Mark K — I’m with you. The thing that annoys me about Klein’s argument (the things that are annoying about Klein are too numerous to list here) is, as you suggest, he’s not being honest or accurate when he says there’s no value judgment involved. Of course there is. But there’s also the simple fact that his supposedly value-free position is merely a sales job for people who are almost entirely value-driven. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being value-driven (and a great deal that is wrong about not being value-driven). And I may disagree with your values. But I find it very annoying when people misrepresent the fact that they’re merely gussying up an ideological agenda in the language of “science,” “pragmatism,” or “reform.”

The people Klein is carrying water for are better represented by Rip Esselstyn, a vegetarian activist interviewed on CBS News last April:

“I don’t think, I know every American could [switch to a meatless, near-vegan diet],” Esselstyn said. “Now, it’s a matter of how do we get them to do that. I think in less than five years, there will be such a stigma attached to eating meat and dairy, that it will be similar to smoking cigarettes today.”
“In less than five years? If you want to eat your cheeseburger, go outside?” Smith said.
“You want to go eat a cheeseburger, then you need to go to a special room, where people are eating cheeseburgers,” he said. “Wouldn’t that be great?”

And as we all know, the tobacco banners would never impose their values or make judgments about others.