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Originally Posted by Jenny Hatch
The drug generation in America came One Generation after widespread drug use in birth. An experiment that had never before played out in our worlds history. Ever wonder why so many kids of the 60's and 70's were drawn to drugs?
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I'm going to play Cynthetiq for a moment....
CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION!!!!
The experimentation that happened in the 60s and 70s was the result of a complex matrix of social forces that led youth culture to rebel against the strictures of a conformist and repressed/ive culture. If your argument held any water at all, the 98% rate of use of epidurals in childbirth should equal a 98% drug addiction rate. The best researchers on drug addiction have identified a number of factors that lead to addiction, including genetic miswiring of the dopamine system in the brain. I'm not going to go digging for a few studies so I can see if they're bunk or not; you're the one espousing off-the-wall theories, so the burden of proof is upon you. If you don't care to produce your evidence, I'm not going to be swayed by some hypothetical "studies" that you claim back up your position, and that you're not willing to produce to be evaluated as to their validity and credibility. Are they in peer-reviewed journals? What was their methodology? Are they epidemiological studies?
Fuck health care, what we need in this country is a massive campaign for scientific literacy so people can tell their asses from their elbows when it comes to "evidence." Just because someone with letters behind their name says something doesn't make it a fact.
*hemhem*
You might also want to look into the following cognitive phenomenon:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias
Quote:
In psychology and cognitive science, confirmation bias is a tendency to search for or interpret new information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions and avoid information and interpretations which contradict prior beliefs. It is a type of cognitive bias and represents an error of inductive inference, or as a form of selection bias toward confirmation of the hypothesis under study or disconfirmation of an alternative hypothesis.
Confirmation bias is an area of interest in the teaching of critical thinking as the skill is misused when rigorous critical scrutiny is applied to evidence supporting a preconceived idea but not to evidence challenging the same preconception.
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Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go bang my head against a wall, as it will do just about as much good as trying to bring logic to this argument.