Monday, April 9, 2012

Peanuts, Made-up Allergies, and the Sanctity of the Ballpark

The hysterics of modern day society never cease to amaze me.  Today’s sheep are so easily terrified that every new threat is met with the most sever of responses.  The world is a scary place.  Danger lurks around every corner in countless forms, such as gluten, secondhand smoke, high fructose corn syrup and more.  Both of New York’s baseball teams have set their sights on possibly the most dangerous scourge of all: the peanut.

 

Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadiums have begun offering peanut-free seating for the militant allergist out to ruin everyone’s fun.  The Mets have gone so far as to place the allergy-afflicted in an enclosed box with power-washed seats.  I’m sure this is making all those smug wimps preen with accomplishment. 

 

“Keep those peanuts away from me, I’m special.  Oh, you didn’t know you were in a peanut-free zone?  Sor-reeeee.  Go eat those somewhere else for me, okay?  Thaaaaaanks.”

 

I have two problems here.  1) Where did all of these allergies come from?  In my near 30 years of life, I have met two people with any kind of food allergy.  Now, food allergies are everywhere.  According to CNN, a 2011 study found that eight percent of people under the age of 18 have at least one food allergy.  What does this say?  Hysterical parents are making up issues for their kids to have something to talk about.  2) Why do all of these crybabies get to have their way and remove peanuts from their piece of the ballpark, regardless of the other people who may want peanuts?  The two friends I mentioned earlier with food allergies; both are allergic to peanuts.  However, neither of them become hysterical freaks when someone opens a bag of peanuts at a ballpark.  They deal with their allergy in the most sensible way possible: they don’t eat peanuts.  They use some common sense and they don’t touch or eat the peanuts.

 

However, the feeble-minded complainers of today can’t handle this kind of high thinking.  They can’t do that math of simply not touching or eating peanuts when they are around.  They have to organize and get things banned.  It’s criminal.  The fact that this kind of nonsense is taking place at America’s ballparks is appalling.  Baseball stadiums should be sacred.  For over 200 years, baseball has been played in this country.  And for over 200 years, people ate peanuts while they watched America’s Pastime.

 

Let’s reclaim our beloved ballparks; for America and for sanity.

3 comments:

  1. Most would argue with Joe Shambadowski that if it's a blocked out Nut-Free section, then who cares? And, before applying thought to the situation, I would agree. BUT my patience would be tested if I wanted to get to a sellout and the only tickets I could get were in the nut-free section. In that situation, I would have to pay a premium to get the tickets, then couldn't enjoy delicious peanuts with beer? No sir. Not here in America.

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  2. To the uninformed writer of this article: You should really educate yourself on allergies before posting something like this - some people ( and children ) have severe, even life threatening peanut allergies that even the smell of, or touch of something contaminated by peanuts can cause them to have severe problems breathing.


    All children and adults should be able to enjoy baseball, regardless of their allergy or disability.

    What Happens With a Nut or Peanut Allergy?

    An allergic reaction happens when someone's immune system mistakenly believes that something harmless, such as a tree nut or peanut, is actually harmful. The immune system responds by creating specific antibodies to proteins in that food. These antibodies — called immunoglobulin E (IgE) — are designed to fight off the "invading" proteins.

    IgE antibodies trigger the release of certain chemicals into the body. One of these is histamine (pronounced: hiss-tuh-meen). The release of histamine can affect a person's respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, skin, and cardiovascular system, causing allergy symptoms like wheezing, stomachache, vomiting, itchy hives, and swelling.

    Reactions to foods, like peanuts and tree nuts, can be different. It all depends on the person — and sometimes the same person can react differently at different times. Some reactions can be very mild and involve only one system of the body, like hives on the skin. Other reactions can be more severe and involve more than one part of the body. Most reactions last less than a day and affect any of these four body systems:

    Skin. Skin reactions are the most common type of food allergy reactions. They can take the form of itchy, red, bumpy rashes (hives), eczema, or redness and swelling around the mouth or face.
    Gastrointestinal system. Symptoms can take the form of belly cramps, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.
    Respiratory system. Symptoms can range from a runny or stuffy nose, itchy, watery eyes, and sneezing to the triggering of asthma with coughing and wheezing.
    Cardiovascular system. A person may feel lightheaded or faint and lose consciousness.
    In really bad cases, tree nut and peanut allergies can cause a condition called anaphylaxis (pronounced: ah-nuh-fuh-lak-sus). Anaphylaxis is a sudden, potentially life-threatening reaction that, in addition to the symptoms mentioned above, can make someone's airways swell and blood pressure drop. As a result, the person may have trouble breathing and could lose consciousness.

    Peanut reactions can be very severe, even if a person isn't exposed to much peanut protein. Experts think this might be because the immune system recognizes peanut proteins more easily than other food proteins.

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  3. Ok. Then don't go to a place where a lot of people are guaranteed to be eating peanuts.

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