Several months ago I posted a link about Kevin Trudeau and included the comment:
I hope none of my friends have any of this huckster's books. I still see them at the pharmacy. I wonder how much harm he's done?
The article I linked to describes Trudeau as a conman who sells books about natural remedies which can be potentially harmful and/or prevent people from getting the proper care they need from a real doctor. I would never buy such books anyway as I would recognized it as a complete waste of my time and money.
Then a few days ago I had lunch with a very good friend who I haven't seen in weeks. She's recently lost over 15 pounds, feels better and looks great. I'm under the impression that she's done it the old-fashioned way by diet and exercise. I had seen her in November and she told me about this special diet she was on and how the weight was just falling off. The diet was one that I've used on occasion to get rid of a few holiday pounds: avoid sugar, bread and pasta, and eat smaller portions. Toward the end of our lunch she reveals to me that she took offense to one of my posts on FB, the one about Kevin Trudeau. I was confused, how can one be offended by being informed about a person who has been proven to be selling harmful information?
What she told me reminded me of what several people say to me about the death penalty. It doesn't matter if the information you give them has scientific facts that inform us that a previously held belief is wrong. It doesn't matter if the information you give them can help them to become a more thoughtful and insightful person. She told me that the Federal Trade Commission was out to stop this man from informing the general public about natural remedies. That there was something "personal" about this attack on this person from the government. When I reminded her that Mr Trudeau had spent time in prison and had been fined for false advertising she said that it didn't matter to her. She bought all his books and he was above reproach. She followed his diet, lost all this weight, and that was OK for her.
I was floored.
I was also reminded of something a person told me when I was telling her about the killing of innocent people on death row. "It doesn't matter what you say, I won't change my mind." She still believes the death penalty is the right and moral thing to do, even if you kill a few innocent people.
Both people mentioned in this post are true believers. One is too busy with real life to really care about such things as the death penalty. I get that. The other claimed to have done lots of research into Trudeau before using his dangerous diet regime. I don't think so. I think she dug only as deep as his own websites and was happy with that information because she wanted to believe.
1 comment:
It's very easy to "research" someone and only use friendly sources. The fact that she was offended and then felt the need to say so says quite a bit about her feelings of security.
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