Freakonomics and French Onion Dip

Helluva Good French Onion Dip is the devil. Or maybe my co-worker who brought it into work with a huge bag of Lays chips is. Or maybe both.

Or maybe I just have absolutely no WILL POWER.

There is no question I have now consumed all of my daily allowance of fat and salt. And I just keep eating. And I will be so disappointed when it is all gone.

Would I have eaten any had my co-worker left it at home? No. I only buy it when my brother's family is in town (clearly the love of this dip runs in the family - my niece and nephews are practically addicted to the stuff). So who's really to blame???

Okay, I know it's me. But isn't it funny to consider it the other way? That's what intrigues me so much about Freakonomics. I'm not really comparing my french onion dip dilemma to the more serious ideas raised in Freakonomics, but since they were both on my mind I figured I'd try to connect the two. No doubt that "rogue economist" Mr. Levitt could do it!

I really think Freakonomics is worth a read. I've only read excerpts, but hope the book will be a part of my summer "reading list." I know Mr. Levitt has angered a lot of folks with his ideas, but aren't "new ideas" almost always met with anger and suspicion? Think of so many of our great (and sometimes scary) thinkers, artists, philosophers, and scientists and the resistance they met. Creation, in all of its forms, can be (and more often than not IS) a painful process.

I say, before you have a knee jerk reaction to the idea that legalized abortion reduced the crime rate, consider the facts Mr. Levitt presents and then come to your own conclusion. Open your mind long enough to LISTEN to (or in this case READ) what he has to say. I'm not sure I'll like everything he has to say, but that shouldn't stop me from at least hearing him out.

If what I read upsets me, I should do two things - consider WHY it upsets me - and go get some Helluva Good French Onion Dip.