What is the source of all the anger about food?

I continue to be amazed by the amount of anger I see and hear when people write and talk about food and agricultural issues.  I read a variety of blogs and articles daily and the language used is consistently emotional and seems to have a need not only to celebrate one way of doing things (eg local food, permaculture, etc.) but also to put down other ways of doing things (eg other ways are destroying the earth, poisoning our families, have no conscience, etc.)  Why is this?  Is the anger and emotion really about the food and agriculture?

A few things seem apparent to me: there is a lack of science and critical thinking backing up a lot of what people believe.  But I think that is somehow the point.  People who are passionate about eating local or permaculture "believe" in what they are doing - it is anchored in some strong emotions and not necessarily in science.  That is not a bad thing, unless they put on a cloak of pseudo science on and claim that it is.  Why not simply say that they choose to eat local because it makes them happy and they enjoy it?  Isn't that enough?

I'm guessing that the reason it is not enough is because there is a "movement" going on too - a desire to create changes in the food system.  As we see with the "Occupy" movement, I think there is a lot of anger with corporate American right now and I think we are seeing some of that in the desire for changes in the food system.  There is some anger at the big corporations in agribusiness and the power that they hold and some of their practices.

It seems to me that the "answer" is not permaculture or eating locally or any one method of feeding our planet.  I think that the "answer" is probably more complex and involves celebrating and promoting our various methods of growing and distributing food.  What do you think?  I hope to continue to explore this topic further, so let's continue the dialogue.