I know it’s a cliché statement, but people, please, don’t believe everything you read. Or everything that the guy who sits next to you in the office declares that he read. Or everything your pothead neighbor thinks the fence told him. First and foremost when deciding to believe information you receive, consider the source of the information. I’m going to use a current favorite as an example.
A friend of mine recently declared (after my request of) that he wouldn’t (and that I shouldn’t either) eat Chinese food because it contains too much MSG. Now, lets all keep in mind that I am not a doctor. I know little to nothing about MSG, the effects of it, what foods contain it, or what it even stands for. So I shall not be making a statement in regards to its health contribution. The conversation went something like this
Friend: No, not chinese. It has way too much msg.
Me: So?
Friend: Well, msg is bad.
Me: How so?
Friend: It just is.
Me: What makes you think that?
Friend: I read it somewhere.
Me: Where?
Friend: I dunno.
Me: Well, what’s it do then?
Friend: I dunno.
Me: Even know what msg stands for?
Friend: Nope.
Needless to say we got some Chinese for dinner. Go Panda Express. Did I sentence my friend and I to die in some obscure and awful death as a result of eating an inordinate amount of msg in that box of ever-so-tasty orange chicken? Maybe. Or maybe msg isn’t as bad as everyone likes to rant about currently. But then again, I don’t know one way or the other. And even if I claimed to know, you shouldn’t believe me, because I’m not an expert on the issue.
On the other hand, had I done a sufficient amount of research. Read doctor comments, looked up clinical test results, google searches, etc, and was willing to cite or at least make reference to some of this, perhaps the opinion or believe I had formed by then could hold some more weight. At which point you could start considering whether or not you believe me and the information I would be trying to convey. Of course, the importance of any given issue will often determine how much effort you should (or at least might be willing to) put into the decision. I personally am not that concerned about msg or most health fads. So I haven’t taken the time to research msg. On the other hand, when the Atkins diet sprung up, I looked into that a little. Most of what I found showed that losing weight is a result of overall healthy lifestyle. Eating properly and exercising. Not eating fatty hamburgers with lettuce wrap instead of a bun.
So far most of the big disease scares of the last several years have turned up to not warrant the hype surrounding them. Anthrax in the mail, West Nile virus, and bird flu all tapered away and disappeared from the media focus, not killing off the promised millions. Even swine flu now seems to be tapering away and somehow the majority of us have survived. I had the West Nile virus, or at least a majority of the unique symptoms to it. So I looked into that one in more detail. Sure, for the unlucky few %, the consequences of the disease can be tragic. On the other hand 98% of people who get it are almost completely fine and 50% never even show noticeable symptoms according to this I read online (omg, did he say online? Isn’t that bad?) which include articles by the CDC (as close to experts as you might find).
All decisions of what to believe aren’t related to health of course. Everything ranging from politics to lunch choices can be presented to you from disregardable sources. If a friend tells you the new burger joint in town is bad, ask if he ate there him/herself; or if the person who did eat there even likes the same things in a burger that you do; or if maybe he just read a comment on it on yahoo from some disgruntled person who wasn’t able to get a job there.
Consider the source.
Is the source a field expert? – Doctor, biologist, food enthusiast, God, etc.
Has the source done research or studied results from the experts?
And finally…
Is the source trustworthy in general. Sure politicians or big business might have a good idea of whats good for the overall economy with all the money they can put into studies, but are they just concerned about their own elections chances or bottom line. Maybe you’d love the burger joint you want to try out, but you friend wants to convince you otherwise so you’ll go halves on a pizza.
All in all I guess most of this depends on how much you care about any given issue. If you’d rather not have to think about it and just believe what you’re told and evade the things people say are bad and do the things people say are good, then go ahead. One less thing to worry about. Just remember: Dont eat anything containing msg (fast food, chicken, sausage, ranch dressing, caesar salad, Doritos, soy sauce, french fries, etc); Always avoid any birds you see, living or dead; Free with terror from sites with mosquitoes; don’t pet pigs at zoo’s; Don’t eat bread, pasta, or other carbs, Be aware the hole in the Ozone will kill you from cancer if “Climate Change” does cause us all to burn up or freeze to death.
But who am I to say? Believe what you want, I’m not a psychologist.
