This Is A Good Thing...

[waitingman]

Celebrity Chef fined $25,000 for misleading claims about machine that 'cures' Covid19

The culinary mouthpiece in question (I won't call him a chef, as he doesn't seem to do much cooking in high-end restaurants, just sits judging amateur contestants on television, while munching on 'activated' almonds) - has form in this area... he regularly promotes products or produce as having amazing restorative or curative powers, claims to know better than scientists & doctors, or spruiks questionable diets that are the answer to everything from an upset tummy to world peace & global warming... Okay that last bit's an exaggeration, but give him time, I'm sure he'll find something that he will assure us can do it... & give you Marvel superhero-like powers... Probably

Even though it won't stop him mouthing off the next time he finds something with dubious science behind its claims to align the planets & reveal the aliens in our midst, I'm pleased he's been fined by an Authority & that it has been well publicised. If only there were a global organisation which could impose a fine & a muzzle on that other, internationally recognised snake oil salesman...

It's one of the things I wonder & lament about in this modern world... when did we stop listening to scientists, teachers, doctors... & start listening to quacks with fake tans & a media agent?

Certainly, there's an argument to be made about corporate funding to education & science meaning there's no such thing as unquestionable, unbiased research & results, but given that all of the findings must be peer-reviewed before becoming accepted practice, there is a safety net that stops bad science becoming fact. It's (mostly) a free world, so you are welcome to ignore, or reject that science & accept the consequences of doing so... but you shouldn't be free to share your unfounded opinions, beliefs &, above all, products with the rest of the world - preying on the illiterate, the weak, the elderly, the poor... your huddled masses

So, to make the obvious connection to current events - while it may be true that the W.H.O. has been politically compromised, there's no evidence at all that its actual work in this time of plague... or at any other time of crisis, is not to be trusted

Peter Evans, or a Paediatrician... Donald Trump, or a Doctor - the choice is yours... as are the consequences

Comments

[pink_halen]

I have a theory about this. I think a lot of the problems came about because of the defeat of School bond issues and funding in the 1960s and 1970s. Because the public wasn't willing to pay for new schools the education fell behind. These people who didn't adequately learn science started slipping into more fundamentalist beliefs. Schools continued to get worse to the point that now through no fault of their own many students have an inadequate science background.

As schools got worse people started believing this crap.

I am constantly amazed at what people don't know. My school wasn't an elite place but I know a lot more things about science and culture than most of the young people today.

If you don't spend money on schools you get an ignorant populace. No amount of science television can make up for that.

[sandypawozbun]

I have long wondered why the US has such poor education standards. This would go a long way towards explaining it. The internet meme says that until I joined the internet I assumed everyone had a basic understanding of science. I was wrong. So very, very wrong.

[waitingman]

Probably true for the US... but every First World nation has these issues, people who take advantage of it... & plenty of people who blindly go along with it. Even here, where I think we have a fantastic public education system, I'm seeing more ignorance, intolerance & rejection of science every year... & more angry, old, white people creating & fostering it

And I think it really is a time & numbers game. You can't tell me that every ancient Greek was a Socrates, or every Victorian Englishman was a Charles Darwin. There would have been plenty of people who disagreed & thousands of people who were completely unaware of the issue in the first place, because they weren't educated beyond which end of a plough, or hammer, to hold. With enough time passing to allow clear hindsight, we can just focus on the guys who were clever, or visionary & it's easy to forget the peasants in the fields

In this modern world, there are now billions of 'peasants' who, despite the perfectly good education they have access to, just want to be told what to think & do, as they always have... but - especially in the age of global social media, where everyone can voice & share an opinion - it's increasingly difficult for today's Hippocrates to get the right message through, without being drowned out by those who fear new ideas & believe they have a valid opinion because they once managed to put a band-aid on a stubbed toe without accidentally chopping their leg off...

A lie can get halfway 'round the world, before the truth has put its boots on...