So this was the kind of royal screw up that Twitter was invented to exploit...
As XL Foods, the processing facility at the centre of the E.Coli tainted meat scandal, struggles to get back to business as usual, thousands of pounds of already tainted meat are being taken to Alberta landfills. An awful waste, obviously, but I'm not sure anyone would suggest that we should give that beef away. Well, almost anyone.
Danielle Smith's tweet could be considered in, ahem, bad taste. The Official Opposition leader of the Alberta legislature was, after all, responding to a constituent's tweet regarding whether or not that beef could be saved from the dump. But could that tweet have come off better? Yeah, probably.
I've toyed with the idea of a piece called "The End of Compassion" for some time, examining how our recent tough economic times have seemingly made people meaner, and more likely to look out after their own enlightened self-interest before all other considerations. It's not that I think Smith would actually feed the tainted beef to the poor and the homeless if she were premier, and even if she did she wouldn't get away with it, but their is an immediate visceral reaction to that tweet: Sure, we pull all the meat off the shelves of grocery stores so that middle class families can't eat it, but for the poor the beef is A-OK so long as it's cooked.
Smith would later double-down on her comments saying that if the tainted beef could be sold, then she'd be the first in line to buy some. It's a line I find highly dubious and it screams of the politics of yanking one's foot out of their mouth. And because of that, Smith's comments remain a standout example of insensitivity. Any number of political advisers could have warned her that such a statement could appear insensitive, so thus this was an off the cuff remark, and off the cuff remarks are often the most telling. It just might be another example of how Wild Rose is giving the Tea Party a run for its money in terms of idiotic remarks.
Posts
2 comments:
Insensitive, perhaps - but entirely practical. Usefulness trumps sentimentality, I'm afraid. Beef is safe to eat at an internal temperature of 160°F, held for 30 seconds. That standard is confirmed by Health Canada: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/securit/kitchen-cuisine/cook-temp-cuisson-eng.php
We have this miraculous invention called a meat thermometer. While I personally prefer my cuts of beef (except ground) at medium-rare, a medium-cooked steak isn't going to cause many people to spit it out in disgust - and also feed thousands of people rather than millions of flies. I find feeding people and not wasting food far more heartwarming than having food rot in a landfill.
I have worked in kitchens for homeless people, and the food that comes out of them will likely never equal the quality of what can come from that beef. But if a bunch of mindless handwringers can't stomach the thought of feeding poor people beef cooked to a grade of doneness that probably accidentally comes out of most restaurants when people order medium-rare anyway and would rather have it rot, well, I have precious little use for their opinion.
Insensitive, perhaps - but entirely practical. Usefulness trumps sentimentality, I'm afraid. Beef is safe to eat at an internal temperature of 160°F, held for 30 seconds. That standard is confirmed by Health Canada: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/securit/kitchen-cuisine/cook-temp-cuisson-eng.php
We have this miraculous invention called a meat thermometer. While I personally prefer my cuts of beef (except ground) at medium-rare, a medium-cooked steak isn't going to cause many people to spit it out in disgust - and also feed thousands of people rather than millions of flies. I find feeding people and not wasting food far more heartwarming than having food rot in a landfill.
I have worked in kitchens for homeless people, and the food that comes out of them will likely never equal the quality of what can come from that beef. But if a bunch of mindless handwringers can't stomach the thought of feeding poor people beef cooked to a grade of doneness that probably accidentally comes out of most restaurants when people order medium-rare anyway and would rather have it rot, well, I have precious little use for their opinion.
Post a Comment