Summed up in RIP: The great cholesterol scam (1955 - 2015) by Barrel Strength
What I have to say here reflects upon the course of this great fallacy. The cholesterol scam bears a strong relationship to the anthropogenic global warming scam.Posted by gerardvanderleun at June 27, 2015 1:26 AM1) it is propagated by scientists on a non-scientific mission.
2) it is believed because it plausibly explains an observation (increasing global temperature [for a time], increasing heart attacks from smoking in the 1950s and 60s). It taps into large anxieties about too much wealth, too much happiness, in western societies. There must be sin somewhere, and the public is ready to flog itself in the cause of a secularized idea of God, uh, I mean Good.
3) the causal relationship is weaker than first supposed; the research is found to be sloppy, the facts have been fudged, subsequent studies do not fully support the original claims, nevertheless the orthodoxy is promulgated all the more harshly for being doubted.
4) by now, powerful economic and ideological interests have taken hold. They supply an ongoing source of funds and opinion to ensure the perpetuation of the alarm: in the case of cholesterol, the margarine industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and the medical establishment, and in the case of AGW, the tribe of bureaucrats and leftists who seek to control markets, whose god of Marxism had failed, and who needed a new god (Gaia) to justify their rule.
5) The skeptics who have patiently argued on the basis of facts that the science of each phenomenon was weak, are ostracized by the opinion establishments of medicine and global warming. Cranks, but the cranks are right and the orthodox priests and Levites are wrong.
6) Eventually, after fifty or sixty years, the subject of discussion just changes. In the case of cholesterol, the evidence gets weaker and weaker, and the problems caused by too much sugar consumption (obesity, diabetes), caused in part by people not eating enough fats and meats, reaches a stage where it can no longer be ignored.
7) the retreat of the orthodoxy is covered by a smokescreen of fresh concerns for some other catastrophe. No admissions of error or apologies for wrecked careers and following bad science are ever issued. Time flows on, bringing neither knowledge nor greater understanding of the role of folly in human affairs.
8) stages 6 and 7 have been reached in the cholesterol cycle; they are beginning in the anthropogenic global warming scam. Fifty years from now, there will still be clanking windmills in the North Sea, but whether they will be still linked to a power grid is less likely, and whether anyone will pay attention is doubtful. The lobbies that keep them there, however, will still exist.
AMEN!
Posted by: j hughes at June 27, 2015 3:36 AMThe trouble started with Democrats decades ago and it has been perpetuated by both parties.
My theory concerning the political parties is that you could move them over from one side of the aisle to the other and the result would be the same.
How can this happen?
The short answer is: the greed of politicians and the efforts by Socialists, or Commies, or Democrats as they are known today, to gain and hold control of this country and its citizens.
Blow wise to this: all politicians are only in it for themselves. A sort of universal survival instinct manifested regardless of what colors they wear on the field.
The snakeoil salesman of today no longer goes door to door, but has now opened up a clinic and wears a white coat:
I Have High Cholesterol and I Don't Care
www . youtube . com/watch?v=0_7u7aPkUQ0
I recall the 'eggs are bad, meat is bad, milk is bad health fads from ~30 years ago and realize that it was the set up of creating the beachhead for the Heart-Disease scare/racket.
Whats NOT surprising (from this doctors' analysis) is that the breads/pasta/fruits alternative to the evil eggs/meat/milk actually PROMOTES heart disease thus expanding the Health System revenues and locking in even more the dependent host population.
How conveeeeenient!!!
Lesson?
Eat what your ancestors ate.
(Damn you, Gerard!!!! Its nearly impossible to break away from my 'palantir' when I go and visit your site.... :) )
Posted by: cond0011 at June 27, 2015 8:46 AM"Fifty years from now, there will still be clanking windmills in the North Sea, but whether they will be still linked to a power grid is less likely, and whether anyone will pay attention is doubtful."
Salt water is a very difficult environment. Without constant maintenance those gizmos will be destroyed by Neptune. The generator modules will be worth salvaging. Lots of copper and rare earth metals. They will be forced to clear the rest as a hazard to navigation.
Posted by: Fat Man at June 27, 2015 10:32 AMI'm half-dead with the cancer. My wife is slipping into dementia.
The dollar is dying. Nukes are getting restless. Big Brother is watching everything.
Life as we know it will soon go medieval.
I don't give a rat's ass about cholesterol or climate change.
There's a lot of stuff I don't worry about or pay attention to.
What, me worry?
Posted by: chasmatic at June 27, 2015 11:07 PMOne should take a look at the "Second Hand Smoke" numbers. If you believe statistics, the study results indicate a very slight affect, if any at all. But, someone is out to protect you from yourself at all costs.
tom
As a result of my profession - Naval aviator for 20 years, airline pilot for 25 years (seven years of overlap while in the active Reserves) - I had regular physicals from the time I was 22 until I retired. I have always been a meat and eggs eater. I have read the articles about cholesterol and wondered if I should cut back. But when my lipid profiles were always off the charts good on every physical (and still are, by the way)I looked askance at the advice to avoid eggs and fatty meat. Whenever my doctor told me to watch what I ate, I would agree to do it, if and when my lipid profile deteriorated. I'm convinced from my experience (unscientific and anecdotal) that cholesterol profiles are inherited and may have little to do with heart disease. Smoking, inactivity, and high carb diets are much more likely culprits.
In spite of the evidence against fat consumption being unhealthful, I still see big time medical doctors on TV talking down red meat and saturated fat. Gary Taubes has pretty much put the lie to that one, but it continues as does the CAGW theory, which also has very thin science to recommend it.
Posted by: Jimmy J. at June 28, 2015 11:29 AMBig Pharma put their weight behind the cholesterol battle.
Lower your cholesterol and prevent heart disease (atherosclerosis)!
"Medical Doctors, drug manufacturers and nutritional supplement companies make billions of dollars browbeating us into believing this statement. But, it’s not true."
from The People's Chemist http://thepeopleschemist.com/dude-high-cholesterol-heart-disease/
from Nobel Laureate Irving Langmuir in 1952:
Symptoms of Pathological Science:
1. The maximum effect that is observed is produced by a causative agent of barely detectable intensity, and the magnitude of the effect is substantially independent of the intensity of the cause.
2. The effect is of a magnitude that remains close to the limit of detectability; or, many measurements are necessary because of the very low statistical significance of the results.
3. Claims of great accuracy.
4. Fantastic theories contrary to experience.
5. Criticisms are met by ad hoc excuses thought up on the spur of the moment.
6. Ratio of supporters to critics rises up to somewhere near 50% and then falls gradually to oblivion.
retrieved from http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~ken/Langmuir/langmuir.htm
the whole essay is worth reading.
In 40 years of adult life, I've seen a Doctor once. Bit by a dog, puncture wounds. I appreciated the cleaning of the wound. I'd heard about cholesterol, but rejected the 'cure'. I spoke to a man, 10 years my junior, who proclaimed, "Any man over 50 is of course on statins. I did not understand. His wife pushed him to have annual physicals. He took prescription medicine, for the rest of life. He accepted that. His wife ruled him. I've lived beyond my 'sell by' date. I've never had an annual physcial. I'm not stubborn, it just makes no sense. Feelin' pretty good. If it ain't broke, DON'T FIX IT. I got that advice from a 75 yr old man who was in better shape than I. His wife hated that idea.
A man looks to God, and says, take me when You're ready. More work to do, I guess.
I would add that they were both exposed by individuals clearly outside the process, strong evidence that "Science" is unwilling to police itself.
Cholesterol/Sat fat: Gary Taubes, Nina Teicholz (jounolists)
AGW: Steve MacIntyre, Anthony Watts (bloggers)
Posted by: Jeff C at July 9, 2015 7:41 AM
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