OPINION

Eat carrots, not fries

The question of what makes one a criminal dates back to the birth of the first organized societies. Inquiry usually focuses on the area that the prevalent ideological and sociological theories of the time consider fundamental. Scientific findings, therefore, follow the same pattern… Historically speaking, biological interpretations of criminal activity came first. Then came psychological theories, which were, in turn, succeeded by sociological ones. Today, in light of the failure of earlier theories to provide an adequate explanation for criminal activity (an extremely difficult, if not impossible task), a new theory is now in vogue: the dietary one, the first theory of this kind and adequately convincing at a time of nutritional angst. Eating carrots, lettuce, and broccoli, the theory goes, reduces anti-social and aggressive behavior by children (who, it should be noted, tend to live on French fries and meat). In other words, TV violence and «satanistic» music, childhood traumas, poor psychological bearings, genetic predispositions, and biological particularities do not alone lead a youth to criminal behavior. It takes a combination of social morals and dietary habits to turn a child into a killer. This is one more convenient theory which is doomed to be falsified at some point in the future, just like all previous ones. It is yet another simplified interpretation which aims to place everything in good order, to absolve and, at the same time, preserve intact the existing order of things…

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