WHAT IS INCLUSION AND CHOICE?
Sunday's Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) gathering at Polyface, held outside, has created a bit of a firestorm: many folks grateful for the opportunity to get together and many calling it a "super spreader" or labeling us murderers. The media wants to do stories on it as well but I've learned that they cannot be trusted to adhere to context and respectful attitudes; therefore, we are not talking to the media.
Instead, here is our public statement and our position, unedited and wrapped in context:
We appreciate all honest seeking during this difficult time. As you know, science and official government policy has told us many things: DDT is wonderful; genetically modified organisms are the answer to hunger; irradiated meat and poultry are the route to food safety; chemical fertilizers are the only way to grow enough food; indoor supermarkets are essential but farmers’ markets are not essential; receiving 67 vaccines in the first year of life is the only way to have healthy babies; atmospheric carbon will plunge us into a new ice age by the year 2000; we will be out of oil by 1980; hydrogenated vegetable oil is far healthier than butter and lard; factory farming and sub therapeutic antibiotics are the only way to affordable food; antimicrobial soap protects us from germs; bacteria are bad.
These and many more speak to the subjectivity of science. We’re bound by paradigms, by biases, by friends and this all shapes what we think, how we view data, how we interpret information and even what we think we see. If we truly believe in diversity, inclusion, freedom, community, relationships and bipartisan respect, we must move beyond canceling, bullying, and emotional extortion. Why can't we embrace what we agree on rather than concentrating on our disagreements?
On our farm, we work with many farmers of different religions, ethnicities, politics--we never ask about these things. All we care about is integrity, healing the land, producing authentic food. We trust the cosmos to be big enough and open-handed enough to enjoy all tribes, belief clusters, and cultures. Turning into snitches and demonizing those who disagree brings on slavery, despots, and gulags.
Here at Polyface, we’ve gone opposite the orthodox narrative of government officials, big agribusiness, big pharmaceutical, big banks, big chemical all our lives; it would be hypocritical and turncoat to suddenly assume all of these interests speak truth. That friends who have loyally and faithfully embraced the road less traveled would suddenly take the mass traveled one is disheartening. The innovators who create breakthroughs never believe the orthodox narrative; they are the lunatic fringe, the outliers, the heretics. What society does to the ones who travel the lonelier road determines if it is a society of tyranny or transparency.
A whole array of scientists, and growing every day, are questioning today’s orthodoxy on Covid-19. We believe charity and wisdom demand a place for all voices at the table until it all gets sorted out. That may not be the most streamlined way, but it’s certainly the best way to maintain civility and doing the least harm. We are glad to converse more on this topic and of course we would love for folks who believe the narrative, believe big pharma, believe bureaucrats, believe the mainstream media and government data to reconsider.
We are open to masked AND unmasked; that is inclusion in its practical form. Banning, censoring, demonizing and criminalizing over expressions of choice and belief ensure that minority and alternative views do not receive analysis; that is not the way to truth. If you truly believe in openness toward other ideas and exercising choice, we welcome your visits, your patronage, and your respectful conversations.
To what historical incremental tyranny does the regulatory and cultural extortion being exerted on minority views in America today seem most similar?