If it says or even suggests “scientific proven” we all accept it as true. Is that the reason that advertisements use people with white coats and dark rimmed spectacles, to illustrate the value of their products?
Or, quoting a scientist carries more weight, for instance a Nobel-prize laureate like Dr Otto Warburg who won this prestigious price twice.
Or, using scientific words and connotations like “cationic or covalent” or reduced nitrogen instead of ammonium, sounds very scientific and remove any possible doubt.
Langenhoven (1873-1932) once said; “To lie effectively, do not overturn the truth, just twist it a bit” and I would like to add “Use impressive and confusing words”.
Unfortunately, this is not the exception but rather the common rule in advertisements, publications and what-ever, to convince us to believe who-ever want to change our point of view and sell their product or theory.
How gullible are we? How gullible do these people thick we are? Well judging by the extent of these attempts, most of us are quite gullible.
We can find these deliberate misleading information in almost all walks of life. The target groups are usually those who the presenters know will not have the required knowledge or experience to gasp the inaccuracies. To put it bluntly, they think we are stupid.
Targets are for instance farmers, hence the multitude of miracle formulations to guarantee incredible harvests. Farmers are managers of businesses (not scientists). In general, the target groups are people without scientific training. Worst of all, we as scientists are as gullible and accept too much without thinking.
Therefore, it is the responsibility of the well informed and knowledgeable South Africans to discuss and where possible expose these atrocities.
On this page I would like to discuss some of these atrocities. Please join in and add what-ever you want. Positive discussions and critics will be appreciated by many. Please motivate your discussion, based on scientific facts.