“They”
By Lucas McCain
04/22/08Mia Wallace: “Is that a fact?”
Vincent Vega: “no, no it's not a fact, it's just what I heard... it's just what I heard”
Mia Wallace: “Who told you?”
Vincent Vega: “they”
Mia Wallace: (smiles) “they talk a lot don't they”
Vincent Vega: (smiles) “they certainly do... they certainly do”
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First off, the word "they" is used very loosely I've found and that is the reason for writing this article. "They" could be a professor at Harvard or "they" could be your mothers' cousins' friends' sister who heard from a guy who is going to school to be a doctor.
We watch something on the evening news, hypothetically speaking “A new study at the University of Cambridge has found that consuming one drink of alcohol per day, lowers your risk of heart disease, and here is how is works.” The next day we go to work and someone brings up drinking and you chime in with “Well you know they say one drink per day...” First of all, who actually did the research, in this case it was the University of Cambridge, most of us forgot that part the minute the news broadcast was over. So when we get into a conversation with others we just say “they.” And usually the people we are talking to don't think twice about who they (the unnamed researchers) are. “They” are all over the place doing 'their' research. Or often times someone tells you something that you remember later but forget who told you and then that person becomes "they".
Is it that we have dismissed the other information and only heard what we wanted to hear? Or is it that some of us cannot retain that much information in order to retell the story properly. Do we care about where and whom the information is coming from? I think we are lazy and settle for what information is provided to us, and/or that our selective hearing and our perception of the importance of the information, at the time we hear it, controls what we memorize.
For instance, a few years back I heard on the radio or saw on the tv, something about bike seats causing impotence. Shortly after that I sold my bike and stopped riding altogether. I would have rather never rode a bike again than take the risk. If I had studied the facts that were readily available, I would have found that most bicycle seats when ridden a lot may lead to erectile dysfunction. I would have also learned that there are more and more bicycle seats available now that eliminate the risk and provide a comfortable ride. By relying solely on the information available in the broadcast I put on blinders.
“They” recommend what I should do, what I should eat, what I should drink, and how I should sleep. It seems that every time we hear something is good for us, the next week there is a “they” out there saying it is not good. Perhaps "they" do it just to get us to read their stuff. Take this article for instance, "Nonfat milk linked to prostate cancer" In the end of the article the study team states, "Our findings do not provide strong support for the hypothesis that calcium and dairy foods increase the risk of prostate cancer."
People are now taking their daily regimens of all kinds of stuff. Spraying, smearing, washing, peeling, and applying this and avoiding that. I read on an acne website about people drinking large amounts of lemon water, eating lemons and squeezing lemon juice on their face. That sounds like a pretty desperate thing to do. On the other hand some of these regimens work wonders. I'm always skeptical about everything until it proves it's worth. Fish oil pills sounded odd until I started reaping the benefits of those tiny miracles.
We take zinc and a large dose of vitamin C when we feel a cold coming on. Well maybe not the zinc, I heard “they” say it isn't good for you anymore. In the technology age we live in with email, blogs, forums, diggs, and chat, people can now try whatever they want without doing their own research and rely on someone they don't know for advice. We try this and try that because you know “they say.”
How about trying education. Read many sources, educate yourself, get the knowledge and pay attention.
