Low hanging fruit? A man’s gotta eat. Sometimes he’s gotta pig out.
See an article like this and you’re duty-bound to wonder what they're trying to tell you to believe. It’s the Bushido code. Or so I read in an article.
Maybe ABC-Australia is disconnected from the establishment and just trying to commit a brave act of independent journalism. I’m optimistic.
"Austin Frerick's interest in mega-rich farmers began in 2018, while he was perched on a stool in a hipster dive bar in Iowa during a competitive local political campaign." - Cool, establishing the credibility of the source, a normal guy like me and you. Also establishing the audience, or at least who you think the audience is supposed to be and who they want to think you want to be (i.e. who is authoritative.) Who’s reading www.abc.net.au anyway?
"Frerick is a fellow of Yale's Thurman Arnold Project, which researches competition policy and antitrust enforcement." - So the source of the article is a good guy. From Yale. Down with the system, baby!
"The history of American agriculture is rooted in slavery and genocide but it was in the 1980s that the pro-corporate framework really took hold, Frerick says." - Yea, hath Frerick(TM) said?
Pay no attention to the sources behind the curtain. The subtle jabs (heh) at Putin and Trump and these totally unprecedently wealthy pigs pig farmers, and the take-it-from-me-kid implication that you should be trusting a Yale-indoctrinated rando at his word on how evil rich people are should be taken at face value. It’s ABC, the US and Australia’s choice for homebrewed, bias-free information, and it’s got the electrolytes your mind craves.
"In the 1950s, then-president Dwight D Eisenhower's secretary of agriculture urged farmers to "get big or get out", and succeeded in passing a bill that watered down laws protecting small family-run farms.
Reagan continued to water down this legislation."
I’ll give ‘em that, deregulation was Reagan’s forte. Damn Republicans.
"Yet despite their reach, Frerick says the family aims to keep a low profile.
"[For example] they're still in Russia, they don't care about Putin because you don't know who they are and so you can't boycott [them]," he says."
Well, now I do, and now I can. The power is in your hand.
Segwaying into condemning Putin? I bet their editor gave them a high-five for that one. One point off for low-hanging fruit, but two points for consistency and covering all the bases. That’s why every five minutes in casual conversation I mention that Hitler was bad.
"In 2022, the president of the New South Wales Farmers Association, Xavier Martin was critical of the way "multinational middleman" like Cargill treat NSW grain growers."
How did he feel about Covid-era policies from the Australian government and their effect on New South Wales grain growers? For all the good journalism the authors are doing here, I guess they forgot to mention that, a glaring mistake in an underground anti-establishment zine like ABC.
But we’ve got to stay on topic here. We’re talking about how these really rich people are bad. And Trump. And Putin. And America. And slavery. And Hitler. What about global warming?
"While their farming operation is based in north-west Indiana, the McCloskeys claim residency at the Ritz-Carlton in Puerto Rico, Frerick says."
Puerto Rico? Could it possibly get worse? There's even a dirty fat capitalist pig as the article's thumbnail. He may look cute, but beware, he’s out to get you, and the only solution is to go to Yale and shop ABC. Trust me. Trust Frerick, and Fiona Pepper, and Catherine Zengerer. They had to risk their jobs and go under their bosses’ noses to get this published.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Broadcasting_Company
Just gonna leave that there.
Where to from here?
I don’t know, you’ve led me this far. I’ve got eight more articles to absorb before me and my wife have to change each other’s diapers and sit in front of the news together for another ten hours. That may seem aimed at boomers, but I see the subreddits you’re subscribed to, and you should all be ashamed.
"Agriculture is a major contributor of emissions and as the world deals with a deepening climate crisis, Frerick says the American food system needs to change." - I can’t say it better than former Secretary of State Lois Griffin.
What happened to the real politicians?
"Frerick says it all comes down to political will.
‘You just have to break [these companies] up. This isn't hard, it's more about the question of political courage.’"
Wow, that’s it? Just tell me who to vote for to fix this problem, and all the other ones while we’re at it. Thanks, Disney! I know it’s not Trump, Putin, Hitler, or Global Warming. Hopefully Frerick runs for President of US or Australia in 2028. Why not both? He seems like a fine young go-getter with the right ideas.
This is the kind of tripe your grandparents are absorbing every time Edge defaults them to MSN, but it’s also the same exact thing you’re reading when you open Reddit on the toilet or pwn liberals on Twitter or share a really interesting GetPocket article. If I had advice, I’d encourage all of you to get a healthier hobby like ethical non-monogamy or decluttering.