New Book (well, May 03) by Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation which- in case you've forgotten- is the book that has prevented you from ever eating at McDonald's with your liberal arts degree holding girlfriend since it's publishing in January of 2002. His new book, Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market seeks to lay bare, ahem, the same societal misdoings in the marijuana, pornography and handpicked fruit industries. I'm not trying to ruin the book, but basically he seeks to legalize pot and porn, and everyone should pay $ 9.00 a pound for strawberries so that the food companies can maintain their current margins (yeah right) but pay illegal immigrant farm workers forty five grand a year to pick fruit, thus giving them enough scratch to get a condo in the valley and own a Honda (yes, I'm exaggerating here, please chill). Anyway, an interesting book according to some reviews. Anyone get around to reading it yet? It is essentially a number of his articles thrown together into a book. From the B&N review: I agree with his general point that there are migrant farm workers getting treated like dirt so that I can buy cheaper raspberries, but these are also people who risked death sneaking across a border for the right to do so because things we apparently worse at home. I'm in no position to say whether home was worse or not, but having all of the illegal immigrants back in Mexico (or wherever) is probably just as bad if not worse economically and politically for Mexico than it would be economically (e.g., cheap strawberry wise) or politically for the US, though my fruit smoothie budget would be in serious trouble. Surely we'd all blanch at seeing an eighteen dollar P B & J sandwich at the local deli. As for porn and the adult sex industry, my hands are tied. "That will be forty dollars". (sorry, I couldn't resist). I think we are too religious a country to ever legalize it completely, but I do recognize part of it as ligitimate business of consenting adults. Surely child pornography is wrong (Hi Mr. Townshend!), and I'm also sure that a decent percentage of porn stars are also involved in other life-ruining behavior like drugs and prostitution, but I can't same porn is to blame for all of that. Cops do a lot of stuff like that too, and we give them shiny guns and special sticks to hit people with. There are business people making money off of it legally (Hefner, Flint) and quasi-pretty girls without typing skills seeing some cash that they wouldn't come across waiting tables. Am I naive? Yes, but they are adults. I don't understand why prostitution is illegal, and surely less porn sites to chase down would free up the FBI for other community service activities like raiding Al Gore's basement to see where he's hiding all of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction in a bitter attempt to "I told you so" George Bush on the grand stage. Plus, between road tripping kids in college and lonely married guys on business trips there will always be a market for in-room hotel porn. Who could argue against spreading (sorry) that around some more? As for pot, I do agree that mandatory minimums are a joke, but I also think it shouldn't be made completely legal. Not like Nate Newton legal. Holland legal, okay. 1996-2002 Snoop Dog legal, bad. Anyway, if someone's read it, I'd be interested to hear how it turned out. I think I will wait for the library to stock it as I have no interest in owning it.
I didn't read the book & I didn't say I read the book (4 reviews and the jacket). I was trying to bring up the topics to start a discussion with those who had to see if I should read it. Sorry if I got carried away.
Give a brotha a break...there are so few interesting new topics here lately, anything that might start a debate a bit headier than "Cinderella v Hanson" is a welcome change.
OK, fine, I'll play along... I have read it, and your understanding of Schlosser's solutions is quite wrong. -- He's not for the full-scale legalization of pot. He believes in the decriminalization of possession of small amounts, and of a total rehaul of the Rockefeller drug laws & their offspring. After you read about some of the examples of how those laws have been used, it's hard to disagree. -- The strawberry section is just as much about indentured servitude and living conditions as wages. There are already a lot of good strawberry farms in CA that pay people well (Driscoll is the largest), so it is possible to pay above minimum and still make a reasonable profit. But there are more than enough people who exploit migrant workers -- look at how many die trying to cross the border every year because smugglers take their money and leave them to die in the backs of trucks or in the middle of the desert, for example. We can stop that AND still find people to work in the fields AND keep your cheap berries. -- Porn is already here as a mainstream product, so no need to "legalize" it. It's a stark contrast from the Reagan-era Meese Commission.
I havent read it or even heard of it but I think its the biggest pile of crap there ever was. Hey, since no one else read it my opinion is as good as yours. You know what else sucks? Convey's mom. You know what doesn't suck? Convey's girlfriend! You'll ALWAYS be a Virgin!
I've read it too, and Obie is correct with his summaries of Schlosser's views. I enjoyed the book, a very good (and quick) read. By far, some of the most interesting parts of the book are the descriptions of the differences in drug laws between states, and how one individual had a virtual stranglehold on the distribution of pornography during the industry's early days. Fascinating stuff. My one complaint is that Schlosser writes too much like a novelist, and not like a journalist or a researcher. (And maybe this is my bias as a researcher coming through). Repeatedly, I would read a paragraph in the book, wonder where Schlosser got the information, and would have to go all the way to back of the book to find out his sources. Without any footnotes or citations, this became a pain.
Reminds me a lot about the negative (and often either illiterate and/or slanderous) reviews of Fast Food Nation, which implied that Schlosser was in the pocket of some sort of lefty vegetarian cabal and was only seeking to undermine certain big corporations. In reality, he was quite good at pointing out viable alternatives to corporate farming methods (which are putting independent ranchers out of business at an alarming rate) and McDonalds (including a burger chain in SoCal that uses fresh meat and pays its cooks $10 per hour, and it's experienced managers $70-$80k per yer. As far as the Dutch and their openness toward the sex and drug industry... I was talking to a pretty interesting Dutch guy a couple weeks ago and he offered an interpretation of the situation that I'd never considered. He maintains that the Dutch really aren't any more liberal and open minded than anyone else-- that would be pretty hard to be given their Calvinist heritage. Rather, they're extremely practical -- that goes back to their Golden Age at the dawn of capitalism. So, rather than just tolerating porn, prostitution and drugs, they figure that, since people are going to engage in these things, better regulate the hell out of them. So prostitution is tolerated and regulated, but if you engage in child prostitution, enjoy your lengthy jail stay. Same with drugs. Enjoy that reefer, but if you start selling crack, you're also risking your freedom. Back to Schlosser: I haven't read this one, but I was satisfied with his documentation of Fast Food Nation. IIRC, it has over 50 pages of notes and bibliography at the end, bolstered by a lot of interviews. Back to work for me.
I read Fast Food Nation, but not Reefer Madness (though I intend to). I give Schlosser a lot of credit for being persuasive without being preachy or vituperative.