November 11, 2000

Moral turpitude, with fries

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Burger behemoth McDonald’s is accustomed to dealing with charges that all those wrappers are bad for the environment and that its food is a nutritional nightmare. But who knew it was ungodly as well?

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Or un-Catholic, anyway. This week, the GUARDIAN (UK) reports, a Catholic newspaper in Italy made trouble for the international fast-food giant, saying that scarfing a Big Mac while you drive satisfies only yourself, not others — overlooking the communal, sacramental nature of food. Consumption of fast food, said the theology lecturer who wrote the story, is better suited to the Lutheran philosophy of an individual relationship between man and God.

It’s only one of many roadblocks McDonald’s has faced in Italy. Last month thousands of demonstrators protested the burger chain as a symbol of Americanization, chanting “Better a day of tortellini than 100 days of hamburgers.”

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

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