Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Fear of Science

An interesting video about the fear of science.

Thought provoking..... I'm sure there will be many varying opinions on this... but it's an interesting discussion, and I think, one worth having.



So, what do you think?

This speaker makes a good point about recent trends towards distrusting vaccines, engineered foods, and conventional medicines. I know plenty of people that sound as if they've boarded the train to crazy-ville, and have decided to reject anything that comes from a man in a white coat.

But, it's not really the doctors and scientists we mistrust, is it? Isn't it really the institutions that we believe control them? We don't really trust our government or the corporations that create vaccines and medicines. We don't fully trust that they really have our best interest at heart... and I can relate to that feeling.

So where does that leave us? Who do we believe? If someone hands us a pill, and tells us we need to take it, how do we know if we really should or not? There are SO many voices out there right now. Everyone has an opinion. Some of the most opinionated people are often the least educated.

At one time or another, most of us are guilty of spitting out propaganda. We say "High fructose corn syrup is bad for you" because we've heard it many times, and that must make it true. We say "Don't eat that - it's full of chemicals" without even looking at the ingredients to see if it is..... and if we looked, would we even know what these things are?

For instance.... if you saw Tocopherol on an ingredient list, would you assume that it's some sort of chemical, and that it's bad for you?

Well, Tocopherol is the scientific name for Vitamin E.

Vitamin E has strong anti-oxidant properties. To illustrate my point further, when you read the word "anti-oxidant" you think "oh, that's a good thing"... and so do I. That's because we've heard a million times that anti-oxidants are good for you. This is another example of exactly what I'm talking about. Do you know what an anti-oxidant does? I don't!

There are tons of things out there that are bad for us - and it is important for us to be careful about what we put in our bodies.... but simply repeating whatever we hear is just adding to the noise.

So who do we trust? Something to think about.

Jonathan

8 comments:

Kacie J said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chad Hamel said...

"adding to the noise" great switchfoot song lol but so true Jonathan! We as people believe something if we hear it often enough... Sorta the same thing happened with evolution... We as a nation were a majority of Christians or at least bible believing people but after hearing so much that evolution was true and not wanting to be considered "narrow minded" turned on creation and beleived evolution to be a scientific fact ( which it isn't.. And neither is creation. We may know it is true but itcan not be established as a fact in the scientific world) but it is sad that we are such a guliable people

Ida Lou said...

I agree with Chad about the Switchfoot song. LOL.

But yeah this video was so thought provoking. You and the speaker both had a lot of good ideas. The reason people are really afraid though are because to trust is to be vulnerable and to be vulnerable is to lose. People just don't want to lose and don't want to get hurt. lol. This speaker kind of reminded me of Rob Bell in a way. Haha. Rob Bell's book Drops Like Stars is very thought provoking.

Brandon said...

Wow! That was a great article. I am pursuing the medical field and planning on attending college soon so I see many vulnerable people. It is so important to do your own research and get your own facts before you make assumptions and conclude to solve problems. That was a great article- glad I found it on your site (I do come to your blog a lot... haha!).

Anonymous said...

We all need to be well informed, otherwise we will just start believing anything we're told. But when people are afraid to try something because it's 'inorganic' is just strange. Aren't almost all things medical-related 'inorganic'? And they still make us better. I'm not saying that if something comes from a lab, it's not bad. Like you said, the tocopherol stuff is actually Vitamin E. Most things get long scientific names, in fact all organisms do, derived from Latin and Greek that almost no one understands. People just need to do their research about what they're eating. FREE HUGS

Morgan said...

Hey Jon! You said you didn't know what a anti-oxidant is. Well a anti-oxidant is basically good for your immune system and it helps prevent diseases. Blueberries are a good anti-oxidant! My Mom loves them!
Sister in Christ~
Morgan

Jonathan said...

Hey Morgan - True... That's what I understand as well - But do I have any idea HOW it does that? Notta!

Morgan said...

My mom always says if you don't know what something means or does then look it up :) I've learned not to ask my mom about stuff like that instead I look it up for myself!