I decided to post the misattributed Stalin quote the other day because I wanted to write about something that has been really upsetting me for the last month: the current salmonella epidemic we are experiencing in the United States of America.
When this first started catching nationwide attention, all I knew was fear. Obsessively checking the FDA website for the latest recalled products, looking up the most recent count of related illnesses, the latest death toll.
However, as the month went on, another emotion crept up to keep fear company: anger.
The more news that comes out, the more scared and furious I get. Apparently, the plant in Blakely, GA was filled with roaches, mold, and plagued by perpetual leaks. Salmonella or not, it shouldn’t have been open in its unsanitary state: something like this was inevitable, easily predictable. And, lab tests even showed that this was no surprise; inspection records reported they sold products after already confirming they had been contaminated with salmonella.
Why? Because it all comes down to the bottom line. Someone… several someones… decided that the monetary value of the peanut butter was worth more than the price of human life, the cost of any lawsuit that a devastated relative could file. Someone made some calculations and then made a deliberate decision to ignore the risk of fatalities and ailment because it was more profitable.
So far, there have been 8 deaths. They were people, but I haven’t been able to find out that much about just who these unfortunate “casualties” were. For the most part, they remain faceless and nameless in the media’s eyes.
However, death is serious, the final period to end a life sentence. There is nothing casual about it, but to countless corporations who have killed for the capital that fuels capitalism, don’t ever forget: you are just a number.
You are nothing more than a statistic.