So It Must Be True

I well remember an old phrase that my Dad often used “You are talking through (or, out of) your hat”. The meaning of this phrase is “to be talking about a subject as if you know a lot about it, when in fact, you know very little or nothing at all.”

This bothers me because I may do this on occasion. I do not take the time to look up the facts. Let’s face it we are lazy people. We have better things to do than to confirm the facts and figures. We rely on the biased media to tell us the truth.

Worst yet we use Wikipedia for our facts and figures.

Don’t get me wrong, like millions of other people, I use Wikipedia. But not for facts and figures! The attitude that “It’s on Wikipedia – so it must be true” scares me. Practically anyone can edit or post an entry on just about any subject to Wikipedia. Stephen Colbert proved this last summer.

Then we also get our information (facts and figures) from the media. Television News Channels drive me to the point insanity. Both Liberal and Conservative news channels tend to distort the news to fit their political agenda. And the political talk shows on cable television are even worse. Do people really believe this crap? I guess so, judging from some of the emails that I receive. I don’t, because I realize that it is only someone’s opinion. And opinions are like assholes – everyone has one.

Opinion is not the reporting of the news; it is simply someone's view on the day’s events. There is nothing wrong with that, if news reporting is not tainted by a person's ideology and the viewer/reader is told that it is just their opinion of the news. But no, we’re told that this is gospel (infallible truth). And many believe it as gospel. Worst yet we repeat it to others as being gospel.

Now, at this point, the misinformation that we have received from the biased media and have passed on to others is growing like a cancer. So and so said this; so it must be true.

If you repeat something enough times people will tend to believe it to be true. For example, I’ve been saying that George W. Bush has been a terrible President for the past 6 years. According to the latest polls people are beginning to believe it! Maybe I’ll make a George W. Bush Wikipedia entry.

Will Rogers facetiously said "Well, all I know is what I read in the papers." Fortunately for Will there was no television or internet at that time!

The Beach Bum

Chemical Changes

I read a paper today written by Leonard Sax, MD, that was sent to me by a friend who, like me, is a John Wayne fan. The subject line of his email was “John Wayne Must Be Rolling Over in his Grave.”

Dr. Sax is the founder and executive director of the National Association for Single Sex Public Education. Dr. Sax is both an MD and PHD, who lives in Maryland and has published at least two books. He has appeared on the Today Show and does a lot of lecturing about sexuality.

The paper that I read, was not dated, and was called “The Feminization of American Culture - How Modern Chemicals May Be Changing Human Biology”.

Dr. Sax writes “Our modern society generates a number of chemicals that never existed before about fifty years ago. Many of these chemicals, it turns out; mimic the action of female sex hormones called estrogens. Plastics--including a plasticizer called phthalate, used in making flexible plastic for bottles of Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, Evian water, and so forth--are known to have estrogenic effects.”

These chemicals have gotten into our water supply. Because of this, girls are reaching puberty at an earlier age and boys at a later time than normal. A study revealed that “Most young girls with premature breast development have toxic levels of phthalates in their blood; those phthalates appear to have seeped out of plastic food and beverage containers.”

Sax goes on to say that this is not only effecting Humans but also other animals. The male animals are no longer producing the sperm count necessary to procreate. Nor do they have a normal sex drive. His prime example is the Florida Panther which is rapidly becoming extinct.

In this paper, Sax mentions that even the movie portrayal of the sex roles have changed. “Successful movies now often feature women who are physically aggressive, who dominate or at least upstage the men”…. “All the leading women are strong and all the leading men are good-looking.”

Both my 30 year old son and my 32 year old nephew primp in front of the bathroom mirror. They are concerned about their looks, whereas I always have felt that you can attract more women with words and your masculinity than your looks. It’s a different generation of males, with different attitudes, that have been polluted by plastics. I grew up in an entirely different society. Our manhood was more important to us males than our looks.

John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable would not have been the major stars that they were, in today’s movies; they were too rough and rugged - not pretty boys. Yet, they all did one hell of a lot of love scenes in their movies. But that was back in the days when you didn’t see sexual acts in the movies. There was no nudity back then, so you didn't have to have a nice butt. The sex act was implied, not seen. Looking at John Wayne's naked butt and pot belly would even scare me. Today's rugged leading men now tend to be my age or older - in their mid 60's.

Dr. Sax's paper reminded me of the movie “The Graduate” when Dustin Hoffman was told that the future was in Plastics. It’s seemingly not a good future for us somewhat manly men.

The Beach Bum