This is an overly simple way of expressing my solutions for a whole spectrum of problems. I really believe that most of the problems we have in the world - Poverty, Crime, War, Starvation and anything else you want to name - go right back to two basic needs: Sex and Food. We have everything we need to make life better for each of us on the planet. The resources and information exist. Why aren't we?
I'll start with Sex, because everything does. What I'm talking about is not just coitus, although that is absolutely part of this, but "Somato-Sensory Deprivation."1 It's a lack of movement, touch, pleasurable sensations that we need on a neurological level. Babies who aren't held and given eye contact quite literally turn grey and die. We are born with a need to be touched, to be rocked in loving arms, to be comforted when we cry, to be smiled at and "coo"ed to and cuddled. Cultures that don't provide this type of nurturing for their children are harsh and violent. The only remedy for the early neglect of a society's infants is allowing extreme freedom of access to sexual activity during Adolesence. That freedom can result in a softening of the individual, resulting in no special incidence of violence within that society. The opposite is true when a well-nurtured child grows into a repressive environment in Adolescence. When this happens, or worse, when both crucial stages of development are cruel or repressive, violence escalates within a culture. Repression begets violence. If you want to create a peaceful world, start with touch.
Food is a huge issue - we obsess about it as a culture, while most cultures suffer for the lack of it. People will overthrow governments for lack of food - remember Marie Antoinette? - yet food is wasted and misused in this country on a scale no one ever imagined was possible. Food can be used for comfort, for celebration, for healing and nourishment .It can also create a variety of problems: obesity, behavior problems, mental disorders and physical illness. Let's look at the role food plays in each of these in our world.
I'm not going to preach against obesity. I've had a lifelong problem with it myself. And I'm not going to harp on the fast food industry because we know it's bad for us, even though most people don't know that a salt packet from McDonalds contains 5 ingredients and a packet from Burger King contains 6 and that both include sugar.(For the record, salt should contain one ingredient, and it's called salt.) I'm going to criticize the cattle and poultry industries. No, I am not a vegetarian. I love a good steak and, being Southern, I love my fried chicken. The problem is that unless you have a source of organic meat and poultry, when you eat meat, you eat hormones, anti-biotics, steroids and pesticides. Makes your mouth water, doesn't it?
My main concern is the growth hormone given to the animals. Most of you aren't old enough to remember, but chickens aren't that big! These behemoths we buy in the average grocery store are about 3 times the size of a normal bird. You don't really think selective breeding is what creates these monsters, do you? That plays a small part, but most of it is chemistry, and it doesn't stop with the chicken - or the steak, for that matter. Scientists will deny that there is any connection to animal consumption of hormones and human hormonal problems. But they also can't explain why women often get debilitating cramps on the Atkins diet, which is a high protein regimen using lots of meat, poultry and dairy products. Could it be that these animal foods contain hormones that do affect people who are sensitive to them? I believe the answer is yes, and they're killing us. The rise in obesity came right along with the increased use of growth-hormones in animals. Of course we're getting bigger!
The problems don't stop with weight gain, though. News programs and talk shows are beginning to explore the increasing problems of post-partum depression and post-partum psychosis. Some have speculated that these women experience some sort of hormonal imbalance, but no one has made the connection yet that this rise is corresponding with the use of hormones in our food. Considering the power of the Poultry and Cattle lobbies, the connection might never be made. Did I mention that exposure to hormones can cause tumors to grow?
So far, I've only talked about growth hormone. Our foods also contain dyes which can cause mood and skin disorders; Nitrites which can cause cancer and cystic acne (another big business which won't tell you that your diet is the problem); Sulfites that can cause cancer and perfectly wicked migraines; and of course, pesticides which are poisonous to begin with and can also cause cancer. And then there is sugar...
I can't begin to cover what sugar does to you here. I highly recommend the book Sugar Blues by William Duffy. He details the parallels between the sugar industry and the heroin trade, and makes a pretty convincing case that of the two, sugar has done more damage to society.
Finally, from Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe, that big bad cattle lobby we talked about earlier wastes enough grain every year to feed every man, woman and child on the planet a cup of cooked grain everyday of that year. I say waste, because they could produce the same amount of beef without using that grain. The beef might not be as tender, but is having to chew a little more too much to pay for ending world hunger? Are we really that spoiled? I hope not.
I've just scraped the surface here, but as you can see, we all have a long way to go for that good meal and that good fuck. They should be the two simplest things in the world. They are the most important things in the world. And they are absolutely possible.