Eric Schlosser, author of "Fast Food Nation" and "Reefer Madness," spoke with Elon students, faculty and staff about those books and topics he'd like to cover in future works during a campus visit Tuesday, Nov. 16. Details...
Schlosser spoke to a packed McCrary Theatre Tuesday evening, focusing on his latest book “Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market.” He discussed the underground economy involved in pornography, marijuana and illegal migrant workers. Schlosser said he found each industry to be rife with greed and hypocrisy.
“This huge black market in the U.S. really made me think about our free market,” he said. “You hear this word ‘freedom’ used again and again…but freedom for whom? For the buyer? For the seller? The worker? The employer?”
He decried the status of the minimum wage in the United States, saying it treats workers unfairly.
“It’s now lower-adjusted for inflation, than it was in 1950-54 years ago,” Schlosser said. “The minimum wage peaked-when adjusted for inflation-in 1974. The poorest workers in America have gotten a pay cut of over 40 percent.”
Schlosser said that rather than the U.S. trying to keep illegal immigrants out of the country, it should send executives of companies who hire illegal immigrants to jail. “…That will solve the problem of illegal immigration,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Schlosser discussed “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal.” He said the fast food industry must grow constantly to survive, resulting in its phenomenal expansion overseas.
“How powerful is McDonald’s?” Schlosser asked. “It is the biggest private employer in Brazil. It is the biggest consumer of agriculture in France.”
He said fast food chains have had a cultural impact in foreign countries, as well.
“McDonald’s has brought birthday parties to Japan, where they once didn’t exist,” pointing out that fast food restaurants have learned how to cultivate the next generation of customers by marketing to children.
Schlosser said fast food consumption in other countries is resulting in health problems previously unique to America. “By eating like Americans, foreigners are starting to look like Americans….There is increasing resistance to American fast food. There is growing recognition that this kind of food is associated with all kinds of health problems.”
A New York City resident, Schlosser said he is interested in America’s prison industry and has been working on a book about the topic.