So, a couple of days ago as I was buzzing through one of those warehouse superstores with my supersized grocery cart in tow, I passed one of the ladies who does the sampling of the foods they sell and had a chance to put my new word into action. She was handing a sample of soy bratwurst to one of her unwitting victims and said, "Soy is the healthiest food on the planet." Screech! I brought my cart to a halt in front of her station and asked, "Oh really?.......why?"
The both of them stared at me for a moment and the guy chimed in, "Yeah, why?"
"Because it's a fact," she replied in total disbelief at my question, "everybody knows that!"
"Yeah, but....why?" I continued my probing.
"Cuz ever since I was I little girl, I was told that." She was getting irritated by now.
"So what kind of health properties does soy provide?" I couldn't stop myself.
"Huh." She took a deep breath and rolled her eyes. "Total body benefits! Where have you been?" I think she wanted to add "you jerk" to the end of her explanation.
"So it does everything good for you?" I was on a roll.
"Yup."
And here's the my zinger clincher question: ".....What's your evidence for that?"
End of discussion.
With so much thrown at us these days, and with so much information available through the Internet, the TV, radio and so on, I think we've become very sensitized to the rot people heave on us and often times just take it in stride. We're too busy and overwhelmed to actually think about what's being said, much less insist that people back up their information with hard core facts. The really wrong part about it is that, eventually, mindless statements just get woven into our discourse so much that we begin to accept it as the truth. That's how this lady could so easily back up her "facts" with the blanket statement, "everybody knows that!" Well, honey, that don't make it fact...
Intrigued, I spent some time in front of the TV really listening to what kind of baloney is being fed to us on an institutionalized level. Let me share with you some of the so-called statements of "fact" that came from the food channel and the Fit TV channel:
"A great way to get your kids to eat fruit is to put raisins in your cookie recipes."
"Put salt in the water when you steam your vegetables to bring out their flavors and nutrients."
"Drizzle with olive oil to make it heart-healthy."
"To neutralize unhealthy excess salt [in your recipe], add some sugar."
"Nuts are a high energy snack. Stick them in your purse and in kids' lunch boxes for a high energy pick-me-up anytime."
"Ground chicken breast and extra lean ground pork are perfect protein sources and they have NO fat!"
"For a healthy snack, only use egg whites (in your recipes) because egg white is where all the protein is; so they're REALLY good for you. It's the egg yolks that have all the bad stuff."
"Add 1/2 cup sugar to the water when you make couscous, for the perfect healthy snack."
"This [brand x] contains more vitamin C than a glass of milk."
"To make your everyday hamburgers better for you, top with slices of tomato and lettuce, and swap out the processed cheese for blue cheese--this one's made from goat, cow and sheep's milk!"
Don't give your kids nasty sodas, instead blend 1 2/2 cups pomegranate juice concentrate with 1 1/2 cups of cranberry juice and 1 1/2 cups sugar syrup and blend with club soda for a healthy beverage on those hot summer days."
"To give your artichoke dip a healthy twist, substitute yogurt for the mayonnaise and use mozzarella cheese instead of cheddar cheese."
"To make your indoors more natural and healthy, make your own picture frames out of twigs your kids collected..."
"If you have arthritis or aching joints, drink this [brand x]. It goes straight to your joints and makes them really juicy."
With statements like these proliferating all over the TV and elsewhere, how's a girl (and guy) supposed to steer her own canoe?? How can we make good decisions when the information we're exposed to so clearly undermines clear, informed thinking? That's why I've started asking the "Why" and "What's your evidence for that?" questions. Even though I have yet to get a good answer for my queries--and I doubt I'll change the world by asking them--at least I can keep the ball in my court by empowering myself proactively, instead of just turning a blind eye.
5 comments:
My family and I's favourite sport these days is listening to ads and other BS on tv and picking apart the fallacies expressed. Lots of good family fun! You should try it-many great laughs to be had.
ana, very entertaining post. I might try that sometime. I actually get pissed off when I hear those ads a TV
Awesome post, Ana. Although, did she really say "Where have you been"? :-o That is so freakin' rude!!!!!! WOW!
I'm going to keep this one in my backpocket and use it soon. LOL. Thank you!
Via: That's a really effective way to watch TV AND teach kids to thinking critically!
Martin and Sarah: Thanks for the comments. And YES, the lady really did say "where have YOU been?" She was quite annoyed by me and got quite passive-aggressive about the whole thing--and I was being really, really nice about it! The second thing about it was that this poor woman was trying to defend some gigantic corporation that she has absolutely no connection to besides being assigned that sample that day...go figure...ana xxoo
Loved the post. Thank you very much.
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