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Rufus T. Firefly
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is one way of saying it, though I prefer "mensch"
Sep 2000
time: 07:17
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This stuff is true, and irrelevant. You know, whenever I see a poll like this, I think back to high school. I graduated from a pretty middle-of-the road high school, where our parent's average incomes were probably pretty close to the national average, and the student body (and my friends) ranged from doctor's kids to welfare kids. Except for race, we were probably a pretty good cross section of America.
I graduated in a class of 800 students, some of whom went on to Ivies or near-Ivies. But if I think of that graduating class, and then think of the bottom 20% -- the slackers, the burn outs, the Future Felons of America, the just-plain-morons -- is it plausible that those 160 were unaware of the Copernican Revolution?
Oh hell yeah.
So 20% of our population is unaware of the most rudimentary facts of their own existence. Big deal. That number is probably lower than it has been at any other time in human history.
If we're going to worry about what a percentage of the population believes, let's worry about the number who think Iraq attacked us on 9/11. Or let's worry about the number who believe that you can rack up consumer debt indefinitely, without consequences. But this is nothing.
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Proteus_MST
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And of course GM seed means, that farmers have to spend a lot of money every year for buying seeds instead ob being able to use part of their currents harvest as seed for the next year (as GM seeds normally are deliberately manipulated to produce infertile plants)
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chegitz guevara
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Ft. Lauderdale, FL Communist Party of Apolyton
Jun 2000
time: 00:17
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quote:
Originally posted by Az
But if it still makes economic sense for the farmers, why oppose it?
And if it doesn't why wouldn't they buy it? |
Who says it does? First off, most of the seed catalogues have been bought up by the GMO corps, who then discontinue non-patented lines. If you have no choice, you go with what you got.
2nd, there's a prisoners' dilema involved. If no farmers used GMOs, they'd all be better off, since the market wouldn't be flooded with products, driving down everyone's return. If only a few used GMOs, they'd have a competitive advantage over those who didn't. So everyone will use them, and they all will sufffer. So more small farms will go under, being snapped up by big farms, which means more corporate farming, with all the attendent problems it produces.
3rd, farmers are human, and can be convinced that something that's bad for them is good for them.
GMOs are one of those things that are great in theory, but needed to be understood within an existing social context to understand what the real world results will be, much like ending agro subsidies, or the disaster that was the Green Revolution.
Now, in socialist agriculture, GMOs would be a great boon.
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Az
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MACEDONIA - It's the name of the sovereign country to the north of Greece
Apr 2000
time: 07:17
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quote:
Who says it does? First off, most of the seed catalogues have been bought up by the GMO corps, who then discontinue non-patented lines. If you have no choice, you go with what you got. |
So you're claiming there there are no non-GM seeds on the market? I claim BS.
quote:
2nd, there's a prisoners' dilema involved. If no farmers used GMOs, they'd all be better off, since the market wouldn't be flooded with products, driving down everyone's return. If only a few used GMOs, they'd have a competitive advantage over those who didn't. So everyone will use them, and they all will sufffer. So more small farms will go under, being snapped up by big farms, which means more corporate farming, with all the attendent problems it produces. |
That may be true, but it has been true for all crop enhancing measures since we crossed sufficiency levels for agriculture.
quote:
3rd, farmers are human, and can be convinced that something that's bad for them is good for them. |
Yes, but it's not just small farmers. It's agricultural companies too.
quote:
GMOs are one of those things that are great in theory, but needed to be understood within an existing social context to understand what the real world results will be, much like ending agro subsidies, or the disaster that was the Green Revolution.
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What's the green revolution?
ALL of these arguments have nothing to do with the fearmongering of morons in europe that call GM products "Frankenfood", etc.
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31-08-2005 02:58
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