Loverism vs consumerism: an example

Loverism, is a term I’ve coined as an alternative to consumerism. Loverism is defined as the art and practice of being loving. At a practical level, loverism is defined as investing our manufacturing and technological capabilities in products and services that are life affirming.

On a recent trip to Denver to visit family, the food choices consisted of four different box lunches consisting of prepackaged convenience foods. In looking over the menu of choices, I realized that none of these lunches met my standards of nutrition. They were all highly processed and laden with fat, starch, salt and sugar and carried negligible amounts of vitamins or minerals. So not only wouldn’t these foods nourish me in any way, but the only thing they’d provide me with would be a lot of calories. And, the airline had the nerve to charge $5.00 for each meal. What bothered me most was that the healthiest ‘lunch’ on the menu, consisting of tuna, gouda, organic crackers and raisins, was not available. Why? No one ordered it.

At that moment I realized that I couldn’t blame the airline for offering low quality food. Why not offer it? People eat it and are even willing to pay for it.

At the same time people are eating empty calories, there’s a furor over health care. Nutrition researchers have devised dietary guidelines. http://www.healthierus.gov/nutrition.html

Is the U.S. Government’s web site with the latest information about healthy eating. Fresh fruits and vegetables are integral to the healthy food recommendations.

There’s a paradox however: on the one hand it is evident that fresh, whole foods are healthier than processed highly refined foods, there are more processed foods sold in markets today than ever before. In addition, even though our government recommends eating fresh produce, it’s cut FDA funding for quality control inspectors. The recent outbreak of E Coli linked to spinach is a direct result of having too few inspectors making sure that the food we consume isn’t tainted.

In a society based on consumerism, all of the above paradoxes exist. People can eat what’s bad for them because that’s what’s readily available and through advertising is made enticing and there’s no oversight to ensure quality.

In a society based on loverism, where people are nourished rather than fed, no one would eat anything that’s bad for them. Food would be seen as something sacred; a gift from the earth; a thing to be relished and savored. Companies would invest in making sure that they produced only the purest, most wholesome foods under the most stringent hygienic conditions. And government would insist on overseeing the companies to ensure that they were living up to the highest standards.

There was a commercial for Hebrew National franks a few years ago that said that the company answered to a Higher authority. A society based on the loving values of a Higher authority, would want every single living entity to be nourished and cared for so that he or she can make the highest contribution to that society that he or she can make.