Big Mac versus Big Tobacco - Intro
Something I would like to do full time is write. Anyone who has read anything of mine would suggest I think of something else to do if I want to keep my wife and child fed, but I like to write. I always thought writing well, actually something people wanted to read, was a God given gift. But my friend Paul, in a 30 second comment he kind of half said, made me rethink that. He said that creative, well structured writing was something most of us could probably do if we had the time. I never really thought of it that way but when I write these long, detailed reports for work, things I am paid to do 40-60-80 hours a week, they come out great. The reason is I have time to put my thought down on paper (computer), think it through, rethink it, re rethink it, and so on and so on. They come out pretty good. But for creative writing, it is usually done on airplanes, sitting in front of the TV at 1AM avoiding going to bed because my morning is going to suck (me right now), after having a few pops and some free time, or just responding to something on my mind. It is not well thought out. But the thing for me is that every time I want to write something, I usually am thinking it through in the back of a cab or waiting in line ? places where I have wasted time with only my mind to keep me company and can?t write down what I want to say and eventually I forget the main points. But the one thing I always remember is the title for an in depth column I want to write. A column on something significant. Not a useless and trivial event in my otherwise boring life. But something that will provoke arguments among couples who read it. Fan the flames of debate over scotch and waters. Stir muck from the forensic lake.
This all brings me to my point. I have been following very closely the latest class action lawsuit initiative I?ll call (me and every paper out there) Big Food. Big Food is being sued because kids are fat, similar to Big Tobacco because people die from smoking. I am not going to get into it because I intend on devoting a large column to this debate, but the argument by the lawyers is that companies like Nestle and Nabisco and Kraft make food very fattening and market it to kids to sell more stuff, a wacky concept to turn a profit and please shareholders. Insane, I know. But after reading <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2003-07-01-kraft_x.htm">numerous</a> <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2003-07-01-junkfood_x.htm">articles</a> and watching the Today show talk about it, I am changing the title of the column. Originally I was going to call it ?
??Big Mac versus Big Tobacco??
?and it was going to center on the difference of suing tobacco companies and suing fast food/consumer packaged good companies. But after reading a bunch of spin on obese kids and why companies that make fattening food are to blame, I am going to call it?
??Put Down Those G**damned Fries, Fat Boy, And Go Outside And Play!!?
Stay tuned, its going to be a good one.