tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8210258.post116457047002514616..comments2023-07-27T05:57:00.026-05:00Comments on SurfnPoetry: Wisdom of Crowds?Doc Marahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545489565402563432noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8210258.post-1164573777806754782006-11-26T14:42:00.000-06:002006-11-26T14:42:00.000-06:00I said "don't get me started..."These embedded pre...I said "don't get me started..."<BR/><BR/>These embedded premises in "common wisdom" are tough to overcome. These premises (risk to potential fetus=risk to women of child-bearing age) have incredibly stressful consequences (as opposed to male smokers around women of child-bearing age). It is tough to un-embed these assumptions as it is a sort of hand-to-hand combat of ideas. Each time these assumptions get reified in the public sphere, it takes a Herculean effort to convince people to ever reconsider what they take at face value as "true." THAT is why I hate public skeptics like John Stossel, who do MUCH to dismiss the few public reservations individuals may have in unproblematically accepting whatever risk the corporate media wants you to pay attention to INSTEAD of their own very real risk (masking itself as libertarianism, when, in fact, these contrarians really serve very powerful interests). It's hard to kill misinformation that is embedded in particular cultural frames (see Lakoff, etc.).Doc Marahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07545489565402563432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8210258.post-1164571262925868232006-11-26T14:01:00.000-06:002006-11-26T14:01:00.000-06:00Many times the inability to accurately assess risk...Many times the inability to accurately assess risk builds from common wisdom, which is difficult to overcome. The Time article, in fact, makes a similar mistake by claiming that women of childbearing age are possibly at risk from pollutants in fish. NOT TRUE: the women are at no risk at all. The possible risk is to the potential fetus as the <A HREF="http://www.cdc.gov/MMWR/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5008a2.htm" REL="nofollow">CDC admits</A>, "Methylmercury exposures to women of childbearing age are of great concern because a fetus is highly susceptible to adverse effects. " Thus a woman who has no plans to reproduce (or even if she does) is in no danger from fish no matter her age or ability to reproduce.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com