So the idea that we should all drink that much water a day to stay properly hydrated is not one only recently propagated by the bottled water industry. Again, this may be something the advertisers came up with based upon “common” wisdom. I can’t say one way or the other.

I do that I have read often and heard from doctors that we as Americans do not drink enough water and that most of us are dehydrated. Constipation that is so common can often be traced to this.

Then, of course, much depends upon in which part of the country you live. The arid southwest demands that you drink more water than if you live in the Northern climes. (I live in NE Ohio.)

What could be so difficult? Slow down and THINK!! Easy to say – not so easy to do. However, one of the simplest methods is to ask: does this _____ pass the smell test? In other words, does it ACTUALLY make common sense?

The example of Michael Shermer’s is a good example. Simplifying things a bit; a quick check by/of most people’s common sense would reveal that bureaucracies RARELY change their policies over night. There is a great deal of inertia or resistance to change. Add to that the idea of department heads having the attitude that their area of responsibility is also THEIR TURF – anyone intruding…
These pieces of common knowledge immediately contradict the statement(s) made by P.E.E.R. Thus, the proverbial: …something does not smell right.

To be fair to Michael Shermer he has probably seen this set, or similar set, of circumstances before. They turned out to be true then, why not in this case? Add to that a busy schedule, pressures no one else, or very few, know about, plus, a myriad of other factors. The resulting consequences have been made clear.

It’s nice to know Mr. Shermer is human….he’s also a very honorable man.

CULTURE OF LIES

Hillary Clinton claims to have come under sniper fire while visiting Bosnia, a story easily proven to be false. The documentary “Manufacturing Dissent” explores the manipulations of facts by Oscar winning filmmaker Michael Moore in an effort to promote his personal view of the world. Executives from the cigarette companies once claimed that cigarettes did not cause cancer despite evidence to the contrary they were very well aware of. Oprah features a “biography” which turns out to be nothing but lies and a mother encourages her daughter to lie about having a father in Iraq in order to win Hannah Montana tickets. Scientists manipulate data in an effort to “prove” a theory and somewhere along the line it became “common knowledge” that an individual should drink 8 glasses of water a day but turns out there is absolutely no scientific data or studies that would confirm this belief. It seems that we are a culture that is mired in lies and manipulations, a culture that is often stuck on old belief systems and easy prey for scam artists of all types.

What I find most surprising is how the media, especially the news departments, seem willing to print and/or report pretty much anything which comes across the senior editor’s desk but I suppose that is a function of being a part of the entertainment industry. For instance in 2002 it was widely reported in the mainstream media including the BBC and the Canadian press who took the bait hook, line and sinker that blondes would become extinct by 2202. Turned out this was just an updated version of a hoax that was started in 1865. Seems the media can be fooled not just once but many times over and now celebrities are even having fun at the media’s expense appearing on a TV series in which they fool the paparazzi and see how long it takes to be reported in the mainstream media.

I was born in 1955 so remember a time when newsmen were valued because of their honesty and willingness to bring the truth to the public. I can’t quite remember when this desire to inform the public turned into a desire to report the most outrageous news in an effort to draw in readers and viewers to a particular media outlet. I suppose I understand that with all the media now available to the public in so many different forms from newspapers to the internet it’s become more about sales, ratings and hits than about what is actually being reported. The attitude seems to be “if it’s wrong, who cares, tomorrow is another day and people will forget about what they heard or read yesterday”. What a pity people seem to be so accepting of this culture of lies. They may be wary of the con artists or totally under their spell but I don’t believe that anyone’s best interest is served by allowing this cultural defect to prevail all in the name of “freedom of speech”.
Bringing truth out into the light is not always easy. I found this out while demonstrating that eating at McDonald’s does not necessarily make one fat or unhealthy. Some of you may recognize me as one of the first people to challenge the premise of the film “Super Size Me” by filmmaker Morgan Spurlock. Starting in April 2004 I engaged in a series of “30 day diets” eating exclusively at McDonald’s and experienced not only a 45 pound weight loss but also saw my cholesterol go from 237 to 172 without supplements or medications of any kind. I actually proved through a series of closely monitored and documented experiments that I could eat healthy under the Golden Arches and not just maintain but improve my health overall. So why haven’t I been able to show the world the results of my experiments? Unfortunately I find myself involved in very contentious small claims litigation against a company, its CEO and partners for the deliberate destruction of the working materials for my film “Me & Mickey D”. Despite the fact that I know a courtroom is no safe haven from the culture of lies that we endure every day it is my only hope to be able to recover the means to rebuild my film.

Believe me, I was disappointed to hear that small claims court is often referred to as “liars court” and the defendants in my case are certainly no exception to the rule when it comes to trying to justify their actions but despite being able to demonstrate that the defendants have lied throughout the proceedings the judge has no intention of citing them for perjury. Let’s face it our court system has been and still is subject to the whims and fancies of the human psyche but to allow people to lie during testimony without any consequences only makes a mockery of a system in which one “swears to tell the whole truth and nothing but”. If our courts can’t get it right then how can we expect people to comport themselves in a more responsible way? If we turn our heads the other way and justify this culture of lies we do ourselves much greater harm than simply seeking to find the truth in the quagmire of information thrown at us every day.

I know it is possible to find the truth but getting it out there is made all the harder by those who stand to gain through keeping you ignorant in one way or another. Global warming or not? Sports stars who make millions using steroids or not? Can you really “conserve” a forest or is it better to manage it responsibly? Are we alone in the universe or are we regularly visited by alien beings? The only thing that comes about through this culture of lies is confusion not enlightenment, it seems we would be far better off if we could set a higher standard of proof for those who are trying to convince us of something and work to raise our own standards when seeking truth. Always keep in mind, it’s not what you don’t know that hurts you, it’s what you know that isn’t so.