perpetuating lies and false information
i had to rant about this experience i had at the chiropractor's office today because i'm still fuming about it..
at the chiro today, the secretary was talking to a couple who was there and talked about the binder of previous "issues" of the monthly newsletter propaganda-- it's stuff that talks about all the evils of modern medicine. some of it is well known, such as the possibility for increased risk of suicide with SSRI's, and some of it is a case study where modern medicine failed someone and chiropractic medicine helped them (those are neat)... but a lot of it is total bunk. she started talking to the couple about one article about why soy is bad, so they asked why, all alarmed, and she starts telling them that it's mostly bad for men and boys because it messes with their hormones and gives them too much estrogen. to which they started bad talking vegetables and talking about how great steaks are and the husband said "i love cows!" and told his wife to keep "that soy crap" away from him. another guy chimed in and said "yeah give me a HAMBURGER!" ...i know people are into their meat. but all of that was really unnecessary. they got pretty graphic about meat and killing cows and drinking milk. (ironically they later mentioned goats milk and how that was gross-- how is the pus-filled secretions from a goat any grosser than the pus-filled secretions from a cow? seriously?)
so the more i thought about it, the grouchier i got, and i asked her where the information comes from that goes into those newsletters (because she claimed a doctor wrote it), and she said the internet. i said it was interesting they'd just find the stuff online since they've disproven that soy myth awhile ago, and how it's simply not true that soybeans screw with hormone levels. she said it depended on the study you read. and i said "exactly, which is why it's odd they'd publish questionable and questioned information." she argued for awhile, and i told her it was very possible that the derivatives of soy that are put into all processed food you find in supermarkets causes problems, but the way it's worded it implies that soybeans themselves are evil and they are not. she said "well no, but soymilk and tofu" and i tried to say "soymilk and tofu are pretty much whole soybeans ground up, they are not as chemically processed/broken down." she changed the subject saying how if she were included in a vitamin B study that she would change th eoutcome and that's what this was like. she was totally reaching and i was totally upset that she was giving out false information to hillbillies who aren't likely to look into it any further. (she said that was just a tidbit to make you want to learn more, and i said that it was unlikely the average reader would research information, since most people take their soundbites from the media as the absolute truth and don't question it.)
i ended up just dropping it in the end, but it really bothered me and i don't even think i handled myself that well. it was hard to even speak up, but the distribution of false information by a so-caled doctor really upset me, not to mention the fact that my master's degree is about how to better inform the public about science and technology, and questioning false or incomplete information is the very core of that. :(
edited just to add more stupidity to the fire: i forgot to mention that after i said i was vegan, she said her brother's gf is vegan, and this couple started asking her about the girl and what she eats (don't know why they wouldnt ask me-- unless it's because they thought i wasn't a reliable source after the above conversation), and she talked about how this girl is such a "STRICT VEGAN" and a "TRUE VEGAN"-- and she loves to eat doritos and fish. when i said that those are not vegan, she said "well she doesn't LIKE to eat the fish, but she will if she has to and there's nothing else to eat." riiiiiight.
at the chiro today, the secretary was talking to a couple who was there and talked about the binder of previous "issues" of the monthly newsletter propaganda-- it's stuff that talks about all the evils of modern medicine. some of it is well known, such as the possibility for increased risk of suicide with SSRI's, and some of it is a case study where modern medicine failed someone and chiropractic medicine helped them (those are neat)... but a lot of it is total bunk. she started talking to the couple about one article about why soy is bad, so they asked why, all alarmed, and she starts telling them that it's mostly bad for men and boys because it messes with their hormones and gives them too much estrogen. to which they started bad talking vegetables and talking about how great steaks are and the husband said "i love cows!" and told his wife to keep "that soy crap" away from him. another guy chimed in and said "yeah give me a HAMBURGER!" ...i know people are into their meat. but all of that was really unnecessary. they got pretty graphic about meat and killing cows and drinking milk. (ironically they later mentioned goats milk and how that was gross-- how is the pus-filled secretions from a goat any grosser than the pus-filled secretions from a cow? seriously?)
so the more i thought about it, the grouchier i got, and i asked her where the information comes from that goes into those newsletters (because she claimed a doctor wrote it), and she said the internet. i said it was interesting they'd just find the stuff online since they've disproven that soy myth awhile ago, and how it's simply not true that soybeans screw with hormone levels. she said it depended on the study you read. and i said "exactly, which is why it's odd they'd publish questionable and questioned information." she argued for awhile, and i told her it was very possible that the derivatives of soy that are put into all processed food you find in supermarkets causes problems, but the way it's worded it implies that soybeans themselves are evil and they are not. she said "well no, but soymilk and tofu" and i tried to say "soymilk and tofu are pretty much whole soybeans ground up, they are not as chemically processed/broken down." she changed the subject saying how if she were included in a vitamin B study that she would change th eoutcome and that's what this was like. she was totally reaching and i was totally upset that she was giving out false information to hillbillies who aren't likely to look into it any further. (she said that was just a tidbit to make you want to learn more, and i said that it was unlikely the average reader would research information, since most people take their soundbites from the media as the absolute truth and don't question it.)
i ended up just dropping it in the end, but it really bothered me and i don't even think i handled myself that well. it was hard to even speak up, but the distribution of false information by a so-caled doctor really upset me, not to mention the fact that my master's degree is about how to better inform the public about science and technology, and questioning false or incomplete information is the very core of that. :(
edited just to add more stupidity to the fire: i forgot to mention that after i said i was vegan, she said her brother's gf is vegan, and this couple started asking her about the girl and what she eats (don't know why they wouldnt ask me-- unless it's because they thought i wasn't a reliable source after the above conversation), and she talked about how this girl is such a "STRICT VEGAN" and a "TRUE VEGAN"-- and she loves to eat doritos and fish. when i said that those are not vegan, she said "well she doesn't LIKE to eat the fish, but she will if she has to and there's nothing else to eat." riiiiiight.