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Food, Inc. documentary
Name of the documentary
Location obtained (link or subscription service)
A brief* paragraph on why this documentary was chosen (“Because it was the only one on the
list that caught my attention” or similar retorts are not acceptable; the alternate assignment is
always an option if this one is not of particular interest).
For the following statements, note that the first statements for each category, and their
respective supporting statements, are examples of what I would prefer to see, whereas the
second statements, and their respective supporting statements, are examples of what to avoid.
Agreeable statement example #1:
“Most U.S. citizens do not exercise enough and eat too much.” (##:##)
Supporting rationale #1.1:
I agree with this because based on my understanding, the technology available today
has allowed certain sectors of humanity to be able to shift some of the physical labor
that humans used to be responsible for to automations. Additionally, it is shown (a
citation would be prudent here) that with advances of science, and rise of
industrialization in part due to the technological advances has allowed food to be
gathered and/or produced at unprecedented rates in comparison to documented
ancient history.
Supporting rationale #1.2:
Anecdotally speaking (this is important if utilizing statements like the one to proceed), in
my neighborhood, it seems rare to see people outside except for commuting.
Additionally, from my understanding, obesity is, in part, due to a lack of physical activity
and/or a diet of excess; while I cannot say exactly what categorizes one to be obese
(hopefully, after this course, that will change a bit), I have observed that people are
getting bigger, but don’t necessarily seem healthier. (Note that in this example, no
actual factual statements were provided, and this is fine [reading the current viewpoints
of others allow me to know what segments of health require focus], but in such cases, it is
important to state that these are hypotheticals/observations, in lieu of “factual”
statements with no support)
Agreeable statement example #2:
“Calcium is not necessary.” (##:##)
Supporting rationale #2.1:
I agree with this because I have read that fact on numerous vegan forums, and the
cows are suffering. (Bias)
Supporting rationale #2.2:
This is correct because I do not drink milk, and I am fine. (Gross overgeneralization and
poor understanding of nutritional knowledge [milk is not the only source of dietary
calcium in the world, or e

ven dairy in general, for that matter])Disagreeable statement example #1:
“NYC’s drinking water is the cleanest water in the U.S.” (##:##)
Supporting rationale #1.1:
I disagree with part of this statement, because while it may be the “cleanest,” I feel it is a
misleading statement, as “cleanest” does not necessarily mean “clean.” This can create
a false sense of security for a person that hears this and takes everything stated on a
television screen as “gospel.” To further express my viewpoint, if I present someone with 3
apples from different farmers that are covered in fecal matter, then tell someone to pick
the cleanest apple, the individual proceeds to pick apple “b,” and I later proceed to say
that apples from farm “B” are the cleanest, hopefully one can begin to see the issue with
this approach.
Supporting rationale #1.2:
I believe that the term “clean” is relatively subjective. Without further emphasis on the
standard for “clean,” it is difficult to determine if the speaker simply means “no urine,”
“free of pesticides,” “comparable to spring water,” or a completely different perspective
not known to the listener. Using this viewpoint along with the example of picking the
cleanest apple from the previous rationale I believe that one can see how this would
lead to gross assumption, as the standards of the chooser were never stated; it was left
to the listener/reader to determine that their concept of “clean” is equivalent to the
speaker’s concept.
Disagreeable statement example #2:
“Amerigo Vespucci first discovered the Americas.” (##:##)
Supporting rationale #2.1:
I disagree with this statement because I learned in school that Christopher Columbus first
discovered the Americas. (Bigotry; also, if there are people to greet the newcomers, it is
difficult to call the fascination a “first discovery,” it would be wiser to call the event “a
transition from ignorance to awareness”)
Supporting rationale #2.2:
I disagree because I am a Viking descendent, and I have scrolls that say my ancestors
first discovered the Americas. (Another form of bigotry; I also advise staying away from
statements that have numerous possibilities/highly debatable in general, history is a
finicky topic in general, and the essence of history should be to learn from mistakes, not
to debate who did more without solid proof [I have no documents, logs, scrolls, etc, and
no one has made them available for me to analyze with my own eyes, so these “facts”
are taken with a grain of salt])