- Nov 25, 2012
- 11,648
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- 136
Only 19 pages in. But there are some things coming.
It's written for an uneducated and impressionable audience. There's also a lot "take my word for it" with the statements it makes.
Page 19 has an excerpt in which his bias is evident. A casual passage about ancient societies having perfect teeth yet not flossing at all. He trivializes the information by saying candy bars were not around during that time. While the chapter was on heart attacks and this excerpt was merely to compare plaque on teeth with plaque in arteries, the person who actually went around the world checking these societies not yet contacted by the Western diet in the early 20th century was Weston Price. The diets he observed varied considerably, and some were clearly not plant-based. Gregor commits the sin of omission because of his "plant-based" diet.
The mention of a plant-based diet in the Introduction also exploits his audiences intellectual deficiencies. They do not know what they hell Chinese eat, Westerners have their own biases towards protein(beefphilics, not pig-philics), and the equating of studies as scripture rather than a lens that may only capture a portion of the image.
Thus, Mr. Gregor's book is likely a mediocre or worse reference for information.
Probably the most compelling and acceptable information is about how medical schools had no focus on nutrition at all or that diet actually mattered as a preventative measure against disease. It is probably the information regarding how perverse the incentives are for the pharmaceutical and medical industry that establishes trust between him and the reader, and thus allows his deficient intellectual liberties to be taken up wholesale and without further questioning or skepticism. Also, by omitting Weston Price's name, the reader's curiosity is not stimulated, and thus a comprehensive display of the diets he actually observed would not be made to the reader; this is critical as some of those indigneous diets were not "plant-based".
The introduction would prime the reader into trusting the author, for he provides a personal story in which all the facts seem to line up. He also presents information and experiences only someone who actually trained to be a doctor would also know and observe. That he observed deficiencies and presents those very real deficiencies to the reader completes the priming. The doctors and Big Medicine of the past are here to make a buck(yes they are), and disregarded the variable of nutrition in improving health. The providing of truths like these is critical to having the reader trust him. The problem is...this rapport is not consistently used for honest, truly objective ends. Far from being a true hero, what will be the result is an improvement over the status quo of diets, which some variation of the Standard American Diet.
It's written for an uneducated and impressionable audience. There's also a lot "take my word for it" with the statements it makes.
Page 19 has an excerpt in which his bias is evident. A casual passage about ancient societies having perfect teeth yet not flossing at all. He trivializes the information by saying candy bars were not around during that time. While the chapter was on heart attacks and this excerpt was merely to compare plaque on teeth with plaque in arteries, the person who actually went around the world checking these societies not yet contacted by the Western diet in the early 20th century was Weston Price. The diets he observed varied considerably, and some were clearly not plant-based. Gregor commits the sin of omission because of his "plant-based" diet.
The mention of a plant-based diet in the Introduction also exploits his audiences intellectual deficiencies. They do not know what they hell Chinese eat, Westerners have their own biases towards protein(beefphilics, not pig-philics), and the equating of studies as scripture rather than a lens that may only capture a portion of the image.
Thus, Mr. Gregor's book is likely a mediocre or worse reference for information.
Probably the most compelling and acceptable information is about how medical schools had no focus on nutrition at all or that diet actually mattered as a preventative measure against disease. It is probably the information regarding how perverse the incentives are for the pharmaceutical and medical industry that establishes trust between him and the reader, and thus allows his deficient intellectual liberties to be taken up wholesale and without further questioning or skepticism. Also, by omitting Weston Price's name, the reader's curiosity is not stimulated, and thus a comprehensive display of the diets he actually observed would not be made to the reader; this is critical as some of those indigneous diets were not "plant-based".
The introduction would prime the reader into trusting the author, for he provides a personal story in which all the facts seem to line up. He also presents information and experiences only someone who actually trained to be a doctor would also know and observe. That he observed deficiencies and presents those very real deficiencies to the reader completes the priming. The doctors and Big Medicine of the past are here to make a buck(yes they are), and disregarded the variable of nutrition in improving health. The providing of truths like these is critical to having the reader trust him. The problem is...this rapport is not consistently used for honest, truly objective ends. Far from being a true hero, what will be the result is an improvement over the status quo of diets, which some variation of the Standard American Diet.