So my kid Matthew pulls "Fast Food Nation" off my shelf the other day and plunges in. Next day, he says to me, "Why would anybody invent McDonalds if they knew how bad it was?"
Today I picked him up from school. We notice some new construction on the way home. "It'll be a strip mall," he says, world-wearily. "And they'll have a McDonalds."
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James,
my kids are friends with Matthew and I would like to vouch for Rod, his son really does read books like that voluntarily. He's an interesting kid. (I was one like that myself...)
Matthew is seven years old, right? Is he really reading books like Fast Food Nation voluntarily, or are they being foisted on him? If the former, he certainly is precocious; if the latter, well, far it be from me to tell you how to raise your children, but I miss the idea of childhood as a pre-political time when kids didn't have to worry about ideological correctness of whatever stripe.
As Martha points out, he really does read stuff like this. He found it on the shelf the other night, pulled it down and asked me if he could read it. I said sure. I can't get him interested in Narnia, but he wants "Fast Food Nation." Like Martha said, he's an interesting kid. Sometimes, his mother and I could use a little less interesting from No. 1 Son, but we roll with the punches.
McDonald's deserves a lot more praise than scorn. It makes the simple pleasure of eating out affordable for people of modest means. It's also the first employer for a lot of people, which I'm sure is not an easy task. As for the food, there are more healthy choices on the menu than there used to be, and McDonald's is at least abstaining from the competition to come up with the most ridiculous combination of beef, bacon, cheese, and mayonnaise.
McDonald's is at least abstaining from the competition to come up with the most ridiculous combination of beef, bacon, cheese, and mayonnaise.
I don't agree with your view that Mickey D's deserves more praise than scorn, but I do agree that it's ridiculous watching how the various fast-food chains try their best to repackage the same crap. (Or introduce new crap: anybody remember Burger King's 1970s ham sandwich, the Yumbo?). I think one of the worst jobs in the world would be having to figure out how to repackage refried beans, hamburger meat and cheese, a la Taco Bell, into something that sounds new and exciting. I'd almost rather be posted to a men's room by the chief of police to lie in wait to arrest cottaging Republican senators. Almost.
Busting burritos, either way.
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