doesn't make us stupid--unless we decide to focus attention on our areas of E.D. (no, not that problem, I'm talking here about Educational Deficiency).
But I'm amazed at how many people seem to brag about their areas of ignorance.
As just one small example, but one that consistently annoys me as I am plowing through tremendous amounts of material in researching my book on the health benefits of dark chocolate. Many so-called "health experts" report on all the research showing the tremendous benefits of eating dark chocolate on building the immune system, fighting high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, obesity, heart problems, etc. But then they say something like, "But of course you have to make sure you don't overdo it, since even dark chocolate is filled with calories, processed sugar, fats and waxes and
other additives that can negate the positive health effects."
The truth is, but most of these idiots don't realize it because they have not been reading enough of the literature, that you don't have to avoid or keep dark chocolate intake to a minimum because of these factors, but merely make intelligent decisions when choosing the dark chocolate you consume.
It should be sweetened with natural sweeteners rather than processed sugar, the heating process in its manufacturer should be either eliminated entirely, as it is with Xocai's patented cold-pressing technique, or kept to a very low level, and it should not have a lot of fillers added. Folks, this is not rocket science, the healthier alternatives are not that hard to find. (and by the way, one new company, TCHO in San Francisco, was co-founded by an actual
NASA rocket scientist--and their chocolate is pretty good, though not as
delicious or quite as healthy as Xocai).
Why is this important? Well, mainly because being accurate just may save or prolong your life. The dark chocolate research is conclusive and indisputable, so to chase people away by saying its unhealthy aspects counteract its health benefits is dangerous and totally false information.
But there's lots of that around today in almost every field of knowledge. Our insatiable appetite for information on the Internet, on broadcast and print media, forces people trying to supply that appetite to report a lot without checking it first, or even to make it up.
When I was a newsman for Westinghouse Broadcasting, at the all-news radio stations, KYW in Philadelphia and WINS in New York, we had the slogan, "all news all the time". But it isn't all news now, it's just a little news spread around a lot.
And like that old experiment where you whisper something in someone's ear, and they whisper it to the next person in line, and by the time it goes through the individual cognitive filters of a few people it becomes a completely different piece of information--this is what's happening in media today.
By the time a rumor or blatant untruth is dispelled, more and more mainstream media is trumpeting the original lie with bigger headlines.
The whole information disseminating business has been turned topsy-turvy.
Back in the day, and I'm talking about the 1960s and 1970s here, there were huge pools of information gatherers, checkers, researchers, turning out the material for a much smaller group of reporters, anchors, commentators.
Now its the other way around. The ranks of the media stars have swelled, but budget cuts have eliminated most of the people actually gathering and checking the news and information directly. Less going in, more coming out. Remember the old cliche, "Garbage In, Garbage Out?" Well today it's "Hardly Anything In, Lots of Garbage Out."
What can we, as individuals, do about this. I think it's time to take some personal responsibility for at least our little corner of knowledge and awareness. In this information overload world, we need to be more discriminating, and not just take things at face value (or maybe we should start calling this "ass value.") One tiny suggestion when passing on something from the Internet to a friend, is to qualify it with a simple cautionary note: "This may be a complete fabrication, but I thought you'd find it interesting anyway."
Jerry
Speaking of truth and knowledge, you can check out the health benefits and tremendous income opportunity of joining with me in my fledgling healthy dark chocolate business by just emailing me at jerrygillies@gmail.com, or
looking at my new website, www.UnguiltyPleasures.net, or phone for a three minute message on the subject from me at (650) 589-8485. You at least ought to get your free sample of this product so you can make your own intelligent decision.
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