They're listed on every package that jillions of hungry cookie monsters rip open every day on their way to a delicious, unhealthy snack. Apparently, anhydrous dextrose is not a culinary deterrent.

Take a more extreme example. Millions of people around the world each day suck deep into their lungs the fumes of dried tobacco cure in chemicals. Warnings are ample, omnipresent and indisputable. Yet people do it.

All this implies that there's no good reason to think the effectiveness of listing calories on menus will outweigh the dreariness of having social scolding invade another pleasant corner of life. The nice people at the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the D.C. City Council are not responsible for my doughnut intake. I am.

Every parent knows, or ought to know, that too much nagging and preaching leads makes kids tune you out completely. It erodes your credibility and eventually turns the little angels into rebellious and wicked ratfinks.

This is also true in the big family of society. Too much scolding becomes crying wolf; way too much scolding and its cousin, political correctness, leads to puerile rebellion.

This occurred to me as I read the Sunday papers. After plodding through The Washington Post's enthusiastic and virtuous endorsement of the Restaurant Party Pooper Act of 2007, I stumbled on a wonderful obituary of Abe Coleman, 101. Abe was better known as the Hebrew Hercules, a star of pro wrestling in the 30's, 40's and 50's. Also known as the Jewish Tarzan, Coleman entered the ring at 5 feet 3 inches and 220 pounds, with cauliflower ears.

If a wrestler, rapper or high school talent show gagster went public as the Hebrew Hercules, the soldiers of the professionally offended would storm the airwaves.

We can't take a joke anymore. We've been hit on the nose by the scolders too often. And so we have lost a social salve that can and have eased ethnic and racial tensions in this diverse country – humor. The unintended consequence, of political correctness run amok and the scolding syndromes, is intolerance.

One can see that in the battle over the names and mascots of sports teams. Some people are enormously offended by the Chiefs, Redskins, Indians, Braves, Angels or Seminoles and are fighting all over the country to ban such insults.

The backlash, in turn, is immense. It's not just that Seminoles fans like their tradition; they don't like being called insensitive because they are not insensitive. They don't like living in a society that no longer gives the benefit of the doubt to the nice guy and the honorable intention. They can't see how changing a name rights historical wrongs. They don't like feeling like ours is a thin-skinned, self-serious world.

All our scolding is made more difficult to bear by the obvious fact that it is kabuki, superficial window-dressing pretending to be serious. Putting nutritional information on menus will not make a dent in the obesity epidemic, but it will make somebody feel like they're doing something.

Renaming the Redskins the Senators won't rewrite history nor will it create more respect and dignity for Native Americans in any enduring way, but it will make somebody feel like they're doing something.

And maybe that's point. Because in America today, it's what we feel that counts the most.

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Dick Meyer, who is based in Washington, is the editorial director of CBSNews.com.

E-mail questions, comments, complaints, arguments and ideas to
Against the Grain. We will publish some of the interesting (and civil) ones, sometimes in edited form.

[charlesdjohn]

To: Mr. *** Meyer,

Reading your article this morning was like a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stuffy world!

Thank you!

[charlesdjohn]

To: Mr Richard Meyer,

ROFLMAO.........

It would seem that your name is politically incorrect!


Too funny!

[stomarin]

Banning trans fats is not window dressing. It is a step that will save thousands of lives. Encourage postive action by politicains don't ridicule it. It happens so infrequently.

[extremophil]

*** Meyer wrote something that makes sense (!) The end of the world is near.

[matisyahu3]

You cannot compare Seminoles and the Redskins. The Redskins is a deragatory name for a race of people and the Seminoles are not. There is a legitimate claim when someone says that the Redskins offends them. That is why you don't see teams called, the dark ones, the yellowskins, whiteys.

[spammenot995]

Mr. Meyer,

"Thanks, and thanks, and thanks again."

I was simultaneously howling with laughter and reflecting seriously about the very valid points you raise. There's a lot of scolding going on from both sides of the political spectrum. You've touched on a number of the common issues typically raised by the left. (Disclaimer: I'm a moderate who leans a bit in that direction at times.)

Fellow human beings: We have many different points of view shaped by our upbringing, education, experiences, etc. It would be boring if we were all the same. I'll leave it at that. :-)

[talkingham]

After 30 years of America's MD's advising heart patients to eat margarines loaded with 35% trans fat you'd think that would be enough for a trans fathead like Meyers to understand the seriousness of this issue. No telling how many people they killed with this "healthy diet." If Meyers wants to go out and buy a load of trans fat and put it in his food that his business. But for children to be fed this poison without their even having an idea of what they are eating should be a crime. Meyers just doesn't get it. Maybe he should research the subject a bit. For some 20 years testimony against trans fat has been either ignored or deleted form the congressional record by lobbyist driven committees but I guess that's part of Meyer's democratic process. Hopefully corn syrup will be the next thing eliminated!

Read how America's nutritionists have sold out to industry:
http://www.heall.com/body/healthupdates/food/hydrogenatedfat.html

[theanchores]

Wicked good article. Enjoyed the scoldings by the irony-challenged in the comments section, too. Wonderful.

