Course Correction Gone Awry

Within the past few days I have heard several stories that fit nicely into something I’ve been mulling over again recently.  I heard the stories in a conversation I was part of yesterday.

Sheila, who has raised eight children and works as a substitute teacher, told about a vegan student she taught.  The student was a faithful reader of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) literature, and did not hesitate to take on her meat-eating classmates for their  “murderous” ways.

Sheila also had heard from someone who stopped eating wheat because she was not willing to be subjected to all the GMOs in wheat.  Sheila pointed out that no publicly released wheat varieties are genetically modified.  Sheila should know.  She has a daughter involved in wheat breeding as part of her university education, and Sheila herself is in a graduate program at our  "aggie" state university.

Sheila told about having taken the vegan student aside for a conversation, and then wrapped up the report on both of the above  conversations by saying “too many people believe everything they read on the internet.”

At this point Pam chimed in with what she read in an internet group she is part of.  Someone warned others in the group not to use canola oil because canola is part of the mustard family, which is where mustard gas comes from.  It is extremely toxic, and has been used for chemical warfare. Pam responded by pointing out, first of all, that mustard gas was named for its yellow color, and has no other connection with mustard.  Then she named other members of the mustard family: radishes, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, kohlrabi, etc., many of which are known to be very healthful foods.  Pam has a degree in horticulture.  Even without that, I hope most people could spot the problems with the message in the original warning.  

I certainly agree that too many people believe everything they read on the internet, and that much misinformation is very readily available, and easy to pass on.  In the following posts, however, I’d like to peer behind the outright misinformation, and examine the processes that may result in people accepting misinformation as truth.

My sense is that a lot of foolishness passes for sober truth because people are blind to their own tendencies.  Many people arrive at their position by reacting to something they view as problematic in another  position.  They may, in fact, be identifying the problems accurately, but go astray by veering to extremes in the opposite direction, running roughshod over what is obvious to many thoughtful observers, and what seems necessary to acknowledge if a balanced perspective is the goal.  I'm especially interested in examining two things:

1. How decisions made by one's ancestors can filter down to influence those who live now.

2.  How academic training affects the process.