I came across an article entitled The War on Peanuts on investors.com. My first reaction is that this is an article written to encourage heated comments like those that appeared on wsj.com's September 11, 2008 article Peanut Butter Bans: Nuisance or Necessity?. I am tempted to ignore the article so as to avoid inspiring this tired discussion. It's like "Name that tune" and the song's a cinch because it's gotten so much play.
The author uses terms like "peanut-allergy nazis" and states that a "Washington lobbyist group is behind the anti-peanut push. It's stalking schools with fears about children going into anaphylactic shock if they so much as touch something peanutty." The Washington lobbying group he is referring to is FAAN! Funny, many parents of peanut allergic kids criticize FAAN for not taking a strong enough position and advocating a peanut ban! This poor investors.com author doesn't know his subject very well, I'm afraid.
He also throws out strange statistics. I don't know where he obtained his information. It's not even worth trying to argue the points he makes, but I guess it is a good reminder that there are people who really do hold those views, who really are that uninformed, and that we must keep advocating awareness.
4 comments:
i would encourage those people who make comments about "peanut allergy nazi's" to live one single day in our lives. the fear of the unknown, the fear that in any given day our children are at risk of losing their lives because they ate something that they were allergic to. it is very disappointing to me that we still live in a world where certain people make ridiculous and uneducated comments without any basis of knowledge or awareness.thanks for your post.
OK, I looked for comments on the "piece (I won't say piece of what)" and I didn't see that it would let you leave any. What a complete pile of junk that is. That website must be put together by highschool aged children. Who writes articles like that? Journalism school drop outs I suppose. Even Bill O'Reilly does better at being less slanted....
You’re right. It is a sobering reminder. I’ve gotten so used to my little world where day-care teachers are diligent and kindergarten teachers helpful that I sometimes forget this attitude exists.
As much guff as I caught before and immediately after my 5-year-old was diagnosed, you’d think it would be burned in my brain, though.
And clearly that editorial writer didn’t know the subject. I think the “information” was partly CDC statistics spun into what the writer wanted them to say. The rest was sheer ignorance
The line that gave me the biggest laugh was where the writer encouraged schools to do their own research instead of giving in to exaggerated claims. I wish the writer had done exactly that.
9to5to9
I...don't even know what to say.
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