A Continuing Thirst

A few months ago, T and I watched Idiocracy, a movie she had been quoting for many months before that.  The film is funny; it is also an alarming dystopia rife with commentary about how idiotic our nation has become.  Among other things, Idiocracy predicts that in our future we'll exchange water for Gatorade, persuaded of its hydrating superiority.  Throughout the movie, the earth is dry and parched and crops have quit growing because of our national preference for Gatorade over of water.  When the film's protagonist incredulously suggests that water would be better for the crops the universal response is an assertion that should sound alarmingly familiar to us, "Gatorade has electrolytes."

I have to confess that I found this part of the film more than a little unsettling.  Though we haven't yet adopted Gatorade sprinklers for our drought-stricken fields, we do pour the stuff down our kids' throats, pushed to do so by giant corporations and their advertisements which imply that dehydration and electrolyte loss is a persistent danger for active Americans.  I've never been a fan of the stuff and though the rest of his nutritional habits are dreadful, I have JT kept free of from Gatorade-America.  When my kid is playing outside or sweating in his catcher's gear, I give him water.  And now I've got science on my side.  

I can't say that I'm surprised to learn that America has a sports drink industrial complex.  I can say that it may very well be a sign of our coming apocalypse.