In This Age of Misinformation Ignorance is Profitable

Infant male circumcision is apparently routine in the States. I only recently found this out. Over here in the UK the procedure is only done for medical, religious or cultural reasons. I have come across many Facebook pages dedicated to informing American parents that circumcision is not necessary that misinformation abounds. Reasons for circumcision are that an uncircumcised penis is more difficult to keep clean, that sexual pleasure is heightened, that a circumcised penis is more aesthetically pleasing, the list goes on. These aforementioned pages detail scientific evidence to the contrary, publish statistics that show more males die from circumcision than whatever the procedure is meant to prevent in later life. True stories from tragic cases adorn their pages. And still the business remains and still parents are coerced.

Artificial infant milk is another massive business piggybacking on misinformation. Only 3% of the global female population can't produce milk, it's not a much higher number that can't produce enough milk. Some babies can't physically suckle on their mother's breast, but they are not numerous. Societal and cultural issues can get in the way of a good breastfeeding relationship. Formula companies make billions touting these very real issues as something to be very afraid of. 'Breast is Best' is a formula campaign slogan to make women feel they don't have to look past the initial discomfort they may feel in the first 6 weeks, in fact if women were to see past those first 6 weeks formula companies would be in trouble! Milk supply settles down and babies get more efficient at feeding. Conversely, preparing formula correctly to minimise risks of bacteria (normally found in powdered formula) cultivating takes an age with a screaming baby in your arms. This is even more true as you stand shivering in the cold, dark kitchen at 3 o'clock in the morning! Formula companies also sell their misinformation through healthcare professionals for incentives, hire 'experts' to rubbish peer-reviewed scientific claims about breast milk and breastfeeding. No wonder there is such bad blood between the different feeding camps. Formula advocates are made to feel guilty and breast milk advocates are told there is no such thing as a mother who can't feed her child!

Millions of copies of books on how to break the will of a normal child to conform to social ideals are sold worldwide. The 'professionals' writing these books make parents feel that their children are manipulative and actively seeking to inconvenience and annoy them on purpose. Punitive measures are validated, small children with the inability to comprehend anything other than having their needs met are rejected, tantrums in toddlers are labelled misbehaviour and to be corrected. And what did we do for 3 million years before information books were available? We listened to our children's cries, we comforted overwhelming feelings, we kept them close and validated them, we empathised. We became the great race that we are through empathy and the ability to listen. Now we have developed nations full of stressed and anxious adults having breakdowns because their parents inadvertently thought it was better to leave them to scream on their own in a darkened room for hours. These parents didn't abandon or neglect their children willingly, they did what they thought was right because 'experts' told them to.

And what of the tabloid media. Where do we start? There is a story running around like wild fire here at the moment. The 'deadly' false widow spider has 'invaded' Britain, and apparently we're all going to be murdered in our beds! Police officers are paid cash incentives for dealing with dead bodies, allegedly to the tune of £500, I'm sure there are many officers out there shocked at finding this out! Mental health patience are murderously dangerous because of care in the community programmes, the incidents of murder would be significantly decreased if anyone having an off day were to be incarcerated in a mental health asylum.

All in all, misinformation sells. It's dramatic, it causes feelings of guilt and shame, it takes advantage of the uninformed and the vulnerable. Businessmen stay in business, politicians stay in power and we become sheeple.