Salon 1

There was a shining example in the news today of a critical problem plaguing America – idiots with microphones.  To elaborate, there has been a trend for about 20 years now where the general population can’t separate fame from power and thereby assumes anyone famous (for whatever reason) has something important or intelligent to say (e.g., celebrities on the Bill Maher show, the political speeches at the Oscars, etc.).  It’s not their fault.  It is an inate psychological mechanism that causes us to assume that if someone is famous, they must be great.  Unfortunately, today it just means they get a lot of camera or microphone time (e.g., Oprah, Paris Hilton,  etc). The downside of this is that they are constantly either asked their opnion, or their unsolicited opinion is cast about the media like a thunderstorm, no matter how ridiculously stupid.

The latest shining example to which I speak is the recent media focus on Ricki Lake. Apparently, she made a documentary, “The Business of Being Born”, where whe implies something to the effect that giving birth at home might be a preferred option in general, and that giving birth at a hospital is unneccesary and religious doctrine imposed upon us by the AMA. Please read the story, I might be mis-paraphrasing.

The list of logical fallacies in her statement and philosophy are extensive, but for the sake of brevity, let’s hit the biggest one – cherry picking. She has given birth to two (2) children, and everything went smoothly. She was very lucky. To assume that all child births occur in such a manner is silly. The reason people give birth at a hospital with physicians is in case something goes wrong! Basic EMT courses teach that normal childbirth is a natural process and not a medical emergency. It is for the unfortunate anomalies where we realize the benefits of our current medical technologies – that still, unfortunately, aren’t prepared for every scenario.

Will someone please kindly ask these people to stop giving advice. But don’t take my word for it – I am just another idot with a media outlet.