Blog Post #4: Pollan's Guiltless Act of Brainwashing

          In the world of controversial issues, many times the truth about the matter is lost in the midst of misinformation, hollow words, and emotional drama. While it is impossible to fully eliminate bias, as whether we are influenced by the media or our peers we all approach contentious issues with some level of pre-conceived ideas about the issue, Michael Pollan, in his book In Defense of Food, minimizes this mistake in his argument against nutritionism. Instead of being drawn into the rut of writing useless propaganda, Pollan pulls from countless studies and research in order to prove his point while still creating an easily readable account of nutritionism and its affects.
          If Pollan had merely presented scientific studies, the reader would be lost amongst them, not knowing who to believe or why to believe it, so Pollan lays a foundation for the issues by outlining the history of nutritionism. This eases the reader into the argument, opening their eyes to the entirety of the subject instead of getting caught up in the “did to, did not” tendencies that many debates over controversial dissolve into. Through presenting the background, Pollan has informed the reader far better than any of the latest nutrition fad ever could, while at the same time simplifying the issue. When shown the chronological events, the reader gets led into making their own conclusions from the facts—the conclusions that naturally follow via common sense.
          What does Pollan have left to do? Once he has guided the reader into making a conclusion (that just happens to be exact same one he is trying to promote), the rest of the book is just adding layers upon layers of evidence to his well-fashioned foundation. In fact, the sheer quantity of evidence is enough to overwhelm even the most studious and most interested reader and has a tendency to feel at some times like brainwashing. However, is this “brainwashing” bad? Consider it to be the equivalent of cleaning an old car that hasn’t been washed for years. All the accumulation of ideas picked up along the road aren’t always helpful. After decades of mis-information, the truth is quite a different reality from the lie. The clean car is a world apart from the grimy mess it used to be. Yes, the change is definitely comparable to “adopt[ing] radically different beliefs by using systematic and often forcible pressure” (Mac Dictionary, “brainwash”). However, it is by no means bad!
          Pollan cleans up the fragments left over from years of fads and scientific research that have led to confusion—and brings us back to the genuine nutrition common sense that the generations past have lived by. Best of all, after all the history and science, he provides the common sense guide to walk out the book. Of course, not everyone will be able to buy locally grown produce, but everyone can easily, for instance, shop the outside isles of the supermarket to avoid some of the more unhealthy foods. In Defense of Food revolutionizes the definition of healthy by bringing common-sense back into the mind if Western civilization.