Obvious if not Absolute Conclusions - 5/21

There’s a posting on the Today show’s health blog titled “Doesorganic food turn people into jerks?” In the post, the author describes someone’s outing to an organic market in Seattle that unnecessarily turned into a hassle. The author used this story to introduce a study in the journal of Social Psychological and Personality Science that purportedly finds that organic foodies can become self-righteous. One wonders if this finding was a surprise to anyone, including those who produced the study. The study in itself is interesting in that it observes the moralistic labeling of organic foods and links it to smug behavior based on assumptions of altruism on the part of both the merchant and consumer. It seems doubtful that this study could truly be considered a complete piece of work. Certainly not everyone who sells or purchases organic goods thinks they are saving the world, they might prefer them for any number of impossible to know reasons. And those consumers and shop keeps most deserving of eye-rolls in light of their own absurd self-regard might just be the kind of people who are attracted to products that allow them to feel magnanimous. Unfortunately these altruistic feelings often manifests in overtly preachy behaviors leading to not entirely accurate perceptions of perfectly tasty, if costly, organic foods. Maybe the conclusion should be that jerks ruin everything.