Paranoia

I have found for a number of years now that our world is changing faster and faster, we are seeing greater leaps in technology and greater changes in the way we think. I don't necessarily mind change but I sometimes think we have change for changes sake. One of the things that has changed is the way so many of us look at life, this becomes obvious when we look at the amount of scares we have had in the last few years. Over the last 20 years there have been a numerous amount of scares, whether it be 'mad cow disease' or 'salmonella in eggs', there just seem to be one thing after another. The most up to date scares are bird flu, swine flu and global warming. I think we live in a more paranoid time than at any other time in our history, which I think is quite ironic because we seem to be wealthier, healthier and more peaceful than at any other time in our history.

Why is this? What is the driving force behind so many of the scares that have occurred in the last few years? I believe 2 things; the media and our politicians. The media have a lot to answer for. Newspapers love a bad story and our politicians don't like to be held responsible for the problems within our society, even though they have the ability to change how our society runs.

Let's look at some scares and some so called truths and then think about how you have reacted to these. I have covered this before in an earlier post but I think it is worth revisiting. I am not going to go into too much detail, I just think it is important to think about, and research things for yourself rather than just believing what we are told by the media, politicians and so called experts.

1.ADHD: We are told this is a genuine condition, but there is no clinical scientific evidence to back up the theory behind this. Many parents would say their child is incredibly difficult and has been diagnosed with ADHD, but since there is no clinical diagnoses for this, I would have to question the diagnosis. We need to ask some simple questions; why is ADHD only diagnosed in boys? Maybe this has more to do with boys being treated the same as girls and not being given the opportunity to release all that pent up energy. I have two boys and I know if they are stuck inside for too long they are bouncing off the walls. Boys need to exercise, too many boys are fed processed food which is full of artificial ingredients, is it any wander that they can't sit still. There are many reasons why boys behave the way they do, to believe a diagnosis which is based on flawed science and then drugging our children is very dangerous. Maybe the truth behind ADHD is as simple as this; pharmaceutical companies want to make huge profits and they will do it anyway they can, even if it is by selling drugs to vulnerable people. I believe this will lead to huge problems within out society in years to come.

2. Bird Flu: We were told this so called pandemic was going to kill 150 million people, in the end the death toll was somewhere in the region of 150. Again maybe the driving force behind swine flu had more to do with big companies than a genuine scare.

3. Swine flu: Just look at the above.

4. Salmonella: According to experts there is a danger of contracting salmonella from eggs, we are at the point now were schools do not allow children to use egg boxes in model making. You have more chance of being struck by lightning down a coal mine than from contracting salmonella from eggs or egg boxes. We have rational intelligent people never questioning anything, I think it is about time we started to question the experts who set out so much of our regulations.

I could give you a lot of examples but I just wanted to make a small point, many of us over the course of our lives will be told certain things. We will be told that it is the truth and if we deviate from that 'truth' there could be dire consequences. Let me give you 2 examples to illustrate what I mean.

23 years ago we were told by experts that the best way to avoid cot death was to lay our children on their front, 5 years after this pronouncement we were told to lay them face up. How many children died because of this bad advice?

In the mid 20th century psychiatrists believed that pre-frontal lobotomy was a miracle treatment. It is now universally excepted as a barbaric and destructive operation.

The whole point of what I am saying is; it is very easy to except what our so called experts tell us without ever questioning their wisdom. The reason for not questioning it, is usually because we don't have the time or the inclination which I understand. I believe it is very important to question and to research the truth and the subject and also to listen to other opinions. I have seen so many scares over my lifetime come to nothing and I have become more and more cynical over the years. We need to be clear on one thing, it is very important that we look and listen to clear objective clinical scientific evidence, not subjective emotional scientific theory. If we continue the way we are going it'll be very difficult to discern what is the truth and the only people asking the questions will be those who are seen as extremists and lunatics and then the world will truly have gone bonkers.