Years ago I got into it with “my” chiropractor. Didn’t go to a chiropractor for long- and a friend of mine referred me to her (I now know that while I respect my friend in many ways - she’s a loop when it comes to health care.)
The chiropractor went into my diet (why, I was there for sciatia I don’t know!) and started talking to me about the benefits of eating “natural” and “organic” foods. I think I went off the deep end - organic means carbon based, and many many poisons occur in nature.
Never went back.
I have little problem with people who say “I really don’t want my food shot up with hormones and treated with weed and bug repellant.” Get that. Its a terminology problem, not a philosophical one.
Interesting you should say this as this seems to be the subterfuge employed by those who feel that Saddam DID have wmds. Your average Cenex is a freekin’ weapons depot on this basis.
I don’t see why everyone’s bitching about these low-calorie energy bars. It can be no calorie and give you lots of energy. Why, just next month my roomate and I will be launching the Meth-an-pheto-am-O’s Cereal for pink, active kids!
And all these people that avoid caffenine like the plague yet happily gulp down ginsing, ginko baloba, or guarana… Hey, at least it isn’t caffeine, and it’s ALL NATURAL!
You want REAL fun? Get a hold of a very sensitive radiac meter, and point the probe at a bunch of bananas. Then watch the way people run away. Colophon, great rant.
I love people who talk about using nicotine as an organic pesticide, and complain about chemicals on food. :rolleyes:
Of course these people also get into problems with the concept that there are trace elements that are necessary for life, but toxic when in too high a dose: Selenium, and even Arsenic, IIRC.
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Here I was thinking in the first line you were talking about radiation free minotaurs. You had my hopes up! Here I am building a labyrinth and now that I’ve found free range gorgons and an organic gryphon, I thought a radiation free minotaur or two would be the piece de resistance.
Excellent rant. Sorry, don’t have any good related stories to add though I DID love the dihydrous monoxide spoof, if anyone knows where I can get a copy I’d love a link.
dihydrogen monoxide
By the way, has anyone seen any means of enforcement for all those schools that have labelled themselves ‘radiation free zones’? And if they are radiation free, how did they get the C-14 out of the kids? (I don’t care about the teachers so much, they have a choice to go through the procedure…)
Of course, twinkies do expire, in time, and it reminds me of a guest on Carson’s Tonight Show who was an expert on food packaging, or something. He picked up a twinkie. “Now, everyone seems to assume these things have the shelf-life of gravel…”
I can’t remember the rest of the interview, but that line always cracks me up.
I’d probably list unnatural as opposite of natural, instead of supernatural. Then again, I’d probably argue about skyscrapers being natural, just because they are man-made, as well. If you apply too strict a defintion to the term “natural”, then you could also argue that murder is a natural cause of death.
This irks me 100%.
My room mate’s mom is “allergic” to “chemicals”. Which ones? I ask. “All of them” is the reply.
Now, I’m sure she might very well be hyper sensitive to several chemicals, but the fact that she has no idea that every single thing is a chemical astounds me.
So of course my room mate is afraid of “chemicals”. She only uses liquid soap, because normal soap is “bad”. :dubious:
I used to be a pest control technician, or as I like to put it, I was a hired killer.
Not a work day would go by when someone didn’t ask me about my job in such a tone as to imply that I was a toxic waste spreader and killer of innocent pets and babies.
To those that seemed open minded, I would provide copies of MSDS sheets and copies of labels of the products I used. I also gave them my business card if they had any further questions. No problem, once they realized pesticides can be used responsibly and safely, and that I took pains to do just that.
To those that just wanted to rant about the eeeevul chemicals, I simply walked away.
My argument is that there is no such word as “unnatural.” Everything that exsists is a part of nature. Therefore, the opposite of “natural” must be “supernatural,” i.e. things that do not exsist.
Man used to be considered in part supernatural. That legacy remains with us, and a number of people still believe it. In such conceptions of the world the works of man are in part deriving from a supernatural source, and are thus themselves not natural. It does annoy me when people think of it in terms of man different just because as opposed to man different because of God, soul, etc. I’m just asking for something to rest the idea on besides, “You can’t hug your children with nuclear arms.”
I’m a fan of pesticides, because I hate insects. I hate what they do to stuff I want to eat. I understand the desire to use pesticides that have less left over on the food and don’t mess with humans. I’m a fan of not being poisoned by what I eat. Mankind’s control of the world around us is pretty much all we got. Take that away and we’re weak, hairless apes.
One of the most telling bits on the extreme anti-meddling side comes from “Pen and Teller’s Bullshit”. When the raw food eaters are asked about the problem of feeding the world without the use of modern agricultural technology the reaction is a disgusting show of ignorance and casual callousness.
P.S. I beg people to notice the word extreme in the first sentence of my last paragraph.
