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Noted Quack The Food Babe, her critics and the war on Chemicals in our foodstuffs

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Do people in other countries have to wade through this much anti-science bullshit on a daily basis or are their education systems (perhaps created through *gasp* socialism) set up to give people a decent filter?
 

entremet

Member
In my experience the rhetoric, logic, and tactics of the anti-GMO movement mirror those of the anti-vaxxer movement so closely it's almost like they stole the playbook.

Sadly the gap between what the public believes versus scientists on GMOs is HUGE, there is much work to be done educating people...

k0o9YHu.png

You also have one of the biggest supermarkets in the country--Whole Foods--promoting the anti GMO views too.
 

border

Member
Food Babe responds to allegations that she is full of shit

She spends about half the article attacking the credibility of Science Babe, including posting an anonymous e-mail disparaging her work at Amvac and vaguely intimating that some evil bio-corporation is paying Gawker to do hit pieces on her.

She does a relatively poor job of explaining away the actual allegations leveled against her, particularly the fact that she pushes some kind of sugar-heavy detox beverage (Suja?) at the same time as she claim that sugar is a toxin. There's also a healthy dose of "People criticizing me are sexist!"

I cannot believe this is a part of her defense:

What they say: I’m not an expert because I am not a scientist or doctor or nutritionist.

Truth: There is an old saying, “these issues are too important to leave up to the experts.”
 
You also have one of the biggest supermarkets in the country--Whole Foods--promoting the anti GMO views too.

The organic food business is a $35 billion a year industry in the US and growing constantly. They of course love all the misconceptions about organic food being healthier, sustainable, and environmental.

3vIHfKi.png
 
I only heard about this food babe last week when people started posting the Science Babe retort saying she was full of shit.

Reading her anti-flu shot article is something else. It reads like a HS student trying to sound smart about things. Her citations consist of "some studies I've read". Even a beginner blogger would throw some links in there. Especially when you make claims like this:

What kind of strain are they going to use this year for the Flu Shot? It’s the same one as last year. Really? But then why do I need to get another shot if I got one last year? This is the way the pharmaceutical companies continue to make money off of you – The CDC says it “wears off.” And this brings me back to my previous point – if the flu vaccine were truly a vaccine – it wouldn’t wear off. Think about it – Once you get chicken pox as a child, your body develops antibodies to strengthen your immune system from ever getting chicken pox again. This is how vaccines are suppose to work. But the flu shot doesn’t work this way…There is something wrong with this picture…

Can I immunize myself naturally from the Flu? Yes! You can build lifetime antibodies against the infection. Just Skip the vaccine, boost your vitamin D intake, and encounter the flu naturally. If you encounter the flu – rest, take care of yourself, understand that your body needs a break and focus on getting better – This type of immunizing yourself works amazingly better than relying on an artificial injection that has been proven ineffective. You’ll have these new antibodies for life that will ultimately protect you from similar strains of the virus better than any yearly shot could ever provide.

Just from these two paragraphs I can discern that she has no idea how antibodies work or are produced, and no idea how vaccines work or are produced.
 
Living in California the anti GMO sentiment I see on the daily is so ridiculous. Its like none of these people have read anything on the subject. Even supposedly intelligent people I know buy into the whole Organic is better bullshit.
 
I only heard about this food babe last week when people started posting the Science Babe retort saying she was full of shit.

Reading her anti-flu shot article is something else. It reads like a HS student trying to sound smart about things. Her citations consist of "some studies I've read". Even a beginner blogger would throw some links in there. Especially when you make claims like this:

*snip*

Just from these two paragraphs I can discern that she has no idea how antibodies work or are produced, and no idea how vaccines work or are produced.
When it looks like a duck...
 

Clearos

Member
She is a hack job making a sweet living off of people.

I enjoy the article how a non-organic apple is worse than a hot fudge sundae.

A hot fudge sundae a day keeps the doctor away.


This just scares me in that in this day of age we have a world of information at our finger tips but some people refuse to do any of their own research and take whatever information is spoon fed to them without question.
 

Timeaisis

Member
I will never understand the anti-chemicals in food people. Everything is a chemical. Stuff that's in rocks is in food and no one complains about that, because it's natural.
 
