In the past couple of years I’ve had the interesting opportunity to do some work for very different entities. A couple have been grassroots, focusing on attacking ‘big food’ or big industry. They have been excellent examples of how easy it is to manage people’s thoughts and behaviors by providing information, some for the good and some for the not so good. It is extremely interesting to me in a world that can leave us all fairly jaded on occasion how easy it is to still manipulate us.
Now I’m not passing judgment on anything, simply sharing that when we take others’ words as truth we may or may not be led down the primrose path. All this is to say, it is not enough to believe what your reading or watching as truth…do your own research. Simple solution, is the source credible? Is the source balanced?
For example, Benjamin Lorr in his book ‘Hell Bent’ takes a look at his and others practice of Bikram (hot) yoga. Interestingly he notes the man responsible for it’s creation is an insult hurling, narcissistic, Rolls Royce driving man. He talks of folks having strokes possibly as a result of hot yoga, etc. He also speaks of his own practice of Bikram. Interesting isn’t it? The developer of hot yoga, which may or may not be beneficial and/or harmful, only needed to popularize it.
Same line of thinking goes along with many other popular ‘movements.’ They don’t necessarily need to be truth or fact based, merely properly marketed and/or popular. That is both a sad and scary proposition. I know of folks who have made it onto national t.v. and who have done so through pure manipulation of information. Suffice to say, I too should have done my homework rather than buying into the hype.
I’ve learned my lesson, quite a valuable one at that. My advice to you is twofold. Just because someone is attacking big business does not mean their intent is necessarily good or necessarily truthful. There are a lot of opportunistic folks out there waiting to prey upon you. We all love an easy answer. We all love the idea of altruism, someone fighting the system. But more often than not if you look into the source and look up some additional credible research you will find, unfortunately, you’ve been led down the primrose path.
Do your homework. Get the facts. Go from there.
2 Comments
Have you tried Bikram yoga? I’ve been doing it for years even though Bikram Choundry is quite the character, and everyone knows it. He arrived in the United States in 1973 with an invitation from President Richard Nixon. He’s taught people to heal themselves, hundreds of thousands of people owe better health to him. I’ve been watching Bikram’s students transform into fit, strong happy people for years now and have therefor found a way to accept the creator. Seeing is believing, knowing is different than being told – you should give it a try : )
Amen and well said!