This is a continuation of the themes from last time: behavior has consequences (of course) and
failures in the area of discipline often lead to failures in responsibility,
such as finding scapegoats, making excuses or getting someone else to fix the
problem. Last time we saw how a watchdog
group blames soft drinks for obesity, experts blame technology and addiction
for insufficient sleep, and pretty much the same underlying causes are used to
explain distracted driving.
The experts and the watchdog groups have a stake in and
benefit from making victims of people, but so many others, especially the
people with the problem themselves, are very quick to take up the cause. Ultimately when we put the responsibility on
others – government, scientists, big business, our employers – we are forced to
live with their proposed solutions. We
surrender our freedom for the convenience of not having to deal with it, but so
many of those solutions have unintended consequences and even those who have
acted responsibly have these new forms of protection forced upon them. How many more examples do we need before we
smarten up and see the danger?
Two more came to our attention during the same timeframe. CBS News reported on both: backseat auto safety and deceptive, seductive food labels.
Experts (more experts!) look at the failure to use seat belts
by backseat passengers as a potentially “deadly and mind-boggling mistake” and
believe that “if states have stricter seatbelt laws, the number of deaths could
drop by 17 percent.” “Department of
Transportation data show 22 percent of backseat passengers do not buckle up,”
but much higher in taxicabs – 38 percent in New York City. Riding in the back seat can be just as
dangerous as riding in the front seat. Buckling
a seatbelt is not difficult. The
seatbelts are right there. This is not
rocket science by any means, but our normal behavior moves experts and the
government to call for stricter laws!
The second example explains that using the word “fitness” on
a food label “may actually cause you to eat more and exercise less.” Researchers set up an experiment where half
the subjects were given trail mix and the other half were given the same trail
mix labeled “fitness trail mix.” The
second group ate more and, when given the opportunity to workout on a
stationary bike afterward, burned fewer calories, that is, didn’t exercise as
much.
The doctor makes reference to the “health halo” (what I have
called on many occasions, trigger words.*
Labeling that implies health or fitness gives a false sense of
security. She goes on to warn: “Just because it says gluten-free or organic
or sugar-free or healthy doesn’t mean” it is good for you. One conclusion she came to was to “never…underestimate
the power of marketing.” But isn’t that
just another way of saying never underestimate the inability of Americans to
ignore attempts to influence them into doing something that they know is bad
for them?
As I said last time, this is really, really scary. Many Americans are letting the government,
marketing machines, politicians, advocacy groups, and celebrities do their
thinking for them. They are just along
for the ride, going wherever they are led, eating whatever they are told they
should eat, buying and wearing clothing considered cool, self-medicating with
herbal remedies and miracle cures, and demonstrating for or against whatever
they are told they should favor or oppose.
When problems crop up in their lives, problems that are usually brought
on by their own choices, instead of changing behavior and making better
choices, they sit back like victims of circumstance, expecting the same groups
to provide excuses (to help them maintain their self-esteem) and come up with
laws, programs, restrictions and consumer protection to make things
better. Those solutions are working so
well that America is getting, to quote the Reader’s Digest from last time,
“fat, sick and stupid”!
*For more on "trigger words," see any of the following:
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