A new study investigates the link between processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages, and trans fatty acids, to diseases such as cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Death is inevitably caused by swallowing tiny bits of saliva over time.
It illustrated the utter senseless linking of observed events to results with dubious research. Is it technically wrong? No. Is it correct? Of course not. (I hope.)
We are constantly being sold something. Sometimes it’s obvious - other times it’s not. Frequently its a bent truth to just nudge us in the direction the advertiser wants. Health is extraordinarily complicated. We know we should be healthy - but there is so much noisepotential profit in the space… that it becomes hard to determine the correct path to take.
Shit like the above is effectively tabloid journalism. If it is sensationalist - and urging you to act without thought … you absolutely should give it as much credence as an article about bat boy in the checkout line. Until these pseudo journalism “half-truth” adverts get degraded to tabloid levels they will continue to pollute our information channels with their snake oil.
It is possible to distill correct - or at least better information from questionable sources: we play the overlapping circle game. If you compare multiple sources of partial truth… each source added can begin to define the boundaries of what is true (or at least accepted as truth.) Now this isn’t perfect and certainly doesn’t replace real research - but this method in combination with learning to identify masked advertising is a way to protect yourself from falling prey to their trash.
What’s to be done about this shoddy reporting? When you see it - call it out for what it is. Shame the publisher. Trash the poster. Openly mock them. Do what you can to tarnish the perceived reputation of that outlet. If they sell sewage then make sure the stink sticks to them. Enough people doing this will start a positive feedback loop and eventually lead to visible improvements.
I always loved the simple statement that:
Death is inevitably caused by swallowing tiny bits of saliva over time.
It illustrated the utter senseless linking of observed events to results with dubious research. Is it technically wrong? No. Is it correct? Of course not. (I hope.)
We are constantly being sold something. Sometimes it’s obvious - other times it’s not. Frequently its a bent truth to just nudge us in the direction the advertiser wants. Health is extraordinarily complicated. We know we should be healthy - but there is so much
noisepotential profit in the space… that it becomes hard to determine the correct path to take.Shit like the above is effectively tabloid journalism. If it is sensationalist - and urging you to act without thought … you absolutely should give it as much credence as an article about bat boy in the checkout line. Until these pseudo journalism “half-truth” adverts get degraded to tabloid levels they will continue to pollute our information channels with their snake oil.
It is possible to distill correct - or at least better information from questionable sources: we play the overlapping circle game. If you compare multiple sources of partial truth… each source added can begin to define the boundaries of what is true (or at least accepted as truth.) Now this isn’t perfect and certainly doesn’t replace real research - but this method in combination with learning to identify masked advertising is a way to protect yourself from falling prey to their trash.
What’s to be done about this shoddy reporting? When you see it - call it out for what it is. Shame the publisher. Trash the poster. Openly mock them. Do what you can to tarnish the perceived reputation of that outlet. If they sell sewage then make sure the stink sticks to them. Enough people doing this will start a positive feedback loop and eventually lead to visible improvements.