popeye dies.

it is no doubt that while america was founded on the principles of freedom and equality, it has matured around a culture of fear-fads. with the help of just thirty minutes of news media, i can now safely fear for my life when ordering fast food, going to school, leaving on a jet plane, getting bitten by a mosquito, being anywhere near birds, being anywhere near smokers, and of course, eating spinach. it hasn't been long since the country was gripped in the tense fingers of a fear-fad, and current news reports seem to have successfully blown the spinach-scare out of proportion. not too long ago, it was all about bees, middle easterners, tsunamis, coughing asians, and illegal mexicans, although i suppose it is still about illegal mexicans whenever political candidates have anything to say.

what seems most remarkable is the media's ability to dissolve one fear-fad into the next, providing the general public with a seamless stream of what to fear and when. then again, perhaps it's just me who becomes bored of the issues, never quite catching how they are resolved. regardless, retrospection is moot in this critical time when spinach is an instrument of death. i realize children must be taking all this in stride, no longer forced to eat the gritty-teeth-green, but i haven't heard any bad news about broccoli, so i suppose they aren't completely out of the woods yet.

somewhere along the way of growing up, i seem to have missed the memo of why spinach must be eaten raw. perhaps americans just have a fascination with spinach in salads. perhaps americans just have a fascination with salads. while i've undoubtedly had spinach raw on more than several occasions, i've also had it cooked, with tasty, no-ill-effects. although news reports affirm that if this deadly spinach is simply blanched for fifteen seconds, it is safe to eat, what remains clear is that it is always more tv-savvy to publicize a threat rather than a remedy. surely cooking spinach can't be that difficult, nor would it be that difficult to continue selling the greens with a sign that says, "cook to 160 degrees f for 15 seconds before consuming." the similar seems to work for pork and poultry, and i don't hear about people getting sick of them too often.

despite the media, the warnings, and the recalls, asian supermarkets are still carrying spinach, albeit not the known "tained" organic dole and earthbound farm varieties, and customers are still purchasing. it's probably even been coughed on too - repeatedly. all said and done, the question of how fecal matter contaminated so many batches of spinach does prove to be a rather interesting case and at least a fun sleuthing experiment for epidemiologists. either way, i smell a terrorism plot. speaking of terrorism, i hear there's something about a war going on in iraq.

in america the president reigns for four years and journalism governs forever and ever.
: wilde