Are We Being Conditioned For a Soylent Green Future?
A few months ago, Soylent Green was running on TCM and I decided to finally watch the full movie. I knew what the movie was about, but had only seen the last 10 minutes or so years ago.
For those who aren’t familiar with the 1973 movie, Soylent Green is a dystopian story starring Charlton Heston, and is set in New York City in the year 2022 in which the population is divided into a handful of elitists who have the best of what’s left while everyone else lives a hellish nightmare. The world is massively overpopulated, most natural resources have been depleted, starvation is the norm, and disease runs rampant. Oh yeah, it’s also hot as hell.
This movie is the climate change/global warming squawkers’ wet dream representation of what will happen if we don’t stop everything we’re doing now. Ironically, even though there is a lack of resources and people are starving, the world is overpopulated, people are still fat, and they can still reproduce adding to the population problem.
Pretty sure the population would be going down under permanent or long-term mass starvation until you hit a point at which the resources can support the population, but it’s a movie so let’s go with it.
The elites live in nice apartments, and the men have women provided for companionship. They still have hot running water, some real food although it’s extremely limited, and booze. Sounds no too bad so far if you’re a male elitist!
The only food available to the masses is some processed wafers from the Soylent Corporation. They have red and yellow Soylent products, as well as, the new Soylent Green which is even more nutritious and flavorful. This product is supposedly derived from an algae that is harvested by the company. I won’t give away the ending for those who haven’t seen it.
As I’m watching this movie, I can’t help but think about the narratives and propaganda we’re hammered with today, and the push towards a Soylent Green future regardless of reality.
Most of human existence was focused on finding food, shelter, and warmth. Thanks to fossil fuels which give us a far greater return on the energy we get out of them versus the energy invested to finding and utilizing them, we now had the time to develop technology that allowed us to better secure food sources. Today, resources are expended developing new technology that is utilized in an attempt to replace what has existed in nature for millions of years, and has done the job just fine.
We are so conditioned to fake food, and so disconnected from real food and where it comes from that we will stuff damn near anything in our mouths without really questioning the ingredients. If the food processors say it’s okay and the FDA says it’s okay, then it must be okay for us to eat. It says “All Natural” on the label after all.
The experts tell us if we don’t eat these new concoctions, we’ll all be dead or underwater because our food choices make the planet too hot. The experts are never wrong and surely wouldn't lie.
The world will burn up so we must stop using fossil fuels and stop eating meat right now.
Eat this plant-based meat that’s healthier than meat from disgusting animals. It's full of synthetic vitamins and minerals that are just as good if not better and it's better for the environment.
This lab grown meat is better for you and healthier for the environment.
Don’t breast feed, that’s what animals do. Feed your newborns formula that’s just as good if not healthier than a mother’s milk.
Feed your babies this goop in a jar that won’t develop their palates and jaws, but is better than real food. It’s also more convenient than having to prepare food.
Eat this stuff that’s in a box or a bag. Sure it has 20 ingredients you can’t pronounce, but that’s what makes it taste good plus it can sit on a shelf for years. And it's so convenient!
Don’t drink water, that’s what animals do. You need something that has electrolytes, artificial colors, sweeteners, and is what the body wants and needs.
Milk from a cow? That’s stupid. You should drink milk from almonds or soy that are full of thickeners, and synthetic vitamins and minerals that are better than vitamins and minerals in real milk.
Eat crickets instead of meat.
Dear reader, do you know why people eat insects in third world countries? Because they don’t have reliable sources of animal protein, so they eat what they can to survive. They would take steak over bugs any day, and as soon as they have the means to afford animal protein, they gladly make the shift.
By the way go on Amazon and search for “crickets to eat.” There is quite a variety of cricket foods from which to choose. Only those of us so disconnected with this struggle for food that has challenged mankind for nearly all of our existence would think it’s hip and a good idea to purposely eat inferior fake foods and bugs.
So where do we go from here? That’s up to us.
If we continue to reward these companies by buying the fake foods that fill up about 90%+ of a grocery store, then some version of Soylent Green will be our future.