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from the the-power-of-god-compels-you-to-read-it dept.
The conviction that demons exist—and that they exist to harass, derange, and smite human beings—stretches back as far as religion itself. In ancient Mesopotamia, Babylonian priests performed exorcisms by casting wax figurines of demons into a fire. The Hindu Vedas, thought to have been written between 1500 and 500 b.c., refer to supernatural beings—known as asuras, but largely understood today as demons—that challenge the gods and sabotage human affairs. For the ancient Greeks, too, demonlike creatures lurked on the shadowy fringes of the human world.
But far from being confined to a past of Demiurges and evil eyes, belief in demonic possession is widespread in the United States today. Polls conducted in recent decades by Gallup and the data firm YouGov suggest that roughly half of Americans believe demonic possession is real. The percentage who believe in the devil is even higher, and in fact has been growing: Gallup polls show that the number rose from 55 percent in 1990 to 70 percent in 2007.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/catholic-exorcisms-on-the-rise/573943/
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Friday December 07 2018, @02:47AM (2 children)
Citations not necessary, really. Those of us who have been alive, and listening to news propaganda for more than a decade have been hearing this crap all our lives. Eggs are good, eggs are bad, egg whites are good, egg whites are bad, corn syrup is healthy, corn syrup is bad, sugar is good, sugar is poison - bacon, red meat, chicken, fish, on and on it goes. Mostly, we tune it out. But, each announcement convinces some small following.
If you really need citations on all the foods that have been demonized, then canonized in turn, you need to do your own research. It's time for you to play catchup.
And, yes, those "studies" on the various foods have taught us contempt for researchers. We need to go back to the early sixties, and the food pyramid. Teach people that they should eat a varied diet, they should limit their sugars, fats, and calories, but that they SHOULD eat some of each. Teach people to plan their diet to include minerals, vitamins, protein, and all the rest.
If people are eating decently most of the time, they need not feel guilty for pigging out for Thanksgiving when they are surrounded by family and friends.
Common sense. A million generations of ancestors lived on common sense diets, without any "studies" done to determine that one food or another was bad for you. We already knew to avoid some things like pufferfish after all - it was proven to be bad for a lot of people.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday December 07 2018, @03:10AM (1 child)
It's funny in a way, the way the research goes round and round, after billions of dollars and nearly as many food fads, it's more or less back to the advice my grandmother gave me growing up. That is, common sense.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday December 07 2018, @03:25AM
Just don't forget that Grandma prescribed cod liver oil for everything! :^)