My friend Jerry Coyne has a long essay on his Why Evolution Is True site about Whole Foods.
Jerry is a scientist and his essay concerns Whole Food’s claims about “organic” and the arguments over “homeopathic” remedies.
I read the essay and the many comments avidly. My problem with John Mackey and Whole Foods, though, has less to do with its high prices (I didn’t know that critical wags call it “Whole Paycheck”) and its nonsensical claims about the special qualities of what it sells (when I go to my own supermarket and see a section of vegetables called “organic,” I always find myself saying, “No, I want the inorganic broccoli, thank you so very much”) than with its owner’s um “philosophy,” i.e., his politics.
Mackey is a likely invitee to a Koch Bros Neu Wannsee Conference. And apparently he’s gathered unto his bosom a brand new slogan: “Conscious capitalism.” At first I read this as “conscientious capitalism,” but I was wrong. Of course, it’s possible that Mackey meant to call it “conscientious capitalism,” since that’s his dishonest shtick, but just wrote it or said it wrong. The more I pay attention to this cabal of billionaires, the more I find myself thinking that these guys sound sort of stupid.
In any case, because of Jerry’s essay, I tried to find the original and chilling article I read about Mackey in the New Yorker, but can’t get a link to it. What I did find was this link to a recent NPR interview with Mackey. What a nasty, tricky little hypocrite this guy is! And the article makes it very clear, given that he labeled the Affordable Care Act “fascism,” that Mackey is definitely one of the Neu Wannsee group.
So we’re not going to waste our money shopping at Whole Foods, are we? No. We’re not. And that’s an order.