The organic food business is a $35 billion a year industry in the US and growing constantly. They of course love all the misconceptions about organic food being healthier, sustainable, and environmental.

Living in California the anti GMO sentiment I see on the daily is so ridiculous. Its like none of these people have read anything on the subject. Even supposedly intelligent people I know buy into the whole Organic is better bullshit.

Of course, the dirtiest secret about the organic food industry is that Monsanto and Syngenta (the two most so-called "evil" GMO producers) make an absolute killing off of the organic market. They have subsidiary seed distributors and make tons of the support products like organic pesticides and fertilizers. The entire movement is a parody of itself.
 

MC Safety

Member
Gawker had a nice go at this woman.

http://gawker.com/the-food-babe-blogger-is-full-of-shit-1694902226

From the column: "Hari's superhero origin story is that she came down with appendicitis and didn't accept the explanation that appendicitis just happens sometimes. So she quit her job as a consultant, attended Google University and transformed herself into an uncredentialed expert in everything she admittedly can't pronounce."

Sorry if this has been posted already.
 

Kinitari

Black Canada Mafia
Yeah, I saw the new articles coming out about this woman, which makes me happy. I hope even more mainstream media starts to talk about the issues with this particular mindset.

I know one person who in one conversation with him, talked about how crazy it was that people would disagree with the majority of scientists on global warming, and in another, said that it didn't matter how many scientists had no problems with gmos, he was positive that in 10 more years we'd start linking health issues to them.

It really humbles me seeing stuff like that, our brains are some majestically fucked up machines.
 
The food babe is one of the dumbest bloggers out there. She is a scientifically illiterate retard making money by scaremongering people.

I'd bet the Food Babe is probably also anti-vaccine and that the anti-vaccine celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Jenny McCarthy probably love the shit out of the Food Babe.
 

gcubed

Member
When your body is in the air, at a seriously high altitude, your body under goes some serious pressure. Just think about it – Airplanes thrive in places we don’t. You are traveling in a pressurized cabin, and when your body is pressurized, it gets really compressed!

Compression leads to all sorts of issues. First off your body’s digestive organs start to shrink, taxing your ability to digest large quantities of food.

ummm.....



ummm....

Did you know certain countries require that airplanes and even passengers be sprayed with pesticide before they take off? This means if you are visiting one of these countries you are breathing in these fumes potentially all flight, especially if they were sprayed on board. Horrific!

Choose a seat as close to the front as possible. Pilots control the amount of airflow and it is is always better in their cabin.

ummm....
 

Wilsongt

Member
I only heard about this food babe last week when people started posting the Science Babe retort saying she was full of shit.

Reading her anti-flu shot article is something else. It reads like a HS student trying to sound smart about things. Her citations consist of "some studies I've read". Even a beginner blogger would throw some links in there. Especially when you make claims like this:





Just from these two paragraphs I can discern that she has no idea how antibodies work or are produced, and no idea how vaccines work or are produced.

Oh shit.

She lists the ingredients in a flu shot? Really?

o no it has sucrose in it! run away~~~

The amount of those chemicals in the vaccine are in the miniscule range that our body can take care of them naturally.

This woman is just a blithering idiot who tries to scare people with chemicals.
 
Food Babe reminds me of some people I know who will go to war on things just because it makes them not feel right.

like, I had a friend who was against the GMO mosquitos because of the word "GMO", even though all they did to the mosquitos was sterilize them, which means that less pesticides would be used to control them.

Even with that, just because it was a "GMO" mechanic to alter them, it was bad and shouldnt happen due to it making them feel not good.

This shit is just people making their irrational emotions into half baked science, nothing more, nothing less.
 

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
I only heard about this food babe last week when people started posting the Science Babe retort saying she was full of shit.

Reading her anti-flu shot article is something else. It reads like a HS student trying to sound smart about things. Her citations consist of "some studies I've read". Even a beginner blogger would throw some links in there. Especially when you make claims like this:





Just from these two paragraphs I can discern that she has no idea how antibodies work or are produced, and no idea how vaccines work or are produced.

ummm.....



ummm....



ummm....

