The Complete Patient

About 15 years ago, I read a very persuasive book by Alvin Toffler, “Power Shift: Knowledge, Wealth, and Violence at the Edge of the 21^st Century.” He forecast the emergence of our knowledge-based economy along with huge struggles between new decentralized digitally-based industries and older centralized established industries. I still think about that book as I watch one battle after another fought out, such as between newspapers and online “classifieds” like Craig’s List, between the established movie industry of Hollywood/theater chains and newly emerging independent producers, and between the telecommunications giants and Internet phone services.

As I read the highly persuasive comments on my postings, “About Freedom, Justice and Tyranny” and “Reality Keeps Coming in the Way of Appreciating the Raw Milk,” I got to thinking (damn, I hate when that happens): Are the raw milk abuses we have been witnessing part of what Toffler might explain as a power struggle between the forces of centralization of the food chain versus a newly aware and expanding movement for decentralization? Or are these abuses the tip of an emerging iceberg of tyranny and populace control?

I know many see it as the latter. I’m not sure anyone knows the real answer yet, since it’s nearly impossible to know exactly what’s happening when you’re in the middle of a swirling storm. I try to be an optimist about such matters, as I suggested in my posting about freedom and justice, but the more I read about the National Animal Information System (NAIS), the more concerned I become. If you want to learn more about its implications, Henwhisperer has a great blog devoted to exploring its implications. It is complex stuff, and this blog helps elucidate important hidden implications.

If you take NAIS as part of a growing body of evidence, starting with Guantanamo and the Patriot Act, then you have to be worried. NAIS could be far larger in its impact than either of those two occurrences. Think about this: if NAIS was fully operational, the authorities would have a means for identifying—and abusing—anyone who doesn’t go along with USDA recommendations, such as for giving animals hormones or antibiotics…or having their milk pasteurized. The authorities wouldn’t have to wait for disgruntled neighbors or sick children to lead them to producers of raw milk, since it would all be there on chips being monitored via satellite and powerful scanners. Then think about this: registering animals is only a first step on the way to registering people.

Then again, maybe we’re dealing with two problems here—the clash between the centralized and decentralized food system, and the movement toward authoritarian government--with the authoritarian techniques being the government/corporate solution to decentralization. On the food system, some comments wondered about how we fight against such wealthy and power-hungry forces. I guess I’d say from the optimists’ side that this country has a history of letting market forces determine the winners of economic/political battles, rather than, say, military coups of the type that pop up in Latin America or Asia. We’ve seen companies like McDonald’s and Coca Cola experience setbacks in recent years, mainly because of lagging sales. As more people learn about the dangers of agri-business products, behavior will change.

Miguel says it well: "The only answer we need is to keep the milk moooving from the farm to the city no matter what the authorties do to try to stop it. Industrial agriculture is already destroying itself. Every person that stops supporting factory farms by not buying their products brings the inevitable collapse that much closer." The Henwhisperer blog advises farmers to remain outside NAIS, and consumers to try not to purchase from NAIS farms.