Big Fat Liars : How Politicians, Corporations, and the Media Use Science and Statistics to Manipulate the Public

by Chafetz, Morris E.

• ISBN13: 9781595550088
• ISBN10: 1595550089
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-08-30
• Publisher: Harpercollins Christian Pub

Summary

These days, you can't turn on a television without hearing that you're probably fat, engaged in unhealthy behavior, failing to get sufficient exercise, destroying the environment through the use of practically every product that makes your life more convenient, and likely to fall victim to just about everything and everyone around you. But not only are the statistics that prove these points based on false information, much of our national dialogue is dictated by this patently bad science-encouraged solely by public and private organizations that leverage these demonstrably untrue facts to bolster their own philosophies and fatten their own pocketbooks. With mounds of solid evidence that contradicts common thought, Morris Chafetz shows the lies behind the facts about today's big issues (for instance, the "obesity epidemic" we hear so much about is the result not of a fatter population but instead a change in bookkeeping in a federal agency, and the evidence used now to frighten us about "global warming" was used a generation ago to frighten us about "global cooling") and encourages readers to look through the money-motivated façade of statistics and government controls and return to a strong attitude of personal responsibility.

Author Biography

Morris Chafetz is the president of the Health Education Foundation, founder of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Preface	xi
The Danger of Generalization	1	(14)
It's All Point of View	15	(10)
I'm Okay, and If You Were Like Me, You'd Be Okay, Too	25	(10)
Playing God as an Institutional Right	35	(6)
The New Gods Don't Know Either	41	(12)
The Environmental Mess	53	(18)
Global Warming: More Heat than Light	71	(8)
Behavior as Disease	79	(10)
Alcohol and Alcoholism	89	(16)
Mushrooms and the Misuse of the Public Health Model	105	(14)
Doctors Always Get It Right, Right?	119	(16)
Correlation as Causation	135	(10)
Bad Science and Tobacco	145	(14)
Addiction	159	(16)
Obesity	175	(22)
Revolt Against the Machines	197	(18)
The Attack on Business	215	(14)
Terrorism and Other Worries	229	(16)
The Money Factor	245	(22)
The Assault on Personal Responsibility	267	(8)
Dealing with Guilt	275	(12)
Refusing to Sell Your Soul	287	(6)
The Only Expert on You Is You	293	(12)
Acknowledgments	305	(4)
Notes	309	(6)
Index	315