Wow. This is the dumbest fucking thing I've read in awhile. How stupid could this woman be.
 

Wilsongt

Member
http://www.freezepage.com/1415667665TBMRBWICKU

I even left off ones that were talked about in the thread already

lol @ her food stuff on the plane.

True story, I was coming back on a flight from a conference and was seated next to what I believe was a modeling exec or something. She had a huge lunchbox with her packed with food. Halfway through the flight she opens it up and starts eating. Full of cabbage and boiled eggs. Shit fucking stank and it was awful sitting next to her.
 
Also didn't the EU ban GMO foods?

No, but they authorized member states to be able to do so if they choose.

http://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/gmo/legislation/future_rules_en.htm

Internet makes "experts" out of anyone. Does she actually hawk sponsors on her site?

She sells a bunch of products (that actually include the same chemicals that she protests at Starbucks, McDonalds, et al), sells books that make her millions, sells 'insider' access where she tells you a bunch of bonus woo, gets paid for speaking engagements, and so on.

She's making crazy mad bank.
 

Polari

Member
“This is America. There are two types of people. The Dupers and Dupees. I’m a duper and you guys are the dupees.” - Frank Reynolds
 

Opiate

Member
Yeah, I saw the new articles coming out about this woman, which makes me happy. I hope even more mainstream media starts to talk about the issues with this particular mindset.

I know one person who in one conversation with him, talked about how crazy it was that people would disagree with the majority of scientists on global warming, and in another, said that it didn't matter how many scientists had no problems with gmos, he was positive that in 10 more years we'd start linking health issues to them.

It really humbles me seeing stuff like that, our brains are some majestically fucked up machines.

I agree completely. When people see others being stupid, hypocritical, or illogical, it seems that our brains naturally jump to a thought similar to "wow, that guy sure is stupid and illogical. I'm glad I'm not like that!" In reality, the conclusion should be that our brains aren't very well wired for logic in the first place, and that everyone is susceptible. You aren't (and I am not) the special genius who transcends emotional argument or dearly held beliefs; it's part of human nature.

Overriding that sensibility isn't something one does once, like reaching the final level of wisdom or enlightenment. Very well educated, very intelligent people fall prey to this phenomenon all the time. It's something that requires constant vigilance, requiring you to constantly second guess your motives -- whenever I reach a conclusion that happens to flatter me or suit my predetermined beliefs, I try to ask myself if I reached that conclusion because it's actually true, or if I reached it because I find that conclusion pleasing.
 

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
lol @ her food stuff on the plane.

True story, I was coming back on a flight from a conference and was seated next to what I believe was a modeling exec or something. She had a huge lunchbox with her packed with food. Halfway through the flight she opens it up and starts eating. Full of cabbage and boiled eggs. Shit fucking stank and it was awful sitting next to her.

She believes that everyone should be flying in a plane with 100% oxygen. You wouldn't really have to worry about food on a plane if the plane has already ignited into a flying fireball.
 

Opiate

Member
Food Babe reminds me of some people I know who will go to war on things just because it makes them not feel right.

like, I had a friend who was against the GMO mosquitos because of the word "GMO", even though all they did to the mosquitos was sterilize them, which means that less pesticides would be used to control them.

Even with that, just because it was a "GMO" mechanic to alter them, it was bad and shouldnt happen due to it making them feel not good.

This shit is just people making their irrational emotions into half baked science, nothing more, nothing less.

I believe a significant portion of pseudoscience derives from these sorts of gut-level feelings that we then go to great intellectual lengths to justify.

I believe a lot of people who object to GMOs are driven, on a gut level, by a distrust for huge corporations. Almost all of the boogey-man stories about Monsanto or pseudo-science about GMOs generally is built on top of that gut feeling; they don't like man made food to begin with, and they certainly don't like companies controlling it.

Conversely, I believe a lot of more conservative-leaning conspiracies rely on a gut-level distrust of the government. Global warming is an easy example here: if you manage to strip a global warming denier of all their fallacious arguments, they often resort to something like "well, I just don't trust the government to handle problems like this," or "I feel the government should stay out of private affairs." It's a core belief that they build an elaborate conspiracy on top of to justify. As a species, we feel first and think later.
 

kess

Member
She believes that everyone should be flying in a plane with 100% oxygen. You wouldn't really have to worry about food on a plane if the plane has already ignited into a flying fireball.

