Abram’s Solutions to Schlosser’s
Problem
Erick Schlosser’s essay, Global Realization and David Abram’s
essay, The Ecology of Magic may seem
completely different on the surface in terms of theme, style, and perspective.
Abram mostly discusses how people should restore their relationship with nature
to be able to control themselves, while Schlosser points out how McDonald’s is
at fault for controlling the world by its large fast-food chain. Nevertheless,
when we take a moment to look at the in-depth message of both authors, we find
that both could get into a conversation with the problem-solution form of
analysis. If Abram’s idea that people can be in control of themselves is true,
then this provides a solution to Schlosser’s problem that McDonald’s is in control
of the people. The worldwide problem of McDonald’s fast food industry that is
being “exported to every corner of globe” and became “totems of Western economic
development” (Schlosser 529) are indeed very concerning and need an immediate
solution to it. Based on Schlosser, the whole world tries to prevent McDonald’s
dominating people’s diets and desires by suing McDonald through the Mc Libel
Case and even to the extent of “pushing for a complete ban on all television
advertising directed at children” (Schlosser 540). However, it seems that the
solutions are not effective enough: “Nevertheless, it seems wherever America’s
fast food chains go, waistlines start expanding” (Schlosser 539). This then
brings Abram into the conversation because the solution does not lie on the
surface, it lies in the inside by finding the relationship between human and nature,
so that humans can be in control of themselves.
Firstly, if humans are “well acquainted” with their “needs
and capacities,” (Abram 10) then humans would not have a “taste for fat” (Schlosser
538) that Schlosser keeps on restating in his essay. “As humans, we are well
acquainted with the needs and capacities of the human body-we live our own bodies and so know, from
within, the possibilities of our form” (Abram 10). Who would know you better
than yourself? Here, Abram wants to state that there is no one who knows your
own needs and capacities better than yourself. This means that we are the one
in control of our own dietary intake. There may be misleading ideas that
eccentric people would say to brainwash the people such as: “‘If we eat
McDonald’s hamburgers and potatoes for a thousand years,” Fujita once promised
his countrymen, “we will become taller, our skin will become white, and our
hair will be blonde’” (Schlosser 530). There is no denying that this misguided
concept of becoming more “Western” is ridiculous, but for children who have
less attachments to tradition, they might actually believe in this rumor.
Schlosser himself said this: “As in the United States, the fast food companies
have targeted their foreign advertising and promotion at a group of consumers
with the fewest attachments to tradition: young children” (530). Those young
children are not well acquainted with their own needs and capacities, even
though they are the ones who should know themselves best. Hence, Abram gives a
solution by giving an illustration on how magicians position themselves in the
community: “For the magician’s intelligence is not encompassed within the society; its place is at the
edge of the community, mediating between the
human community and the larger community of being upon which the village
depends for its nourishment and sustenance” (Abram 4). As we can see here, the
magician didn’t position himself “within
the society.” Instead, he “mediates between
the human community and the larger community,” which is the greater power above
us, nature in this case. The magician had already realized that society is corrupted
by ridiculous, misleading ideas. Just like the magician, adults and children
should be well acquainted with their own needs and capacities by putting
themselves between the human community and the larger community. For that
reason, people can be in control of their own diet, and thus, Schlosser’s
theory that McDonald’s are in control of the people’s diet can be denied.
Secondly, Abram’s search for spiritual self- sufficiency
by having a relationship with nature gives a solution for humans to be in
control of their desires. Hence, McDonald’s aren’t in control of the people. “More
than half of all American adults and about one-quarter of all American children
are now obese or overweight. Those proportions have soared during the last few
decades, along with the consumption of fast food” (Schlosser 537). The main
problem that Schlosser wants the readers to understand is that fast food is the
source of obesity which is now spreading from America and to the whole world.
On the other hand, Abram has realized the real cause of the obesity epidemic:
“Sadly, our culture’s relation to the earthly biosphere can in no way be
considered a reciprocal or balanced one…we can hardly be surprised by the
amount of epidemic illness in our culture, from increasingly severe immune
dysfunctions and cancers, to widespread psychological distres” (Abram 16). We
cannot blame McDonald’s for the increase of obesity around the world, instead
Abram tries to explain that the American culture has an imbalanced relationship
with nature. If people were willing to rebalance their relation to nature, then
they would have the spiritual self-sufficiency that nature provides. “And it is
only a result of her continual engagement with the animate powers that dwell
beyond the human community that the traditional magician is able to alleviate
many individual illnesses that arise within that community” (Abram 5). Having spiritual
self-sufficiency allows humans to experience a sense of sufficiency of their desires
because its already fulfilled by the spirit and nature. McDonald’s move in
“running the most ads aimed at children” (Schlosser 540) to exploit children’s
desire of consuming fast foods is a strategic move because children are the
starting point in building a balanced relationship with nature. Hence, if
adults have a balanced relationship with nature and teach their children of
spiritual self-sufficiency, then McDonald’s being in control of the people’s
desires can be prevented.
In
conclusion, Abram has given solutions for people to control themselves by being
well acquainted with their own needs and capacities, and to have a balanced
relationship with nature in the search for spiritual self-sufficiency. Both of
these ways would help to solve Schlosser’s problem that McDonald’s is in
control of the people’s diet and desires. Again, solving the problem on the
surface would not be effective. The same illness would resurface again, and
therefore the only answer to that is solving the problem from the inside.
Works Cited
Abram,
David. “The Ecology of Magic.” The New
Humanities Reader. 2009
Schlosser,
Eric. “Fast Food Nation.” Global
Realization. 2001
Comments
Post a Comment