Comments on: Choosing who will grow your food (Salatin) http://www.fireandknowledge.org/archives/2007/11/14/choosing-who-will-grow-your-food-salatin/ A web site by Joshua Sowin that addresses culture, books, technology, ecology, religion, and other topics. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:20:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Josh Sowin http://www.fireandknowledge.org/archives/2007/11/14/choosing-who-will-grow-your-food-salatin/comment-page-1/#comment-53736 Josh Sowin Thu, 15 Nov 2007 14:48:45 +0000 http://www.fireandknowledge.org/archives/2007/11/14/choosing-who-will-grow-your-food-salatin/#comment-53736 Eric, I see your point, but I'm not sure I agree. For instance, a computer isn't just a computer. There beautiful Apples and powerful Alienwares and Sun servers and regular old Dells. The cost for these are all over the map. You pay for what you get. That is why you go to the store and pay double for an organic chicken, because financially, a chicken is *not* just a chicken. And beef isn't just beef -- you pay more for organic beef and even more for grass-fed beef. Same with milk. Capitalistic markets work quite well in this regard. As people become more aware of things, they're willing to pay more for something different. Capitalism supports this, unlike socialism, which would only offer whatever the government said and at whatever price. Josh Eric, I see your point, but I’m not sure I agree. For instance, a computer isn’t just a computer. There beautiful Apples and powerful Alienwares and Sun servers and regular old Dells. The cost for these are all over the map. You pay for what you get. That is why you go to the store and pay double for an organic chicken, because financially, a chicken is *not* just a chicken. And beef isn’t just beef — you pay more for organic beef and even more for grass-fed beef. Same with milk. Capitalistic markets work quite well in this regard. As people become more aware of things, they’re willing to pay more for something different. Capitalism supports this, unlike socialism, which would only offer whatever the government said and at whatever price.

Josh

]]> By: Eric Brown http://www.fireandknowledge.org/archives/2007/11/14/choosing-who-will-grow-your-food-salatin/comment-page-1/#comment-53702 Eric Brown Thu, 15 Nov 2007 10:10:25 +0000 http://www.fireandknowledge.org/archives/2007/11/14/choosing-who-will-grow-your-food-salatin/#comment-53702 That's an interesting thought, but I adversely react to Salatin's faulty sales pitch for "poor" farmers (and thereby himself, and coincidentally, me.) I think the reality is we live in a capitalist world, which means things are commodities: an apple is an apple, a chicken is a chicken, etc. Really, houses and cars are the same according to our capitalist view: a 2x4 is a 2x4, a nail is a nail, a barrel of crude is a barrel of crude, etc. Sure, there are cases where we pay attention to brand names, and sometimes we get more specific (as in various grades of 2x4s or crude or steel) but we don't, as a rule, pay any attention to who the people are that are actually making our food, houses, or cars. Mechanics and house contractors might better be compared to restaurants, where there's really no difference to draw. That’s an interesting thought, but I adversely react to Salatin’s faulty sales pitch for “poor” farmers (and thereby himself, and coincidentally, me.) I think the reality is we live in a capitalist world, which means things are commodities: an apple is an apple, a chicken is a chicken, etc. Really, houses and cars are the same according to our capitalist view: a 2×4 is a 2×4, a nail is a nail, a barrel of crude is a barrel of crude, etc. Sure, there are cases where we pay attention to brand names, and sometimes we get more specific (as in various grades of 2x4s or crude or steel) but we don’t, as a rule, pay any attention to who the people are that are actually making our food, houses, or cars. Mechanics and house contractors might better be compared to restaurants, where there’s really no difference to draw.

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