We live in an age where lots of people have become suspicious of many things tagged by activists–and the media–as harmful. It could be WiFi, cell phones, ATM receipts, fluoridated water, GMOs, and your couch.
Pick your poison, mobilize your army–against Monsanto, against fluoridated water, against the ingredients found in just about every product.
New parents are especially susceptible to the “toxins all around us,” as Scientific American (!) termed the “hidden health threat” from “chemicals in everyday objects.”
How is it that many of us have become convinced of the toxicity of modern day life? I want to point out that the media has played an essential role in priming our chemophobia. That’s the background context for the “yoga mat chemical” frenzy and other public health scares set off by the Food Babe & company.
I am conflicted about the Food Babe takedown because 1) she is deserving of it and 2) she is merely a popular symbol of something much larger than herself. That would be a creeping dread of “common chemicals” that On Earth magazine identified several years ago as poisoning a generation of kids. As a parent of two young boys, I can relate to this outsized fear without giving into it. The tricky part is addressing it in a way that doesn’t alienate the people who are most gripped by it.
Read full, original article: How to Engage with Popular Messengers who Exploit Fears?