[emald]

I don't think it's a question of lecturing people on what food they eat. Just take the trans fats out of the food. Period.

[gkc99]

Let's rename the Redskins, the Blackskins, have their mascot dress up in a leopard skin waving a spear and giving an ooga-booga cheer, and see how many complain! Or how about the Honkey Pigs where the cheerleaders dress up like white cops with huge bellies and pig faces and throw donuts into the crowd? Meyers may have a point on the health nazis but gets a bit off point on the mascots.

[lhwrites]

While I appreciate Mr. Meyers libertarian point of view, I must strongly disagree. Trans fats have no nutritional value and are a low level poison. Why on earth would it be legal to put them in foods? (How about a little cyanide with those french fries?) I remember hearing exactly the same arguments about banning indoor smoking 10 years ago. Until it became perfectly clear that free flowing poison wasn't good for anyone.

[lhwrites]

I forgot to add that I always look at nutritional labels especially when I'm giving food to my kid. Just because you're not interested, Mr. Meyer, doesn't mean that other people aren't.

[savkobabe]

These self-involved Baby Boomers are terrified of dying - probably because they've lived such shabby lives! Well, guess what - Meyer is right. And honestly, if you're only living to preserve your own precious hide - what kind of a life is that really?

I don't know where I found this, but it's pertinent:
After an exhaustive review of the research literature, here's the final word on nutrition and health.:

1. Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
2. Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
3. Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
4. Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
5. Germans drink beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.

Conclusion: eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

[savkobabe]

lhwrites' comment is a prime example of the smug, self-congratulatory scold Mr. Meyer is talking about! Humorless politically correct drone. Bah!

[dodaz-2009]

***,
I love your articles...but you are waaay off on this one...
EMALD 's posting is right on the money...This is not about telling people WHAT to eat..it's just about taking a very, very dangerous preservative out of our food supply..hydrogenated oils.. have no place in our food supply--
The Government ALLOWED it into our food supply- so that it would increase longevity of shelf life for the food industry-against the advice of many nutrtion experts AND M.D.'s ... Theses oils were given to livestock..and they DIED... Anyway, Harvard school of medicine did a study that concluded the rise of diseases in this country by rates of up to 600% were traced back to these dangerous MAN-MADE oils... No one is saying DON'T eat x,y, or Z.. they are saying--let's take this MAN-MADE oil out of our food supply.. and eat whatever the hell ya want.. A win-win for everyone... It's a correction of a mistake(allowing Hydrogenated oils into our food supply)-that should never have happened in the first place ..Etc. Etc.

[dodaz-2009]

Taking hydrogenated oils out of our favorite foods and replacing them w/ more natural oils, will NOT decrease the flavor,texture,or taste of our favorite foods,.. If anything ,it will actually INCREASE the pleasurable tastes etc.. many manufacturers have already gotten on board,. and done this(even if they have not all advertised it).....And no one knows the differnce.. it's almost a non-issue ..For people who understand this issue..it's great...for those who don't--they are disgruntled..claming "Govt.interference" etc..the irony is..it was the GOVT. who allowed this dangerous man-made oil into our food supply in the first place ! it's a step in the right direction in correcting this past, Govt. mistake.

[thebigfman]

hey ***,
Wake up! you're a little late on the issue. some of us out here have been on top of this since way back when these "we know what's best for you" types made movie theaters change the popcorn butter. and we've been just waiting to see what's next on the list for them to go after.

[talkingham]

Like the TV pundits I think Meyer has tossed this out just to hear the discord. But the fact is may people are reading lables and the industry is paying attention. However the Proctor and Gambles of the world hope we don't because they would rather sell you gobs of anything of but what you thought you were buying. When they do change their ingredients to eliminate trans fat (and it is happening rapidly) you can be sure they'll use something palm oil rather than a healthy oil like coconut oil.

As for Mexican diets-- I wonder how good the data is there because it's certainly not any good here as trans fats have been ignored in all but the most recent databases thanks to the "food industry." By the way in Mexico most soft drinks including Coke contain sugar rather than another poison corn syrup - and the US corn lobby is trying to force Mexico to switch to godless corn syrup. No Meyer would rather allow us to be poisoned and not moo at all about it all. I for one love ice cream and I'm pleased that I can buy Alden's organic ice cream with no corn syrup or other slop in it. When I buy ice cream I want cream not ice corn syrup. So Meyer is basically a trans fat head. I'm sure he goes to the store looking for trans fat to use in his home cooking right?

[theanchores]

For crying out loud, can you literalists move beyond a thing and realize that Meyer is not talking about transfats, per se, but about an entire "we know what's best for you (to eat, to think, to be offended by)" mindset that has become all too ubiquitious (and too easily acquiesced to) than is healthy in a country that is supposed to be all about individual freedoms and the right of a person to choose fettucine al fredo over a *** salad if one wants to, even if that's not the better (wiser, smarter, more correct) decision.

