A collection of Cletus Safaris

The origin of the title.  Where I heard about the title. The inspiration for the title.

There was this idea that went around about a decade ago, from places like Food, Inc. and Michael Pollan's visits to chicken farms where chickens are treated very well.  The idea was that bad practices have infected the entire agricultural industry while no one was paying attention, and the reason that this has happened now, in the new millennium, is that there aren't enough farmer acquaintances.  Sequestered in an urban bubble separate from the machinations of wheat growing and pig raising, "everyone" is not a farmer nor friends with a farmer.*

It's not not true that Monsanto's biggest interest is in their profits and not the well-being of farmers, or that food animals frequently live short claustrophobic lives rather than grazing on acres of sunny fertile land, or that most of us don't know the exact process by which processed food makes it to the grocery shelves.  But it's a little weird to blame not having a farmer in your social circle as a major contributor to our current food situation.  Especially if you, like me, actually know a farmer?  Which is not to say I know anything about farming, or food processing, in the same way I know people who work in insurance but I don't know much about that either.  I know a lawyer too, but if you hear me talk about law there's a 25%** chance that I'm wrong.  Being friends with someone in a field (pun intended) doesn't make you particularly knowledgeable about it.***

Also weird is this attempt to Explain The Trump Voter To People Who Don't Know Any.  Especially as someone, again, who knows Trump voters.  I know a lot of Trump voters.  I know people who were happy to vote for him.  I know people who reluctantly voted for him.  And I know I'm not the only non-Trump voter who knows Trump voters, because there was a bunch of advice given for surviving The Holidays (especially in 2016) in families with political differences.  There are a lot of us, the liberals hanging on in red states, or coexisting as peacefully as possible in purple states, or running wild in coastal blue states but with family back in red states.  And...we're not political savants.  Just like knowing a farmer doesn't really give you much insight on making our food system safer/healthier/more ethical, knowing Trump supporters doesn't import some secret knowledge that would have helped Hillary get elected.  And if you actually don't know anyone who voted for Trump, you won't have any answers after reading 1000 words on other people talk to Trump supporters. 

Ironically not the inspiration of the title.

*Not knowing a farmer was never said to be the only reason for problems with our supply of food, and there were good points made in both Food, Inc. and Omnivore's Dilemma, but this one I had a problem with. 

**It's really 75%, I regret almost every time I try to have an opinion about law.

***There's another problem I have with the "no one knows a farmer" argument.  The lament that "modern" life has brought on this separation from what we're buying and how it's made may be technically true, but the Industrial Revolution--the thing that caused our society to make the rural to urban shift--happened a long time ago.  The Jungle was written in 1906 and relied pretty heavily on the majority of people not knowing how pork was treated before it was sold.  This has nothing to do with Cletus Safaris but I couldn't let this bone go without picking it.