Re: MD Advertising as a social control device

[Peter Lennox]

The best antidote to lies is truth. So banning advertising is never going to work, and, for that matter, advertising is what pays for all our free internet usage. And be honest, when was the last time you were in any way affected by ANY of the advertising on the internet? Likewise, the best antidote to advertising is 'inoculation'; young people today have never been better protected in this sense. Overall, what "Quality" tells us is that one should avoid believing anything because it's convenient; on the other hand, disbelieving because something is convenient is equally stupid. In other words, just because an idiot says the sun is rising, doesn't mean it isn't. It might help to use the concept that enginers use: "signal-to-noise ratio"; sorting out signal from noise is what humans do well. on that note, there's been a rise in 'noise' on this list just lately. no recriminations, it's easily done. But associating various specific ills with particular political systems might be an example, because the point is missed: whenever individuals band together to form a particular organisational stratum, both good and evil will result. The good extends to the way a group can achieve collectively what individuals couldn't hope to, and the evil is concerned with the fact that this will always be at the expense of certain individual truths. the hope is always that the end will justify the means. How you see it depends on where you stand. But believing in some 'other truth' which in some way supersedes one's own subjective version is also what humans do quite well; so dying for one's coutry/religion/family obligations, etc. The best bet is for each of us to strive to do the best we can, to be as fair, and accurate, and truthfull as we can. Of course, ultimate 'competance' is forever beyond our grasp; we shouldn't anguish over our failures, nor are we really in a position to anguish over others'. Instead, we should grasp our triumphs with both hands, and learn equally from success and failure. Those scientist who fail to do good science (which is the case with any study whose outcome is predetermined by convenient beliefs) deserve pity; it's like a would-be singer who has a desperately bad voice. But the lesson is: don't do that. do 'quality' instead. And that's all it takes to begin making the world a slightly better place. 'Truth' is within the grasp of every single person. "No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should"   ....Blimey! - I didn't know that this was going to turn out like that! ppl ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 23 May 2001 15:29 Subject: Re: MD Advertising as a social control device Hello Evolve, new members, and all: Let me start by stating I am NOT unsubscribing, and wonder what in the world caused that mini-exodus.  I well remember the "oat" craze, and what made Quaker's campaign doubly effective was the fact that they used the grandfatherly character actor Wilfred(sic?) Brimley (Cocoon, The Natural) to push the product in a wonderfully Reagan-esque manner (don't say anything, I'm Republican too).  As I am approaching an age where (evolve's quote)"detrimental effects on other bodily functions, such as bowel movement(s)" is beginning to be a concern, I ran out and bought my first box of Quaker Oats, thinking I had been doing my system a disservice through years of unenlightened Raisin Bran abuse.  And then to find out I'd been hoodwinked by Madison Avenue!  I think it was shortly thereafter that the media jumped on a new "study" that indicated that females in the classroom were being shortchanged in the classroom, vis a vis the teacher being more likely to call on male students who raised their hand as opposed to females, females suffering from rampant low self-esteem, and a variety of other supposedly verifiable allegations that proved the system was stacked against all of womanhood.  A few months later the truth came out that it was the work of a small feminist-oriented activist group that basically distorted the actual study, e.g., indeed young females felt low self-esteem but the males exhibited similar stats, or they downright lied in that it wasn't true that teachers are more likely to call on males as opposed to females.  I guess my point is that any (and possibly all) special interest groups, corporations, entities, are capable of bullshitting us in the name of profit, power, etc.   Perhaps this is the nature of our beast.  I also read recently that there has never been one scientific study proving that salt has a detrimental effect on health, yet a significant portion of the Bureaucracy developed and exists on this false assumption that we take as doctrinal.  The courts are capable of multimillion dollar judgments against greedy corporations that manufacture breast implants that harm females (again not one ounce of proof) or that dare to serve their coffee hot (the infamous million-dollar spill against McDonald's).  I sometimes think Truth is anathema to the human condition. Clarke