"Organic Foodies"

For those who needed proof, we have it on good scientific authority that people who insist on eating organic foods are more likely to be self-righteous, moralistic and judgmental.

“Organic foodies” seem to be natural-born prigs.

Eating organic makes people feel that they are better and healthier than everyone else.  It makes them feel like they are in close harmony with nature. It also seems to embolden them to call you out on your disgusting habit of consuming inorganic fruits and vegetables. It’s their moral duty.

God help you if you run into an “organic foodie” while carrying a plastic shopping bag. He will feel that he must condemn you for not using a burlap shopping bag. His  believes so strongly that he cannot contain himself. And he believes so strongly that he is happy to ignore the fact that those reusable shopping bags have been shown to be perfect breeding grounds for the nastiest of organic disease-causing germs.

What are a few sick children compared with saving the planet.

Doug Barry sums it up well:

Science can be a wonderfully vindictive thing, especially when it suggests that people who self-righteously purchase and consume organic foods are more likely to not help you jump your dead car battery, hold the door open for you, or volunteer to coach a community little league team. That's right, everyone — organic foodies would sooner run a child down on her way to softball practice with their Schwinns than help that child learn how to catch a flyball, and that's more or less a scientific fact.

And yet, Barry points out, how can we  know whether organic foods make you a moralizing twit or whether people who are inclined to be moralizing twits are naturally drawn to anything that is labeled organic?

For now, we don’t know.

Some have explained it by saying that when people  do what they consider to be a good deed— munching on organic broccoli—they believe that they have earned some moral credits. They feel empowered to criticize everyone else for behaviors that they do not consider to be moral.

Then again, many religions have strict dietary restrictions. Many of these restrictions have developed in order to protect people from unhealthy foods.

Since environmentalism has become a Nature cult, it makes sense that it would have its own rituals… like eating organic.

And some religions encourage extreme intolerance toward unbelievers, heretics, and apostates. So, apparently, does the religion of environmentalism.

If you ask an “organic foodie” to explain his personal beliefs, he will tell you that he follows the gospel of tolerance and non-judgmentalism.

The recent studies, however, show that “organic foodies” are intolerant and judgmental. Thus, they are also pious and self-righteous hypocrites.

They would probably be horrified to hear it, but “organic foodies” resemble cult followers and religious fanatics.

Perhaps people who love Nature beyond reason are inclined to dislike human beings.

Those who belong to a Nature cult are also likely to believe that human beings are Nature’s biggest enemy. Thus, they are less likely to show kindness, consideration or benevolence toward their fellow humans.

They are more likely to consider the human race a criminal conspiracy against the flora and fauna.

If you were wondering how cults recruit followers and how they convince people to stay with them, the world of “organic foodies” sheds some light on the question.

If you become a true believing cult follower of the Nature goddess, you will be granted the right to be rude, inconsiderate, and obnoxious.

The cult will forgive your sins and will excuse your bad behavior. It will say that rudeness is a sign of virtue. When you shout at strangers using plastic shopping bags it just means that you feel very strongly about your beliefs. 

Like most cults, Nature worship offers a Faustian bargain. Give the cult your mind and soul and it will allow you to behave as badly as you wish.

Someone who feels lost in the world of social niceties might feel like he is facing a choice: learn the rules of decorum and etiquette in order to gather a group of friends and to be an upstanding citizen, or else, join a Nature cult and be as obnoxious as you like. If you join the cult you will be able to prop up your false sense of virtue by eating organic broccoli.

For many people, eating organic is just a lot easier.