Musings: Oh, the Irony

I love irony, especially the unintentional sort, which the Urban Dictionary defines as “bulldada.”

It's frequently apparent in the “anti” crowd, which, as I have oft noted, seems devoid of introspection:

Yes, Andrew Kimbrell and Ashley Lukens, if only you would let the scientists speak. Because the suppression of science — aka, following the anti-GMO playbook — is indeed a real buzz kill.

Here's another choice example, from Gary Hooser's Hawaii Alliance for Progressive Action. They got to waxing philosophic about their recent crop of Kuleana Academy cadets:

The discussion on what it means to be pono calls on these graduates to make a commitment to exercise that power with courage and integrity, and to question that power at each turn. It invites this community of graduates to call each other out if someone acts in way that is not pono. [But be prepared to be trashed and ostracized if you dare question the antis' power structure, tactics or funding sources.] 

Stepping up is not easy. It takes courage, strength of character, and a strong moral compass. By nurturing a community of thoughtful and accountable leaders, we are investing in a pono future for Hawai‘i.

And you do that by refusing to reveal HAPA's funding sources and violating federal laws regarding lobbying and the support of partisan politics by nonprofit “public charities?” Uh, guys, if the seed is bad, it ain't gonna produce good fruit.

Meanwhile, Hooser demonstrates his own lack of integrity:

Then there's the irony of America's increasing appetite for organic food, as stimulated by the antis, who are heavily funded by the organics industry:

Once a net exporter of organic products, the United States now spends more than $1 billion a year to import organic food, according to the USDA, and the ratio of imported to exported products is now about 8-to-1.

Many of these organic imports are grown in the European Union, where more than 140,000 farmers are meeting Europe's weaker organic standards on 12.6 million acres of farmland.

One of the biggest exporters is Romania, which relies on cheap labor — the average pay is $485 per month. Another big exporter of organics is China, where both standards and safety are suspect. Once you start factoring in the carbon load, the weaker standards and the labor exploitation factors, organics get an even uglier profile. But hey, main thing the American consumer can pretend to be pure and righteous while chanting the mantra: support your local farmer. Even if he/she is Romanian or Chinese.

Some folks in a recent comment thread on this site got into claiming that GMO food is bad because it's making everyone fat. Hmm. So will they support genetically engineered gut microbes that appear to reduce obesity?

And what about the irony of paying more for a product with the “Non-GMO Project” sticker when there isn't even a GMO version of that particular food, like almonds? Greg Jaffe has a good blog post on that subject.

Or the irony of Simon Russell, president of the Hawaii Farmers Union United Haleakala Chapter, bemoaning the fickle, fearful consumers — you know, the kind the antis cultivate — who are cutting back on local lettuce and kale purchases because they're afraid of consuming the rat lungworm parasite:

“We can put robots on Mars. Why can’t we get rid of rats?”

Mmm, we can, Simon. But it's going to require either the extensive use of rodenticides — you know, the poisons you hate — or a helluva lot of live trapping and killing.

And let's not forget the irony of all those folks who would farm — if only all the land wasn't already poisoned — and their pals, the well-intentioned, but clueless, who figure all they need is Google, a government grant and their other non-farming comrades in Hawaii Farmers Union United:

Jeremy Poster

Yesterday at 12:31am

Anybody interested in a north shore community garden. There are ag lots for sale near dole plantation. The biggest parcel is 18.37acres. At $70,000 per acre, that comes to $1,285,900. If 50 people want to split that, it comes to $25,718 per person. For the money you get 16,803sqft of farm land. Thats almost 1/2 an acre for $25k. We can get a board together with leaders and rules, maybe some kind of community building at the farm. Maybe we can have individual plots or just make a big, permaculture style food forest. Not to live there, just a farming project

Yeah, and all ya gotta do is sell 25,718 bunches of kale at $1 each to make your money back! Oh, the market is flooded because everyone else is growing kale, too, but nobody's buying it because of rat lungworm? Oops....

Of course, sometimes irony morphs into an outright oxymoron, as in:

Center for Food Safety | Fact Sheets

I'll leave you with this updated version of the Alanis Morissette classic: