By Rich Kozlovich
This week Old Doc Oz finally went all the way over to the dark side. The American Council on Science and Health noted that he “was at it again” by warning “parents that the apple juice they’re giving their children may be harmful.” His show staff, crack toxicologists all I’m sure, “arranged to have several samples of store-bought apple juice tested for arsenic, and found that the arsenic levels in some brands were higher than others.” Apparently the man from Oz decided that the level was too high and dangerous in spite of the fact that the amounts were “miniscule”. The FDA immediately refuted this piece of junk science noting that there was a difference between organic and non-organic arsenic, and organic arsenic is harmless. Who knows what kind of damage he has done to the apple industry.
I have some questions.
Why didn’t Ole Doc Oz know this? He presents himself as a medical scientist doesn’t he? Why was he investigating arsenic in apple juice in the first place? What events took place that caused this concern? Is there a connection between Ole Doc Oz and the insane activists that infest the green movement? Good questions….don’t you think?
When I first started watching this guy I thought he had some value and was a bit interesting, but he became uninteresting very quickly. After all, how many times can you watch this stuff? Perhaps he and his producers concluded the same thing and decided they needed him to jazz up his presentations. As I would see parts of some of his shows it became obvious to me that he was pretty much selling the same kind of junk science and scare mongering as the organics, the greenies and the all natural crowd. At this point I snorted and told my wife that this guy is a loon. My wife didn’t see it that way at all, and I found that most others didn’t either. She says I think everyone is a loon. Well, actually, no I don’t, but unfortunately there are so many out there, and since I am more than happy to point it out, it may appear that way.
Dennis Prager noted this last week that one of the most important aspects of a happy society is being trustful of each other. I agree with that analysis, but I believe that is how people like Ole Doc Oz get away with this stuff. Until now that is. Now he has gone so far off base that he has finally been caught because he went into the realms of provable science, and he became lost.
So why doesn’t everyone see the same reality that I do, especially when it is so obvious to me? I have concluded that if you aren’t reading or writing about these things you miss the nuances of what they are actually up to, and most people just want to live their lives without spending large amounts of time researching information about greenies, junk scientists, demagogues and liars. That is completely understandable.
Perhaps what disturbs me a bit is that those who know me best know that I am fascinated by everything. Being insatiably curious is its own reward and its own punishment. The reward is that you know the truth. The punishment is that you know the truth. My friends also know that I understand it all; and when I finally come to a conclusion about something I am very rarely wrong. So why do they disagree with me over whack jobs like Oz? I have no idea. Oh wait….I forgot one answer! He’s so nice! Then again isn’t that true of all cult leaders.
The answer to these silly claims by Ole Doc Oz that I prefer is Dr. Josh Bloom's when he says that, “Dr. Oz should follow the yellow brick road back to the cardiac surgery department at New York Presbyterian Hospital. At least he knows what he’s talking about there.” Then again maybe someone in that great wasteland known as television will follow Dr. Ruth Kava’s recommendation when she says, “I wish the media would give as much coverage to the debunking of other food scares (for example, the ‘dangers’ of pesticides on fruits and vegetables, and of high-fructose corn syrup) as they did to this apple juice scare by Dr. Oz.” Me too!
What I would really like to see is the nation’s apple farmers sue him for any drop in the sale of apples, whether it is for eating, for juice or any other use. Perhaps this kind of claptrap would end if this was done on a regular basis. Oprah was the one responsible for getting him on the air in the first place. Oprah was sued years ago over her comments about beef, and even though she won, she never did that again. Dr. Phil was one of the ones who helped her win this case. I have come to think he is a loon also. My wife says that I think everyone is a loon. Once again….no I don’t…..it’s just that I can’t help it when there are so many and so little time to point it out.
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