I was sorry to hear that Henry Aaron died recently. Although he was most famous for breaking Babe Ruth’s home run record, he was also a civil rights advocate, and reportedly, a generous, kind, and decent man too. Which is why I was a little surprised (but not really), to learn that he made a small fortune by opening franchise stores like “Popeye’s”, “Burger King” and “Krispy Kreme Doughnuts”. Yikes. The authors of the articles glorifying Aaron fail to mention the role of these toxic food establishments in premature deaths, animal suffering, and the destruction of our planet. And instead, choose to celebrate Hank Aaron, and others like him, for being “great businessmen”, who fight for “equality”. Ah yes, good ol’ capitalism!
Of course Henry Aaron is not alone as there are countless other former athletes and celebrities with similar stories, who are equally worshipped, and who have profited greatly from the misery of others and the poisoning of our planet. Like Hank Aaron, Warren Buffett is considered a hero to many, despite the fact that he has made billions of dollars from investments in companies like Burger King and Chevron Oil (Click here to learn more about the crimes of Chevron Oil). Sadly, Mr. Buffett has recently doubled down in his defense of Chevron by saying, “Chevron is not an evil company in the least and I have no compunction about owning Chevron.” And to make matters worse, Warren Buffett has also decided to give control to most of his $108 Billion fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which represents a whole other history of deceit and greed as well (Click here to learn more about the ugliness of Bill Gates).
As for Mr. Aaron, my guess is that he was an otherwise lovely guy, who simply chose not to connect the dots with regards to the disastrous processes and implications of our broken food system (and its profits over people/animals/planet mentality). Whether we call it cognitive dissonance or carnism, it is a destructive, and all too common ideology. And if that was the case, I get it. I chose to be disconnected for many years too. 🙁
