Sunday, June 29, 2014

why do people assume universality of experience?

...I wish I could answer my own question!  :-)

While finishing up my breakfast coffee, I played a couple of games on the laptop.  As usual, when my hands are busy but my mind not really APPLIED, a little free-flow of thought meandered through....  I noticed my eyes are a bit itchy but they're far from dry ... I thought of PJ's jump to conclusion that dry eyes meant less mucin, and therefore dry intestines as well as eyes ... that he called what he was eating "zero carb" because though he was eating green leafy vegetables they "don't count" because they're not contributing carbohydrates to the system (which is bullshit) so "zero carb is bad" for him and consequently for EVERYBODY....

Why do people do this?  It happens in a LOT of areas, not just that of diet and nutrition, though the latter is VERY obvious to those of us who read from my blog list.

People constantly think "I succeeded doing XYZ so everyone should be able to succeed."  It took me a LONG time to realize that this is nonsense.  I find fatty meat satiating as well as self-limiting, so everyone should.  It's hard for me to get rid of fat, so if I do well on a particular regimen, so should you.

People like to take credit for the good things that happen to them, and assume the poor results that other people might have are a result of poor application, judgement, and effort.  They often don't realize that they've been lucky or privileged, and even when it's pointed out to them they refuse to acknowledge it.  Further, they don't WANT to believe that others can do exactly the same things they did, and yet fail.

That LAST SENTENCE encapsulates my big question.  Is it cognitive-dissonance in reverse?  We want science to be consistent with our experience of the world, and when it doesn't match up we have to come to grips with the unpredictability and complicated nature of life?

...Maybe I just answered my own conundrum....

11 comments:

  1. I'm sorry but I have to vent too. People who need help the most are the dumbest. When you try to explain that it might be the way they are eating, they look you in the eye and ask you if you have a pill they can take and make everything better. AHHHHHGGGGGG!!!!!! America has finally done it! We've bread the perfect consumer. Buy all this shit that kills me and then sell me the fuckin antidote pill to pop so I can carry on my bullshit life. I'd rather be cut with a scalpel than not have fucking white bread and pasta. I'm sorry about the language but I can't take it anymore. I feel like I have all the answers to eliminate people's suffering and they just don't want to hear it. Modern medicine has taught everyone that you can eat what you want, just take this pill and it'll be o.k. I'm sick of it.

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    1. I know of such a pill. I believe it is called Dr. Oz green coffee beans.

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    2. no fucking problem, Rick! ;-)

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  2. Bite your tongue, Rick, a lot of people would be out of a job everyone did that. Kidding aside, I told my best friend for three years that she should try a wheat-free diet for her rheumatoid arthritis. No, no, she was sure it wasn't that. So she spent a bundle on doctors, spent an hour a day doing exercise, then one day tried a wheat-free diet...on the advice of a holistic doctor. In three days, her RA improved. Three years of time, money and misery so she could eat wheat.

    It's tempting to evangelize when you've had a major transformation, but most people don't want to hear it. I'll mention it if it comes up, but if the person doesn't seem interested, I drop it.

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    1. :-) i'm also learning to not say things that people aren't ready to hear.... sad to say, they'd rather get their nutritional advice from a bloody television commercial than from SOMEONE THEY KNOW who has EXPERIENCED a transformation!

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  3. Yes--carbs from vegetables disappear upon eating them. So do carbs from liquid (drink all the coffee-flavored milkshakes from Starbucks you want), and the glucose formed from good carbs like fruit, sweet potatoes, honey, dark chocolate, and now white potatoes won't rot your teeth, raise your blood sugar, make you fat or give you reactive hypoglycemia. Welcome to pop-paleo.

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    1. reminds me of popular "roll-your-own" christianity, actually....

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  4. Modern medicine is everywhere - limiting food choices is considered dangerous by some because 1) the people with eating disorder could be endangered by it, 2) the people without ED may develop an anxiety about foods and the need to be treated for that mental condition as a result. I remember being anxious because no matter how hard I tried to eat a healthy diet and exercise more, I couldn't stop a creeping weight gain. Reading about the experience of others who lost 50 lbs after they switch on a diet soda from a regular one and started to walk around a block used to make me feel frustrated. I didn't drink that damn soda to begin with! I suspect the key to some successes is to be a couch potato for a while.

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    1. modern pop psychology (as we're on a "pop" theme)? :-) i wonder how much of today's anxiety is caused by "grain brain"....

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  5. Well, let me play devil's advocate. You just said 'why do people'...thereby generalizing all of us together as guilty. Which we aren't. Better to have said 'why do so many people' or 'some people'....you know?

    :P

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    1. you'll note i didn't say "why does everybody...". people DO often assume universality.

      and where is this GUILT coming from? i was referring to an objective observation, not making a subjective condemnation. things happen ... why?

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