Comments on: The Unpersuadables: When Facts Are Not Enough http://transition-times.com/blog/2010/03/10/the-unpersuadables-when-facts-are-not-enough/ Information, insight, and inspiration for The Long Emergency Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:42:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: margaretemerson http://transition-times.com/blog/2010/03/10/the-unpersuadables-when-facts-are-not-enough/comment-page-1/#comment-53 margaretemerson Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:17:32 +0000 http://transition-times.com/?p=2134#comment-53 The problem I have with science and technology is when the facts change year after year. One year, this certain drug is prescribed to treat diabetes. The next year, it is condemned as causing people to die of heart attacks. One year, we hear that a low-fat diet is the best way to eat. The next year, we hear that actually an organic, local, whole food diet regardless of fat content is what's best. We are told our entire lives that something is good and safe and then suddenly some "study" comes out that tells us that, sorry, that thing you've been doing for 20 years actually will cause you to have cancer. (i.e. BPAs) Perhaps people are experiencing contradiction fatigue. We feel slapped about by what studies tell us is good or bad in any given moment. We don't know what to think anymore and we don't know whom to trust anymore, either. I certainly don't trust my doctor when he wants to prescribe a medication. How do I really know that pill is safe and won't cause more damage than cure my ailment? I distrust corporations in general and certainly don't believe anything the government has to say in any "official" capacity. Any more these days, I try to listen to my own intuitive good sense. The problem I have with science and technology is when the facts change year after year. One year, this certain drug is prescribed to treat diabetes. The next year, it is condemned as causing people to die of heart attacks. One year, we hear that a low-fat diet is the best way to eat. The next year, we hear that actually an organic, local, whole food diet regardless of fat content is what’s best. We are told our entire lives that something is good and safe and then suddenly some “study” comes out that tells us that, sorry, that thing you’ve been doing for 20 years actually will cause you to have cancer. (i.e. BPAs)

Perhaps people are experiencing contradiction fatigue. We feel slapped about by what studies tell us is good or bad in any given moment. We don’t know what to think anymore and we don’t know whom to trust anymore, either. I certainly don’t trust my doctor when he wants to prescribe a medication. How do I really know that pill is safe and won’t cause more damage than cure my ailment?

I distrust corporations in general and certainly don’t believe anything the government has to say in any “official” capacity. Any more these days, I try to listen to my own intuitive good sense.

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