Farewell Trans-fats; Hello Healthy Hearts

The South African Department of Health recently released a statement that they might be implementing legislation to decrease the amount of trans-fats in the average South African’s diet. Despite the shiny newness of the report, online media institutions have already jumped on the story.

The general reaction is that trans-fats are the devil; deep-fried, dripping with menacing grease, ready to clog our arteries. Most articles paint a pretty one-sided picture. Yes, they say, all of the facts align neatly… Yes, the government would be doing the right thing by implementing the policy… Yes, yes, that’s right…

Of the articles I’ve scanned I’m most impressed by Health24. It seems to be the only article where reporters actually stopped to question the matter, to get opinions and quotes. Some healthy scepticism is introduced as they consider obstacles in the implementation process and expand on the facts. It’s called balance. Journalists should really try it these days.

What really gets my goat, though, is the content of the article written by The Associated Press. Despite the brevity of the article, they still manage to bring HIV/AIDS into the matter, sneakily slipping it in there that we have “the highest total [of infection] of any country”. How off-putting and unnecessary. These, my fellow consumers, are the “trans-fats” of journalism; the unhealthy bits that we need to cut out. It’s a style of journalism with mass-produced stereotypes and worn statements reminiscent of fast-food. It’s cheap, it’s fast, and there’s something distinctly oily about it.

Mission Statement

by Danelle Wessels

Let’s start off by getting the admin out of the way. My fellow bloggers and I are journalism students. We call ourselves the “Revolution Readers”, which sounds sort of like a group of bookworm superheroes who want to save the world through their obsession with words. If we were into clichés, our motto would probably be something dreadful like: “the pen is mightier than the sword”. But we’re not. So it isn’t (thank heavens for that).

The analogy of a superhero is a marvellous one. Can’t you just see us there, eager journalists-in-the-making, armed with our glistening pens and sturdy notepads, our capes billowing behind us in the wind as we strike a pose that says “bring it on!”. Ah, we’ll be revolutionaries. That’s what I dream about. Practicality is for the cowardly, the old in spirit, and the defeated. But I cherish my dreams. I love to believe in the silly ideas of inexperienced youth; they keep me going and convince me that things can change. I can make a difference, even if it’s just from my keyboard and I don’t get to wear one of those cool-looking superhero get-ups made of leather. It’s literature, dear readers, in which dreams come alive the most. Sometimes it’s so much better than reality. And the written word, in all its forms, moulds reality. It changes mindsets.

We must be aware, of course, that this makes it a dangerous weapon in the hands of our enemies. Perhaps it’s just a conspiracy theory that almost everything we read is the construction of a patriarchal, capitalist society; and if it’s not a construction of it, then it’s a conscious reaction to it. But conspiracy theories make life interesting, even if they’re formed from a bout of paranoia best suited for a mental hospital. You see, the world is just one big loony bin. Everything’s crazy and jumbled up and sometimes I look at Picasso and think that there’s a fine line between genius and lunacy, and I’m not sure that I always trust people to make that distinction. I’m not here to prescribe my opinions to anyone but to offer them as a platform for creative thought. If you agree with what I say, that’s great. But disagree with what you read and it’s even better. Challenge everything you read. Be paranoid. Don’t accept a single fact, a lone syllable into that lovely little head of yours without questioning why it’s been written, what it’s trying to say, what perspective it’s coming from. In summary, don’t give in to the Jedi mind tricks of the media. Think fresh, think innovative. Think revolutionary.

(And follow my tweets to keep up with me)