A Morning Rant

I was screwing around on Amazon this morning, trying to find something to add to an order to bring it up to 'free shipping'.  I only need like $5 worth of something.  Anyway, I thought since I'm thinking about spring and gardening, etc., I'd check out what the 'Zon has for plants and stuff.  Which led me to looking at seeds.  Which led me to the idea I've had before that the world has really gone stark-raving mad with its buzz phrases.  And being suckered by the fear-mongering du jour.

You see, people are advertising 'non-GMO' seeds.  Seeds.  Flower seeds.  For planting in one's garden. 

And, unless I miss my guess, the seeds they're selling have been modified genetically in some way over the course of the past few hundred years.  I think Gregor Mendel did it first when he started mucking around with peas.  Or maybe he was the first to document it, because I'm guessing the first dudes who decided they'd rather plant stuff and make it grow than walk around with a club knocking critters upside the head - especially when the critters might fight back - messed around with modifying the organisms they were planting to improve the quality and the quantity of their harvest. 

I know, I know... the anti-GMO crowd doesn't mean THAT.  They only mean stuff that mankind has altered using, you know, modern science.  Like Frankenstein is in his lab somewhere, cooking up evil plants and animals.  Meh.

And for some reason, the public eats up the idea and wants everything to say 'non-GMO' and happily pays extra for the honor of being ripped off.  Unfortunately, it raises the price for all of us.  Umm, thanks for that.  Derp.


I've gotten irritated enough by the idea that I steer away from things that say 'non-GMO', except you almost can't shop for groceries without that shit being plastered on some package of something you need.  Personally, I like my food genetically modified.  If it tastes better, gets in my kitchen cheaper, and makes my life easier overall, I'm all for it.  Genetically modified to resist disease?  Awesome.  Genetically modified to grow twice as big?  Cool.  GM'd to produce twice the yield for half the price?  Woohoo!  While you're at it, gimme a turkey with four legs, so my mom doesn't have to buy extra thighs for Thanksgiving.

And gimme daisies that produce more seeds per bloom, so you can sell me 5000 seeds for only $8.  Oh, you're already doing that and slapping a non-GMO label on them.  Ri-ight.

'Nuff said.