I respectfully disagree with Jennifer and Heather regarding the article in
the NY Times Magazine. Propaganda is defined by some, "as a technique that
attempts to influence the opinions, emotions, attitudes, or behavior of a group in
order to benefit the sponsor." This is done through a variety of well-known
techniques. Several of those techniques are apparent in this article.
One technique is called "name calling," in which a person or idea is linked
to a negative symbol or a negative emotional response. Thus in the article,
Williams states, "For a mother and child, nursing is perhaps the most intimate
of acts. Evolutionary biologists call it matrotropy; eating one's mother."
Breastfeeding is eating one's mother?? Hm....kinda like cannibals.
"Human milk is like ice cream, Valium, and Ecstasy all wrapped up in two
pretty packages."
Comparing breastmilk to a dairy dessert, legal and illegal drugs, and adding
a dose of sexuality strikes me as rather strange way to describe
breastfeeding. Why these descriptions? Are we selling breastfeeding to men? (which makes
the provokative picture more understandable)
"Scientists believe that mothers siphon off to their baby a significant
amount of their lifelong store of chemicals in the course of breastfeeding.
Nursing a baby, it turns out, is the ultimate detox diet."
Nursing a baby is like siphoning, detoxification......the imagery is not good
and seems like propaganda to me.
"Some of the chemicals I'm mainlining to my 1-year old daughter..."
Mainlining? Another drug word? The imagery on this one is very upsetting.
Propaganda technique? Yes? No?
"don't picture Eskimo Woman in sealskin on the top of the food chain.
Picture her suckling baby."
Picture that? Scary? Babies are the top of the food chain because they eat
their mothers....Makes sense to me ( like alot of other senseless things that
go on in this world), breastfeeding is eating your mother ergo babies are at
the top of the food chain. Although I have never seen a picture of infants at
the top of the food chain in any biology book.
Fear is another propaganda technique and is used in this article. The
article quotes Steingraber, "We haven't yet compromised breast milk to such an
extent that it's a worse food than infant formula, but why get to that point." And
the author states, "for now, I will continue to breast-feed..."
Thus things aren't yet that bad but if we don't do something soon we will
have to resort to formula. By the sound of the article we might have to use
formula sooner than we think. The article seems to be trying to get women to get
their milk tested. Now I am not quite sure how testing is suppose to resolve
the environmental issues. Other than help the people who do the tests make
money. But then I guess I am a cynic.
I certainly believe that human milk will reflect whatever toxins or disease
the mother is in contact with in her environment. But I question the validity
of the assumptions that are being made regarding those toxins. I believe that
you will never see an article in the NY Times Mag or any other newspaper on
the toxins in infant formula and the need to test it. There is alot of
assumptions and what testing on infant formula that has been done has been done by
the food industry that will be impacted by a bad report. I don't believe that
human milk should be categorized as a food. It is white blood, a biological
fluid. Contamination and health impacts of toxins to the infant mostly occurr
during pregnancy not during breastfeeding. Shouldn't we be talking about the
risks of toxins during pregnancy rather than this huge focus on toxins in
breastmilk?
Propaganda or not? The picture adds to my belief that this is a propaganda
piece. The distance between mother and baby in the picture gives one the
feeling that this mother is allowing her infant to eat at the top of the food chain
for the moment.......until her next breastmilk toxin report.
Valerie W. McClain
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