Yogurt and the Iraq War

You may or may not have noticed this, but yogurt “cups” are now no longer cups. That is they aren’t 8 oz. any more. You now only get 6. Dannon did it first and then Stoneybrook. The other day I noticed (as seen above) that ALL yogurt cups are now 6 oz. If you search the Web for info, the only thing you find is that Colombo yogurt is still 8 oz. The thing is the smaller cups cost the same as their larger predecessors. What a genius business idea!
So are Dannon (and all the yogurt makers who followed) evil? You might expect me to say yes, but the answer is no. They are not evil. I’m sure the reduction of size (along with cleverly leaving the lid diameter the same width) was a committee decisions. Probably by a lot of people who just wanted to increase profits to more securely put food on the table for baby and spouse. That’s the point of today’s rant. Many (most?) evil in the world is not done by one old white man in a suit, like the TV ads depict. Most evil is the result of tiny additions over years by thousands if not millions of people (many in advertising). Yes, GE may pollute a river to pad the board’s portfolio, but even 1% growth also protects everyone down to the line workers and janitors. It’s the government’s job to save us from ourselves and legislate against these accidental atrocities that are committed with the best of intentions.

Okay, I still haven’t reached the point. The point is that rather than only vilifying GWB for the Iraq war debacle and the new Israeli conflict, we must remember to also point fingers else ware. There are two types of people in DC who regularly contribute a 1/435th and 1/100th of evil and unless you are Joe Lieberman, they never seem to face repercussions. That sentence may be obscure, so I’ll say it as “Don’t forget to also blame Congress.” And if we want to follow the blame trail backwards, it leads to you. Yes, you. You elected these people, either by voting or giving an implicit non-vote. You are to blame for smaller yogurt and the Iraq war.

So the next time you give Dannon more money for less, think about how often we comply in our daily lives. We just don’t have the free time to make our own yogurt. However, we can protest in other ways. Buy the yogurt that tastes best or maybe get a banana. At least you can vote with your money for quality. And the next time you vote, make it for the smartest person on the ballot, no matter the party. Or better yet, donate money (worth more than votes) to a PAC of your choice to try and get some quality on the ticket, so that there is a choice.

Join me next week when I connect mattress labels with global warming.

Links:
– Amy’s World blog post on yogurt scandel
– TrueMajority.org
– MoveOn.org

You may or may not have noticed this, but yogurt “cups” are now no longer cups. That is they aren’t 8 oz. any more. You now only get 6. Dannon did it first and then Stoneybrook. The other day I noticed (as seen above) that ALL yogurt cups are now 6 oz. If you search the Web for info, the only thing you find is that Colombo yogurt is still 8 oz. The thing is the smaller cups cost the same as their larger predecessors. What a genius business idea!

So are Dannon (and all the yogurt makers who followed) evil? You might expect me to say yes, but the answer is no. They are not evil. I’m sure the reduction of size (along with cleverly leaving the lid diameter the same width) was a committee decisions. Probably by a lot of people who just wanted to increase profits to more securely put food on the table for baby and spouse. That’s the point of today’s rant. Many (most?) evil in the world is not done by one old white man in a suit, like the TV ads depict. Most evil is the result of tiny additions over years by thousands if not millions of people (many in advertising). Yes, GE may pollute a river to pad the board’s portfolio, but even 1% growth also protects everyone down to the line workers and janitors. It’s the government’s job to save us from ourselves and legislate against these accidental atrocities that are committed with the best of intentions.

Okay, I still haven’t reached the point. The point is that rather than only vilifying GWB for the Iraq war debacle and the new Israeli conflict, we must remember to also point fingers else ware. There are two types of people in DC who regularly contribute a 1/435th and 1/100th of evil and unless you are Joe Lieberman, they never seem to face repercussions. That sentence may be obscure, so I’ll say it as “Don’t forget to also blame Congress.” And if we want to follow the blame trail backwards, it leads to you. Yes, you. You elected these people, either by voting or giving an implicit non-vote. You are to blame for smaller yogurt and the Iraq war.

So the next time you give Dannon more money for less, think about how often we comply in our daily lives. We just don’t have the free time to make our own yogurt. However, we can protest in other ways. Buy the yogurt that tastes best or maybe get a banana. At least you can vote with your money for quality. And the next time you vote, make it for the smartest person on the ballot, no matter the party. Or better yet, donate money (worth more than votes) to a PAC of your choice to try and get some quality on the ticket, so that there is a choice.

Join me next week when I connect mattress labels with global warming.

Links:
– Amy’s World blog post on yogurt scandel
– TrueMajority.org
– MoveOn.org