Extra, extra read all about it right now, because these days, almost all the information we get has an expiration date or at least a short shelf life. But lucky for you, we’ve compiled two trending news stories to keep you abreast of the day’s topics.
Jeb Bush Negates Jeb Bush
While he had to compete with Chavez and snow to get the press’s attention on this, the day of his book release, Jeb Bush (R) has only one problem: Tuesday morning, Bush, a former Florida governor, spoke on MSNBC’s Morning Joe stating that he would support a path to citizenship that does not give people incentive to come to the United States illegally— although he does say he’s not sure how they might be able to do that.
His comments are contrary to what may be written in his book, which also came out today, and he defends his change of heart by stating that the book was written last year, before the bipartisan immigration reformation efforts.
Despite Bush explaining the discrepancies in opinion (simply, he changed his mind since he wrote it) and narrowing his negation to one sentence in the interview, the word spread on social media from blogs to twitter. By 10:00 a.m., Jeb Bush was trending, and while he went on the interview to promote his book, Immigration Wars, the news turned from spotlighting his written word to his immigration inconsistency.
While, typically, people changing their minds is a good thing whether it’s because they further researched a topic or allowed themselves think a different way, Bush finds himself in a bleak situation facing bad press. Bush’s predicament perfectly depicts how fast information can travel and that some forms of media can’t keep up with the “real-world” pace anymore (such as the printed word). Even something written just last year is out dated.
Isn’t that a Horse of a Different Color
“The meat would be shoveled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one—there were things that went into the sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit. There was no place for the men to wash their hands before they ate their dinner, and so they made a practice of washing them in the water that was to be ladled into the sausage.”
-Upton Sinclair, The Jungle
The quote above, along with many others like it from The Jungle, sparked the first Food and Drug Acts in the United States in the early 1900s. While food is much safer today than it was back in the Chicago stockyards Sinclair wrote about, outbreaks and questionable ingredients still make their way into food sources.
Most recently, officials found horse meat mixed with beef products in the United Kingdom, France and Sweden. Although the meat can be eaten without health risks (unlike many food contaminations such as the Peanut Butter contamination), the idea of eating horse meat is utterly repulsive to many of the people living in the UK—even though other countries in Europe such as France and Italy use horse meat as a food ingredient; deceiving the consumer is, to put it simply, a big time no-no.
The UK Food Standards Agency said they believe the evidence indicates “either gross negligence or deliberate contamination in the food chain,” reports CNN. The initial outbreak, which first attracted global attention last month when Burger King found horse meat in hamburgers, has provoked the UK to test and authenticate all processed beef.
Findus, a Swedish frozen food company, pulled their contaminated products off the shelves. Even though the horse meat edible and eaten in countries such as Mexico, Canada, Russia and China, eating horse meat is an indelicacy for many; the issue has prompted backlash and furry at the meat industry, even from meat eaters.
With the meat industry under scrutiny, they face the pressure to not only assure officials that their packaging represents the product, but also to gain back the trust from skeptical consumers– a carefully crafted public relations program will most likely be the first step to gain back trust and get rid to the stigma surrounding the industry.
Cover Photo Source: Jon S via Flickr
Photo Source 1: Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons
Photo Source 2: Green Lane via Wikimedia Commons
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://wpmaster.sjadv.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Cassandra-Bremer-Our-Space-Photo-e1402061863316.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Cassandra is a Content Manager and Developer at SJG. She earned her BA from Fontbonne University in 2011. Outside the office, she enjoys an active, healthy and well-rounded lifestyle including reading, writing, running, golfing, watching films, listening to music, taking photographs, and consuming media and social media.
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