Check out pulmonary oxygen toxicity
 
I agree completely. When people see others being stupid, hypocritical, or illogical, it seems that our brains naturally jump to a thought similar to "wow, that guy sure is stupid and illogical. I'm glad I'm not like that!" In reality, the conclusion should be that our brains aren't very well wired for logic in the first place, and that everyone is susceptible. You aren't (and I am not) the special genius who transcends emotional argument or dearly held beliefs; it's part of human nature.

One tactic that really is good at giving people the feels is the appeal to mommyhood/parenthood. The "DO YOU WANT TO PUT TOXINS IN YOUR CHILDREN" guilt trip that both the anti-vaxxer and anti-GMO movement have leveraged so well. Mommy shaming is the future for those who want to influence opinion and behavior.
 

Clearos

Member
I like the logic that if an eight grader can't pronounce it, it is bad for you.

I struggle with Deoxyribonucleic acid. I knew my DNA was a toxin.
 

Kinitari

Black Canada Mafia
I agree completely. When people see others being stupid, hypocritical, or illogical, it seems that our brains naturally jump to a thought similar to "wow, that guy sure is stupid and illogical. I'm glad I'm not like that!" In reality, the conclusion should be that our brains aren't very well wired for logic in the first place, and that everyone is susceptible. You aren't (and I am not) the special genius who transcends emotional argument or dearly held beliefs; it's part of human nature.

Overriding that sensibility isn't something one does once, like reaching the final level of wisdom or enlightenment. Very well educated, very intelligent people fall prey to this phenomenon all the time. It's something that requires constant vigilance, requiring you to constantly second guess your motives -- whenever I reach a conclusion that happens to flatter me or suit my predetermined beliefs, I try to ask myself if I reached that conclusion because it's actually true, or if I reached it because I find that conclusion pleasing.
Absolutely, I like to think I am self critical often, but I also wonder if I'd even know if I was being illogical or unreasonable. Rather than be... Let's say holier than though when I see people make these mistakes, it just reminds me that I need to keep on my shit.
 

a916

Member
Gawker had a nice go at this woman.

http://gawker.com/the-food-babe-blogger-is-full-of-shit-1694902226

From the column: "Hari's superhero origin story is that she came down with appendicitis and didn't accept the explanation that appendicitis just happens sometimes. So she quit her job as a consultant, attended Google University and transformed herself into an uncredentialed expert in everything she admittedly can't pronounce."

Sorry if this has been posted already.

Dear lord... she got Ether'd.

It's one thing to just pick arguments, but another to just completely and utterly destroy every angle of "Food Babe's" lack of intelligence.
 
These anti-science beliefs aren't just misinforming the public though. They're legitimately dangerous. A ballot initiative in Josephine County, Oregon going off similar pseudoscience almost made it impossible for them to sterilize their hospitals.
 
Watching this burn is putting a smile on my face. I've seen more than a few food babe links on my FB feed, and at this point I'm just warming my hands.

Rarely do I say this but...good on Gawker.
 
These anti-science beliefs aren't just misinforming the public though. They're legitimately dangerous. A ballot initiative in Josephine County, Oregon going off similar pseudoscience almost made it impossible for them to sterilize their hospitals.

Millions of kids are dying and going blind because of the anti-GMO movement blocking Golden Rice.

If you like to troll people tell them that someday the anti-GMO movement will save as many lives as the anti-vaccination movement. It usually takes them a minute...
 

Ollie Pooch

In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
Typical pseudo-science "they want to poison us!" bullshit. I despise people like this woman, profiteering off fear and half truths. Her microwave post claiming water molecules are damaged by them in the same way as if you say "Satan" to them proves she's a complete idiot.

Give some idiot a blog and people will believe them if they're good looking and seem nice. Some girl here in Aus just got busted for pushing a natural eating regime that "cured" her cancer (that she never had). She had book deals, AppStore features, the lot and she was happy to perpetuate the lies. Fuck people like this.
 
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