From: brent@myka.questor.wimsey.bc.ca (Brent J. Krawchuk)
Newsgroups: rec.food.veg
Subject: Re: what give's? (was: There used to be someone called Michael Traub)
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 09:07:17 GMT
Organization: Spontany Institute

(James MacGregor) writes:
> Within my own experience, very few vegtarians seem to be the pompous, self- 
>aggrandizing, opininated zealots that we have been 'treated' to here.  Is it 
>necessary"?  I hope not -- I don't like 'petulant children', either.

No. you are right. most of the vegetarians around here are not opinionated --  
they have no owned opinions, and will swallow up the latest nutritional  
pseudoscience with impunity. This is the root of the latest squabbles. There  
are many nice people around who would rather worry about personalities rather  
than facts. Facts experienced (understood) become one's own -- taking the word  
of certain people on face value around here is a dangerous game. It is your  
longevity/health that is at stake.

The lesson is NOT that there are "opinionated zealots". The lesson is that if  
the issue is important to you, one or another of these opposing zealots might  
be right -- you better find out the truth for yourself -- and become your own  
zealot. Don't be a second-hander. Learn for yourself. Be an opinionated,  
self-aggrandizinging zealot --- IF what you think you know is True.

As an example of practicing what I am preaching, take for instance a comment I  
made on sci.med several weeks ago talking about Vit D additives to milk  
products being dangerous. After a certain illustrious person's reply, I  
realized that hey, I've been caught up in some nutritional bs (again!)
I saw that I was being a secondhander, thinking that someone had convinced me  
of something (that Vit D. additives were horrible.) In actuality, they really  
didn't have any arguments to convince me, just lots of claims. So I decided, as  
a result of this sci.meder's  snarky reproach, to research the issue a bit. I  
have done so, and now am squarely in the inconclusive, perhaps bs, camp. And I  
am not going to tell you the details. It would be a good exercise for some of  
you to take  the same steps that I took (several hours in libraries, computer  
searches, etc,) Truth doesn't come easily. Being hoodwinked is simple.

[The next topic for me is Chromium Picolinate. It is so bloody obvious that  
this stuff, taken daily, makes me feel better (I try to be as objective about  
this stuff as possible, trying different food combos, with diff amounts of Cr  
Pic., etc) . Whether I am killing myself in doing so, or wasting my money where  
I could be buying alternate foods, is a differerent story. I haven't convinced  
my skeptical mind yet...]

The point is: listen to people. Try and find the facts. Find those people that  
know what they are talking about (some around here have much longer track  
records than others...) Be open to change your opinions. And ignore  
personalities. You'll live a less stressful life. And realize that the  
opinionated "zealots" you meet are often exactly those that you need to get  
your facts from.



-- 
Bj          <brent@myka.questor.wimsey.bc.ca>		(NeXTMail desired)
Newsgroups: rec.food.veg