Much of today’s culture is based on the belief in the freedom of choice. By making our own decisions, in line with our individual preferences, we expect to increase well-being and happiness. However too much choice can overwhelm and increase the fear of making the wrong choice.
The key behind this problem is that people are not well-informed. Media outlets and social media hubs produce stories that are sensational instead of presenting arguments for as many sides of an issue as the facts support. This is all because appealing to peoples’ basest fears and emotions do a hell of a lot better when it comes to ratings.
Fear by any name dissipates as we understand it, fear is reduced and eventually eliminated by understanding, an understanding only made possible through education and the acquisition of knowledge.
So, what’s the philosophical side to this? There is a twofold ethical obligation for this. The first is that we as a source of information have an ethical responsibility to present factual information in proper historical context as well as factually based arguments for all plausible positions. The other side is that we as consumers have an ethical obligation to the country and future generations to be well informed, regardless of what the tv and social media presents us. This means we have an obligation to learn about the issues that we face in our food supply, check various reliable sources for facts, consider the best form of every argument, and make a decisions based on logic over convenience. Otherwise, we’re responsible for lives that will be lost if we fail to act, for an ecological crisis that always seems to be just over the horizon. We act, or we fall.
With our guides we aim to arm you with the knowledge that allows you to go into supermarkets and other businesses, well informed and ready to buy food that serves not just the consumers ethical, ecological and economic needs but also ensures that our planet has a future as well.
