Fears (SumBlog10)
Discussion today
turned to what and how fears, whether justified or not, might dictate the way
society behaves. I found this very interesting to think about. Could something
that the government, a group of people, or an organization creates have a larger
impact on then the truth? Possible suggestions of some fears that may have been
created were fear of Muslims/Arabs, fear of unemployment, and fear of teen
pregnancy rising. All of these do not have evidence to support them and
actually research suggests the opposite of these fears. I want to look at
another one that I think is on the rise. I think the fear of everything we are
eating is growing. It seems like every day there is a new chemical in the foods
we eat that “research now shows” is actually bad for us. This goes hand in hand
with the health food craze and fad diets. Media says drink a glass of wine
every day, don’t eat red meat, don’t drink anything with aspartame in it, lose
weight eating only soy beans, egg yolks are bad for you, avoid BPA, etc…. Granted
some of these are probably legitimate, but the sometimes it feels like whatever
media say society automatically follows.
This video
highlights a relatively new eating disorder called Orthorexia. This disorder
basically is people starving to death because they are so afraid to put
anything unhealthy into their body. A fear that I believe could be fueled by
media and society.
Great example, Dan! Fear provided from the media and "experts" influence the way we consume food. This message also influences our behavior. In fact, I think that video for Orthorexia kind of allows for some unhealthy eating. People get the message that it is okay to indulge in certain unhealthy foods as a compromise. Fear for unhealthy eating and orthorexia allows for a middle ground. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteEating disorders are an excellent example of how the media spreads fear in order to convince people to behave in a certain way. There seems to be a never ending circle of new chemicals being added to food, then consumers being told about the problems of said chemicals and how unsafe they may be. I've never heard of orthorexia, but that sounds like a terrible eating disorder that I hope doesn't become more prevalent.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you used eating/food into how media portrays fear into people, this happens to many people and is a huge factor for so many more people that may suffer from this including many of us.
ReplyDeleteWell put Dan. I think that the media has the power to make us fear anything they could want. If tomorrow the media networks were battering us with information about paper being carcinogenic then people would eventually change their ways concerning the use of paper. There will always be people influenced by fear the media puts in us.
ReplyDelete