HW #4

            Dominant Discourse is how people argue but based on their specific position. For example my friends and I are arguing about where to go to lunch on a given day, likely candidates places that are not particularly healthy, the people whose opinions actually matter are us. If a random person shows up, or a person that will not be at lunch with us, we will not really take their opinion into consideration. Food fits into this discussion in several possible ways. For one, people have many discussions on what kinds of foods to eat. People discuss what is and is not healthy for you. They also argue which allows you to enjoy your food while still having the healthy aspects of the meal. All of these things come into play. The price if the foods are always a big deal as well. “Before we want health, we want taste, we want convenience and we want low cost,” Mr. Balzer said in a New York Times article.  Basically, all people want whatever is cheapest and tastes best. People don’t value the health aspect of food as much as the price and taste.

            Not everyone’s opinion matters as much as others when it comes to these discussions. For example people who are obese will almost defiantly be overlooked when health conversations are about. If the discussion is strictly about the quality, taste, and value of the food, the opinion of someone overweight may actually be heavily relied on. For health, experts like doctors will probably be the most listened to or people who have actually experienced the diet and benefited from it. Based on the articles, most of the people providing their opinions were doctors who have done research on health and know what is and is not healthy for you.

            While the experts do know what they are talking about, they may not be able to prevent the health recession. People will continue to eat unhealthy foods and pollute their bodies. It seems as if the doctors lived through a time where the health of food was not a huge issue. People were not overweight the way they are now so it was not as much a problem but now that obesity is such a problem, people need to eat healthier. That makes the problems more of an issue to doctors. Not only that, but the fact that seemed so easy not to be overweight in the past makes it harder for most doctors to understand the difficulty that people may have attempting to eat healthy. Fast food is very cheap where healthy foods are usually somewhat more costly, so people simply prefer to eat cheaper. It may not always be about the taste, the price plays a large role as well.