THE MISINFORMATION BUBBLE

We all grow up in a misinformation bubble. We are taught what our teachers and parents want us to believe. There is no conspiracy here, it is just who we are. We have been passing on some truth, with a whole array of other mishmash, from generation to generation. We will probably find it surprising what turns out to be true and what is fiction.

We don't need to apologize for our ignorance, but we do need to accept that we are.

Every profession has its built in ignorance and denial of that ignorance. I did my undergraduate work in psychology in a time when the discipline ached to be accepted as a pure science. Academic psychology rejected anything that could not pass rigid scientific muster. That is fine but 'pure' science never says anything is untrue. It merely says it can't be demonstrated to be true. When I went to school, I was taught that graphology had no value. I accepted that proposition as valid. Years later, I encountered an individual who researched graphology and was amazed by its seeming accuracy in assessing personality. At the time I was enamored by the MMPI [Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory] and I found significant agreement. Since then I have found many other examples of how we accept for granted things that are taught us which are simply not true.

We move into larger and larger misinformation bubbles, but we can't escape them. If we are liberals we see clearly that conservatives are in a misinformation bubble. But we don't see our own. We continue to accept, what reinforces, what we believe is reality. Until we accept, we really don't know anything, we are stuck.

This tendency of us human beings to do this would only be vaguely annoying, if it didn't open us up to manipulation by those who make money because of this vulnerability. We have been discussing food lately so let us use that as an example. Food production has become a huge industry and they have married the chemical industry. They are an extremely powerful economic force, with vast amounts of money to influence our dietary beliefs, our medical beliefs and whatever else brings them profit. If one of us was a young grad student, dreaming of a PHD, and our school was heavily funded by the chemical industry, would it influence us? How much? All that it takes is a little bit of denial for one to tip over the edge. Denial by its nature is not conscious. A person doesn't want to lie. They don't want to fudge research. But with that teeny bit of denial, they see which side their bread is buttered on, and oh, the money is nice and the prestige. Politicians are corrupted in the same way.

Our big world, the huge misinformation bubble maintained by the media, supports our belief system so corporations can make money from us. It is possible that nothing we think is true, is true.

So back to diet. What can we believe? How can we sort out the valid research from the industry contaminated research? It is not easy unless we are scientists ourselves or are blessed with a magnificent B.S. detector.

For most of us it is easier to go back to the basics. We are animals after all and although history has, also been corrupted, we can discern what our traditional diet was for thousands of years. Looking at history is tricky though, the opponents will bring up life span, ease of living etc. I can demonstrate how they are inaccurate, but I don't want to do it here.

Let us look at the basics "now". We know what a cabbage is. We know what a potato is. We know what an onion is. We recognize a carrot, radish, turnip, parsnip etc. All we need to know if they are raised chemically free. Okay, that is a tough one for most of us, but there is a huge organic movement going on. Much of it is under the radar. Visit your farmers market, talk to your friends. Many of us have been getting vegetables raised without chemicals for some time.

Meat. I am not a vegetarian. I love meat. It isn't hard for me to see myself tipping over to vegetarianism, however. For the reasons of diet, much meat is unsafe because of overuse of chemicals in the animals feed; growth stimulants, antibiotics etc. Unsanitary processing is a major concern.

Personally, my major problem with eating meat is how the animals are raised. I don't think we should eat meat from animals that do not have a high quality of life. Those of us who have raised animals, know what a happy animal is. Animals can be raised with dignity. My animals seem to have all the freedom they want. They don't use all the space I provide them. Most traditional cultures treated butchering as a sacred event. Death of their body was not to be stressful or painful in any way. There are small butcher shops springing up that have this philosophy. Not enough. The program, "Wisconsin Foodie" featured such a place.

We may not know much, but that needn't hinder our progress. Lets keep our eating of packaged and processed food to a minimum. Let us not drink any artificially sweetened beverage, at all. Let us make sure we don't drink any sweetened beverage containing high fructose corn syrup. Drinks that we have commonly called pop or soda should be eliminated from our diet. If we need a sweetened drink we can make one using honey. There are many good recipes.

If we make all our decisions with love, we will be fine. We don't have to know everything. We do need to love ourselves and everybody else.

Love and Peace,  Gregg