Greetings Gentle Readers!!!
I frequently get irked when reading the newspaper or listening to tv at the results of "scientific studies" when I know that the "scientists" or reporters have not thought the issue through and have just discovered that 2 + 2 =5........except that isn't true....The wealthy county of Marin, in California, just north of SF, had a larger than normal amount of breast cancer.....why? Well, there was an old airforce base there and they had lots of chemicals.....OMG!! The women of Marin were being poisoned.....except OOOPS!! Upon further study, the women of Marin drank more alcohol, had a different diet, etc., than the women in the other study groups.
This sort of pseudo-science appears everywhere.....there was some controversy about the ancient Greek poet Homer and his ability to tell colors, or anyone being able to tell colors....were they all colorblind then??? How else can you say why Homer never writes about the blue sky and writes about the "wine-dark" sea, when the sea is blue?? Great idea.....but, it has been written that Homer was blind.....and furthermore, mosaics dating back to a couple of hundred years after Homer show normal coloration.....as to "wine dark sea".....the sea can look all kinds of colors depending on the plant life and the light....and "wine dark" makes the sea sound perilous, which it was to the Greeks.
My point, being, engage brain before believing in "scientific studies" in the media.
Which brings me to my main gripe: http://news.msn.com/pop-culture/many-americans-have-no-friends-of-another-race-poll
A big study posted on MSN.com which claimed that many, and it is implied most, Americans have no friends of another race....uummm......I read that and my first thought was, what is the definition of a "friend" for this poll??? Can a co-worker you have lunch with be a friend? Can a neighbor be a friend? Can someone you haven't seen for 15 years but still exchange Christmas cards with be a friend? How often do you have to be in contact to be qualified as a 'friend"? Do you have to like someone for them to be a friend? Can a relative be a friend? or an inlaw? Etc.....what qualifies as a "friend" is never mentioned. Also, what constitutes "another race"? For my crazy Irish Aunties, anyone who wasn't Irish was "another race". Did my friend who is half Chinese and half English who was born and brought up in Hong Kong until she was 12 and then lived in England, who looks English, acts English.....is she "another race"? Would Marco Rubio, the senator from Florida, be considered "another race" to "European Americans"? Without defining exactly what you mean, what is say is worthless.
I think a lot of these studies are the product of people who need to publish something, and anything that gets a big reaction, is good.....even if what they write is silly....as in the ancient Greeks being colorblind. The problem comes when people believe these things and quote them as truisms when they are nothing but bull shit.
Comments always welcomed.
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