You know how I feel about demonizing fast-food restaurants–I don’t like it. But I can wholeheartedly agree with this: Get junk food out of U.S. schools! Bingo.
Don’t take my position on fast-food joints as being soft on the junk–I’m not. The consumption of fast-food is without a doubt a major factor in the obesity epidemic. Let’s call junk food–of which soda is the primary offender–an American obsession. And this love affair with crap is precisely why Americans are blowing up to massive proportions.
Yes, take the junk out of schools and homes. If people want to eat junk food occasionally then a fast-food restaurant, or candy store, or ice cream shop, or pizza parlor is where they should do it. Just like a bar or a whorehouse–a fast-food restaurant should be a place to satisfy one’s indulgences, not be a dietary staple, plain and simple. And the only way to control impulses is through discipline and responsible child rearing. You want to be the Norm Peterson of the local chicken dump?–that’s your monkey. But we certainly don’t need to give junk food to our children–they’ll get it on their own. Banning fast-food restaurants, however, is not the answer. Accept junk food as an occasional indulgence and use with moderation. If we treat it like liquor, then we should have no problem.
