Most Studies Are Wastes of Money, Study Finds
Okay, so I manufactured the so-called “study” sent up by the title of this post. But it’s the natural conclusion for one to draw after reading this article on my most-loathed cable news website, MSNBC.com.
The headline reads “TV can be bad for diabetic children.” The tagline? “Snacking, less exercise linked to increases in blood sugar levels, study finds.” Basically, what we have here is another example of how special interest groups, supposedly objective agencies with big industry funding, and the media in general control and manipulate the way in which information is presented in order to “prove” their beliefs to be true, rather than just reporting facts.
TV, in and of itself, is not going to make your diabetes worse. That’s total horse shit. But through some clever extensions of logic, by virtue of the fact that you are watching too much TV, we find that you may not be getting enough exercise. Likewise, we find that many people who sit on their butts and watch TV all day tend to snack while they’re watching. And of course, many of those snacking people are eating unhealthy snacks. So we conclude, naturally, that TV is killing you.
Ohhhhh-kay.
Seriously, do me a favor, fair reader. The next time you witness a news headline about a new “study,” be it on the Web, on TV or on the radio, please change the channel, click away or just plain do something else. The reality is that most “studies” are funded by politically-motivated organizations that already have a particular result in mind before the study is even carried out. Their financial contribution, which enables the study in the first place, may be given only under the condition that their “approved” result be reached. And so there you have it — cooked books, being regurgitated and spat out to you, the mindless American consumer, as fact.
“Turn on, tune in, drop out” never sounded so good.
Categorized as Headlines, Rants
I heard that same headline this morning, and immediately discounted it. Of course, there’s no medical reason why tv makes diabetes worse. It’s basically a matter of common sense - if a kid (diabetic or not) is watching tv and eating junk food more than a “reasonable” amount of time, they’re going to have health issues as a result, whether it’s an exacerbation of their diabetes or whatever. It’s as we’ve said before, good health generally comes down to moderation and common sense.
I hate all these “studies,” becase they are invariably skewed to some private company or foundations idea of a desired result. I pay no attention to ‘em.