Fast Food Nation

Through a connection with an animal rights activist, I was able to attend a free showing of the new movie, "Fast Food Nation" last Thursday. First off, I want to say that the book is fascinating. I learned so much from reading it. I did my stint of working for the fast food industry before I got a job as a sports writer at my local newspaper. So I appreciate the thorough investigation of the industry presented in the book.

But the movie ... um, well. I don't know. Between growing up on a farm and working to defend the rights of workers at Iowa Pork and Hormel, I'm fairly familiar with the realities of slaughtering animals for food.

The movie, however, seems to assume that the viewer is completely unaware that their food comes from actual animals and that these animals need to be killed in order to become food. We are supposed to be appalled by the sight of skinless disembodied cow heads.

I suppose the there are people who really don't get it. But what about all those people who understand completely and say, "yeah, so what's your point?"

This movie assumes people are stupid. And maybe they are, but I think we can do better than that. Because the fast food industry does suck. But it's not because animals die for our food. It's because they do so much more to fuck us up in the pursuit of the all-mighty profit.

In explaining that, this movie failed.