We're supposed to be free. Yes, by all means, let's correct the idea (promoted by "experts" for decades) that transfats are badly consumed. But let's not make a freaking fetish of it.

[theanchores]

Argh. Of course change my last post to read: a "***" salad over the apparently disliked stronger word, and change "badly consumed" to "well consumed" because sometimes when I forget to re-read and fix before hitting "publish." Sigh.

[tejasdemo]

I look at the labels all day. I think it's a good thing.

[lhwrites]

To savkobabe:
Perhaps it didn't occur to you that they have less heart attacks in China, Japan, Mexico, and Italy because they don't cook with trans fats.
You haven't explained why it would be OK to put poison in food and not label it as such. As far as my comments being "smug, self congratulatory" and "politically correct," I'm honestly, having trouble coming up with a retort to such a rigorously intellectual comment.

[wingnut581]

Those who are so quick to jump onto the nanny nation bandwagon might consider what will be Big Brother's next next mandate. Meat is bad for you and hurts animals - let's ban all meat and meat products. Alcohol is bad for you - let's go back to prohibition. Exercise is good for you - let's make everyone exercise an hour a day at an approved gym; if you don't get checked off, your taxes go up 1% for each day you miss. Does the phrase "slippery slope" ring a bell?

[talkingham]

It's a poor choice of topics if he (Meyer) doesn't want to be taken literally. The level of insanity achieved by the major "food" producers in this nation is too serious not to be taken literally. The nutrition of America's children has been bought and sold by a system that really doesn't care about health, only the bottom line of how much corn syrup and additives that they can sell you rather than real food. It's an extremely sad and serious state of affairs and when you consider all of the teen moms consuming this stuff while pregnant the babies are the ones who will suffer.

The professional nutritionist community for the most part seems sold-out to the food industry and has not pursued research in these areas to any large extent - afterall who would fund research on corn syrup and trans fats? It's another example of how the research mechanism is broken down when it's primarily the food industry that determines what gets researched. Any idea of how much acid is added to a soda to balance out those 12 spoons of corn syrup or the artificial sweetner used instead-- no, because the amount of acids are not listed. The beverage industry doesn't want it listed so it isn't.

This isn't a big brother issue, it's a health issue and I don't see why restaurants should be exempt when other packaged food providers are not.

[bobrobinson2]

The story is extremely biased. Public policy regulating the marketing of tobacco products receives the same critique: it perverts free choice and it will be ineffective. Of course there needs to be messages that are clearly stated and be effective in reaching audiences. This is a no brainer. Obesity is a public health problem, costs the public millions in medical costs, and needs to be addressed not with less, but more health initiatives focused on food intake, food content, and distribution of food in all neighborhoods. As for the image in the story. It is reasonably racist. While one knows that fried chicken is typically eaten with one's hands, it is less than positive or productive to visualize the experience. Bob Robinson

[usawarrior]

Who cares one way or another? We all know what's fattening and what is not. Just get rid of both, the dogooders and the winners. Leave us alone! We are smart enough to know what's good and what's bad for us. We have the right to make an intelligent choice or a dumb one. You all got it?

[forthepeopl1]

A declassified Pentagon report released Thursday concludes that there was no direct cooperation between Saddam Hussein's regime and al Qeada. But *** Cheney, apparently, remains convinced there was. ONLY IN HIS AND BUSHES HEAD!!!! ALSO RUMSFELDS HEAD..THEY SHOULD BE HANGED FOR TREASON AGAIST OUR COUNTRY...FOR THE MURDERS OF OUR KIDS.

The Washington Post on Friday said the report, which had been issued in summary form in February, drew on "captured Iraqi documents" and "interrogations of Saddam Hussein and two former aides" which "all confirmed" that Saddam and al Qaeda were not working together prior to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. THERE HAVE BEEN ALOT OF US SAYING THIS EXECT THING FOR A LONG TIME NOW, SO WERE ARE THE ONES THAT LOVE THERE BUSH CRIME FAMILY.THIS SHOULD KILL THEM..SEEING CHENEY WINEING LIKE A BABY.

EVERYONE THAT WANTS TO STILL BELEIVE IN THIS CRIME FAMILY SHOULD BE MADE TO TALK TO ALL THE MOTHERS AND FATHERS AND WIFES OF THE TROOPS THAT HAVE GIVEN THERE LIVES FOR NOTHING, I AM SO SORRY FOR ALL OF YOU, I AM VET TO AND I WANT YOU ALL TO KNOW I WILL DO MY BEST TO GET THEM ALL, ONE WAY OR THE OTHER, THEY WILL ALL PAY FOR THERE MURDEREST WAYS..

AND I HOPE EVERYONE NOW RELISES THAT THIS GOVERNMENT IS NOT FOR AMERICA. AMERICA IS BROKE WE OWE CHINA 3 TRILLION DOLLARS THAT WE BORROWED FOR THIS WAR.. WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR OUR CONGRESS TO PUT A AND TO IT..

WAKE UP AMERICA,WHAT MORE IMPORTANT HERE.