Eye-Opener: Memo

Chapter 6 and 7 of It ain't necessarily so...

page 99: "newspaper stories generally ay much less attention to the wording and ordering of questions, which are likely to skew a poll's results much more dramatically."

I found this quite contrary to journalism's precision and emphasis on economy of words...but if this statement were true then it would be hypocritical and careless on journalism's part (journalism being irresponsible).

Chapter 7 (126): "Ironically encouraging consumers to believe that the government can ensure meat safety could well create added risk:...[people] may take fewer pains to handle food safely themselves, thus actually increasing the danger."

I agree with this. The government take on the responsibility and people stop being responsible and become lazy. The government rather than governing the people, they become the people in the sense and people become bestial 'consumers.'

(129): "People like to read about what's weird and unexplained."

This statement referred to the frog deformity case studies. I agree with it, and it made me think about the horror genre in books and movies. In books, I think it's still pretty scary because it's up to the reader to interpret it using his own fears and fantasy. In movies, acting should still be esteemed. Directors/writers shouldn't rely too much on special effects and gore to make it scary. the actors should be able to convey doubt, fear, paranoia etc.