Thursday, April 17, 2008
inuit
Anne Lucas’s article No Remedy for the Inuit describes how the environment of the Inuit and its waters are contaminated and polluted which is also causing their food sources to also be contaminated which affects the health of the community and especially breast-fed babies. This article made think of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina who are currently living in contaminated FEMA trailers. I am trying to fathom how and why anyone with authority, power and money can allow this to happen to human beings…period. I am sure if the Inuit women, or people, had a choice in what they ate and lived, it wouldn’t be there. A classmate asked if we ever thought about the foods we eat and their relation to our culture and if we had to sacrifice our choice of foods related to our culture would we. Most argued that the question posed wouldn’t be much of an issue to those who have options to eat different foods (for whatever reason) and those who do not have a choice in changing their diet or foods, are forced to continue to eat contaminated foods for survival. I wonder if compassion, sympathy and empathy for others as scarce as common sense…..
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2 comments:
I agree with you because i definitely think t is easy for people who have a variety of foods to eat to say that they would change their diets if the foods they were eating were harmful, but some people aren't as fortunate to have choices.
What I feel you guys are missing is that this isn't just about the "food choices," I feel this issue is deeper than that. Their diet is about of their culture, and what I asked in class was whether or not you could/would sacrifice your cultural identity for your survival. I think that it really isn't about common sense, nor that easy as black and white. For most cultures, your identity, is who you are, and your whole lifestyle. How could you live without the knowledge of who you are? How could you live knowing that you sold your worth because others are being inconsiderate enough to poison your living environment? Should we really be placing the blame on these Inuit women for not changing their diets? Or rather the people from the United States who are really responsible for polluting their space? Aren't we to blame?
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