[Gitti]

Why Americans will believe (almost) Anything

Click on Chapters - The Door of Perception

...this is accomplished in part by an endless stream of 'press releases' announcing "breakthrough" research to every radio station and newspaper in the country. (Robbins) Many of these canned reports read like straight news, and indeed are purposely molded in the news format. This saves journalists the trouble of researching the subjects on their own, especially on topics about which they know very little. Entire sections of the release or in the case of video news releases, the whole thing can be just lifted intact, with no editing, given the byline of the reporter or newspaper or TV station - and voilá! Instant news - copy and paste. Written by corporate PR firms.

 

[chicagomom]

I agree that one must look critically at everything printed, especially by those who purport to be experts.

But he lost me with some of items in his list of things 'gullible Americans' believe. Like HIV causes AIDS. Sorry, I took biology. It does.

Also, I think we have to look at why people (not just Americans) believe what they read. How much time do you have to research every claim made about every product you consume/use/buy, your neighbors, your politicians, your neighborhood policeman? Most people are busy working.

I don't think it's wrong to trust people; I don't think everyone out there is trying to scr*w me and my family. I think it's still ok to give people the benefit of the doubt. So, critical thinking/reading, yes. Paranoia, no.

 

[Gitti]

Yes, you are right, we can't be paranoid.

And this is really off topic, but I just read this the other day - What do you think of it?

We are all victims of AIDS

 

[chicagomom]

AIDS is actually not hard to understand. Everyone has their fair share of killer T-cells. The HIV virus roosts inside your cells and starts killing off your lymph nodes and reducing your T-cells. Once you are below a critical level, you start getting 'opportunistic infections,' diseases that are all around us but most don't get them because of our handy T-cells. Voila - AIDS. (That's over-simplistic but you get the idea.) All AIDS stands for is "you've got no immune system left because of the HIV viral destruction of your immune system." Not all opportunistic infections are AIDS, not all immune-suppressing illness is AIDS (leukemia, for example).

There has been confusion because some people get AIDS but don't test positive for HIV (because the test relies on antibodies showing up in the blood, but these people's antibodies have been destroyed by disease so they test negative). There are lots of other reasons too - don't have time to list them all but suffice to say HIV causes AIDS.

 

[Gitti]

Well...

... I used to believe that the polio vaccine got rid of polio in the Western Hemisphere, till I researched it and found out it was rewriting the definition of the disease that did it.