Oh, Blacky, you're singing my song! Don't people think it's just a bit preciousto complain that our water may not be perfect, or that it may give them a 5% higher chance of breaking a bone in their 80s or whatever, when so many people don't have access to any potable water?
Yes, I don't understand why skepticism isn't applied consistently. If the government and 99% of scientists say that adding something to the water supply is good for you, and give you a raft of double-blind, peer-reviewed studies supporting their position, a significant portion of the population will refuse to accept it as true.
Yet if an alternative health practitioner tells somebody that taking a new wonder preparation from the health food shop will "detox" their bodies, and one study suggests that it's at least "not false", they can't wait to tell everybody they know about this miracle!
We are so blessed in this country. We have a benevolent government (of whatever party, not the present one in particular), incredible access to top quality health care, ample safe and healthy food and water, quality housing, comprehensive education, a high degree of law and order, and a raft of other privileges. (But besides that, what have the Romans ever done for us?
If I'm going to get outraged about a social injustice, I'm going to get passionate about the conditions of people in the third world, not poor Westerners having their fluoride levels regulated in the water supply. (And the level of fluoride in our water is lower than that found in nature in many parts of the world; we're simply ensuring a consistent safe exposure level, rather than adding something which doesn't exist in nature.)
And yes, I know it's not "either/or", that you can want people in the third world to have potable water and want us to have a perfect water supply (though how you achieve that when we can't agree on what "perfect" is, I have no idea). I just couldn't get outraged about it without feeling that I was being a bit - OK, a lot - too fastidious and entitled.
I dunno Perp.
To apply your theory consistently, do we then have to "shutup" and not complain about pretty much anything here when thereare so many worse examples in the world
Don't worry about corruption / social problems / drug issues, cause no way are we as bad as other countries... etc are any of these things an issue when they are so many times worse in so many other countries....
How do we maintain what we are lucky enough to have if we don't care enough about it to notice things going on ?
There's always worse off places, but do we say ignore the frug problem here cause it's by no means as bad as Mexico so "who cares ?"
Remember once upon a time, when DDT was considered safe.
No I am not suggesting that that fluoride = as harmful as DDT.
I actually dont know either way.
But surely you're not suggesting we have never done the wrong thing beofre and therfore shoud have full and blind faith in what awe are always told
