LETTERS: SUE EVERYBODY FOR EVERYTHING

To the editor:

The cattle producers are blaming Oprah Winfrey for the decline in beef sales. They are claiming her show on mad cow disease caused consumer to stop buying beef. The fact that ranchers made the choice to feed their cattle the remains of other cattle is something consumers have a right to know. If we decide to stop buying beef because of that fact, it is the fault of the choices the cattle producers made, and the choice of the consumer not to buy beef. I would like to think that I control my choices and am able to make up my own mind once I have facts to base my choices on. Oprah was only reporting the facts, and any comments she made come under the heading of freedom of speech.

If consumers have indeed stopped buying so much meat, it may have something to do with the fact that we have been bombarded with the message that it is not good for us. Why don't the beef growers sue all the agencies that are telling us of the harmful effects of red meat?

Oprah is rich. Maybe I could find something to sue her for. I've watched a few of her shows. I'm sure I could come up with something to blame on her. Never mind that it was my choice whether or not to follow her advice.

It amazes me how we are always looking for someone or something to blame our misfortunes on. We deny that the choices we have made have any effect on what has happened.

We have a lot of things to blame our problems on these days. We can blame then on El Nino. It seems like El Nino is being blamed for a lot of problems. According the Science News, it is even responsible for slowing the earth's spin. And certainly it will be responsible, we are told, for increasing food prices. Too bad we can't sue Mother Nature.

Tobacco is getting blamed for a lot of things these days. Most health problems are the fault of smoking, whether we have ever smoked or not. Some smokers are suing the tobacco companies, never mind that the choice of whether to light that first cigarette was theirs to make. Alcoholics should maybe sue the liquor producers, even though they are the ones who chose to drink.

It seems that the coffee growers are responsible for the dwindling song bird population. It seems coffee used to have to be grown in the shade. Now there is a new coffee plant that can be grown in full sun. Results: Coffee growers are cutting the shade trees out of their fields, and migrating song birds have no place to call home. I won't mention the name of the magazine I read this in for fear that the coffee growers will sue it. If the cattle growers can sue Oprah for spreading the word about them, the coffee growers could sue me for tattling on them. Then all the bird watchers could band together and sue the coffee producers. If they could find out who produced the sun-loving coffee plant, they could really get to the source of the problem and sue them too. (Do bird watchers drink coffee? If they do, they could be part of the problem.)

Even though we love cappucino, it's not our fault the coffee growers want to produce more crops. It's not our fault that they are cutting down the trees. All we wanted was a good cup of coffee.

If we can't find anyone else to blame our problems on, we can always do what Adam did. We can choose to blame God. Adam only ate the apple because the woman which God gave to him offered it to him. The fact that he could have refused if he chose to had nothing to do with it. It was all God's fault for giving him that darn woman in the first place.

It's odd how the good things that happen to us are all because of our cleverness in making the choices we did. But the bad things have nothing to do with our choices, but are the fault of some factor beyond our control. If we just knew who was to blame, we could sue them for everything they are worth.

SANDRA FANN

Jackson