Sunday, January 25, 2009

Wheatgrass, Returned

I wrote a post, last summer, about Clint and I trying Wheat Grass Juice. In summary, it was costly, tasted lousy, and research didn't turn up anything to substantiate its claims. I received this comment, verbatim, today [highlights are mine]:
I think you need to become more educated. The benefits of wheatgrass are real and extremely beneficial. Its very ignorant of you to read an article by some unknown person with no credentials and make a assumption. I have been studying health and nutrition for 16 years and i can tell you that wheat grass is packed with goodness and does help many people. The only placebo effect is in your own mind making you think the juice in no good just because your taste buds dont like the taste. That's obsurd. Sometimes things that dont taste great are really good for us and you're not a child so not everything needs tobe sugar coated. Knowledge is power.

I responded in the comments, because I stand behind what I write. If you're interested in the Jerry Springer catfight, go 'head and check it out the comments.

But this isn't about the catfight, it's about something else altogether.

What I don't get IS: If you have knowledge about a subject—and I do believe that everyone knows something I don't—how do you possibly stand to share it with the next person by belittling them?

I understand that we can sometimes engulf ourselves in our interests so entirely that it's hard to wrap our minds around the fact—yes, the FACT—that there are other people in the world that have any idea that what we deal with on a daily basis even exists.

I have friends that are nurses. They can look at a man's earlobes and know he's more prone to heart disease than others. My friends, though, don't walk up to that man and say:

"Have you not looked in a mirror at your own earlobes? Go ahead and kill yourself, moron!"
The friend that brought that to my attention, years ago, was sharing the information with me. She was not disgusted that I had no idea. She didn't think I was an idiot for being oblivious; it was merely one of her everyday realities.

If you have a certain expertise, share it with us! We're abolutely fascinated. If, however, you want to shove it down our throats as a means of spreading your tailfeathers, in the interim suggesting that we are idiots, then you lose entire credibility.


I'm serious: Anyone with any smarts is walking back to their car, rolling their eyes at your blow-hard-edness, and not in the least impressed with what it was you had to say. Even if you were right.

Don't beat people up! How hard is that to understand?

See, the nutritionist commenter that loved the Wheatgrass actually had a chance with me.

If he or she had said, for instance,
Dear Lori,

OMG, I wish you'd give this stuff another chance, even though you didn't think it tasted good. I swear to God, if you try it for one week, you won't be sorry. It has x, y, and z vitamins, and I know it costs a lot, but I double-dog-dare you to write a negative post about Wheatgrass Juice after trying it for one week. Put on your nose plugs and do a shot, Lori, and you. will. not. be. sorry.
Man, I SO would have gone for that. I wanted that stupid Wheatgrass to be a miracle cure. I wanted it to give me energy and make me lose weight, and to make my sister's cancer go away.

But all I got was someone calling me ignorant and absurd.

Somehow, I'm still not sold.

Go Figure.

16 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:56 PM

    a great techer never strives to explain his vision. he simply invites you to stand beside him and see for yourself. i dont remember who said that but its fitting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've found it impossible to win arguments by bludgeoning someone over the head with an unsubstantiated opinion.

    I have however found it possible to end arguments by bludgeoning someone over the head with other things.

    The latter being quite tempting when faced with the former. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Brian: It certainly is fitting. I searched for that quote, and it's attributed to Rev. R. Inman. Couldn't find any details about Inman, though.

    Glock: Just klunk 'em in the head, huh? I'll try that next time.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous8:42 AM

    Wheatgrass, schmeetgrass. Fact is, one can find research to substantiate or repudiate just about anything in this world. But your wheatgrass lover/nutritionist might be well advised to chill out, lighten up, let the world go by her without insulting people because they don't share her point of view. Life is too short, and already too complicated. for this...um...wheatgrass.

    ReplyDelete
  5. An alternative would be to klunker them... but that requires a spare car and of course the proper training in my favorite martial art: kung-ford.

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  6. Your nutritionist doesn't even have a proper grasp of the English language. ^_^

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  7. Luckily for you, she didn't call you absurd. She called you obsurd, which I'm sure is a compliment somewhere. You know, the place where shoving your opinions down unsuspecting throats and insulting people is actually considered a compliment.

    Think s/he'll be back to comment on this one? >:)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Interesting that everyone seems sure this commenter is a female.

    I have a regular, much more vitriolic, visitor to this blog that everyone is sure is a male.

    Whatever. Drivel is drivel no matter the gender.

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  9. Is that something that cows eat? I really don't know anything about wheatgrass except that someone told me it tastes nasty. Maybe that was you, I don't remember. All I know is there is enough good tasting good for me food out there and until that runs out, I am not eating grass. Some people are just a@@'s. Forget him.

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  10. At least you could see the point this person was trying to make. I couldn't even get past the grammatical and punctuation errors. Sheesh. How can I believe someone's opinion is expert if he/she doesn't have a firm grasp on the language they speak? (massive eye rolling going on over here right now)

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  11. Do you find out about comments on old posts because you have comment moderation on? I wouldn't know if I had old comments. I once checked my old Paula Deen post because I saw someone had visited my blog on a search for "Paula Deen licking her fingers" and there were all sorts of comments on there that I didn't know about. And welcome to Meals on Wheels. MOW is not an actual National Organization so every one is different. Ours has caseworkers assigned to every client that checks in on them once a month or so and also stays in touch with the client contacts (you). I hope your Mom likes it.

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  12. How I hate those holier than thou types.

    As for the wheatgrass, come out with a sugar coated version and I just might try it.

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  13. I'm here via Melody's blog. It's really sad how some people seem to get off on belittling others. Guess they have their own problems if chastising you via the web makes them feel better.

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  14. I found it interesting that despite claims of being some sort of wheatgrass (a word which your poster couldn't even decide was spelled with or without a space in their post) and nutrition expert and belitting you for relying on otherwise for information, they never actually offered up any details of what gave them that expertise beyond "studying" it. I study a lot of things, some of them for years on end, but just because I can read about fusion and atom splitting doesn't make me a nuclear physicist. Evidence is required for such a claim of superior expertise. Thanks, bye.

    I'm just sayin'...

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  15. Anonymous3:05 PM

    I couldn't get past the spelling error, or the "i" that should have been "I". I think whomever sent that should use proper English and obtain some social skills.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I hear with my heart attack ears that there are great health benefits in drinking your own piss. Tastes like wheatgrass.

    ReplyDelete

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