Is Unbiased a Myth?

Unbiased While Serving Two Gods?

I was not alive some fifty years ago, but we are often led to believe people back then actually reached out to their neighbors and sacrificed to take care of them. People saw beyond themselves and their selfish ways. People shared their good fortunes instead of hoarding everything for themselves. This notion is certainly conveyed in old television shows, movies, and books. Was it really that different or does time simply magnify the good and dilute the bad. I am not sure.

Regardless, we are living in the era of make a profit at all costs. More and more people are willing to sacrifice anything and anybody in their quest for riches. More and more companies are choosing to sacrifice their own workforce and their long-term vision for the short-term return on investment. The quest to grow, increase sales, and get wealthy often leads people to make decisions that hurt others. The pressure can be so immense that people become blind to the side effects of their behavior. This single-mindedness is destroying our families and our health.

My experience in internet marketing circles has shown me that nearly all endorsements of products and services are a fraud. Basically, they have created a good ole boys club where they all pimp each others products, often without reviewing them. They often bribe their own customers to write testimonials, feedback, or reviews of products they have never seen. Many of the recommendations are through affiliate programs where they are paid a commission for each sale. I have trusted some of these endorsements in the past and have been burned, even from people I still trust today. This shows how the lure of money can lead a savvy seller to exploit the obsessive nature of people looking to get rich.

As we search for answers to business issues and personal issues, we often seek unbiased opinions. Organizations such as Consumer Reports are born for this very reason. However, there are truly very few, if any, completely unbiased sources of information. Many consumer advocacy groups accept funding, with no limitations, from companies which profit from the very stance the advocacy group takes. This is hardly unbiased. The harder you look and the deeper you dig, the more contradictions, confusion, conflict of interest, misinformation, and blatant lies you find.

We have always been told to trust doctors as they have our best interests in mind. This may have been the case many years ago but evidence is mounting that things have changed. They are not immune to bribery and kickbacks for supporting pharmaceutical companies and surgeons by aggressively pushing unnecessary and ineffective drugs and surgeries. See Is Heart Surgery Worth It? and Mammographic Screening Study for just two telling examples. People are rightly scared and greedy people exploit this.

We have always been told that meat and dairy are good for us. Is this really true or have we been brainwashed from early childhood to believe something that makes others extremely wealthy at the cost of our health? Again, we turn to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society for answers, but are they really unbiased opinions? Or have they manipulated their findings to help the organizations which fund them profit more? Check out the following video and two articles: John McDougall MD on the perils of dairy products, Consumers may have a beef with cattle feed and the Howard Lyman Interview for more telling tales.

One of my math professors in college, Dr. Mark Snavely, used to tell us that there are very few critical thinkers left. People just accept what they hear or read regardless of the source. People are easily swayed and manipulated because it is easier for them to accept anything than try to find real answers. He also talked about how what is reported in the media hardly resembles the original scientific studies. The original study has every last detail required to tell an accurate story. The study is re-written (dumbed down) for another publication. Another publication reads the dumbed down version and dumbs it down some more. This process may occur six to twelve times before it reaches mass media outlets. By this time, the news story either barely resembles the original source or is dead wrong. There was a reason the scientists included every last detail. Without them, the conclusions people draw will be incomplete or entirely wrong. The difference between finding a link to cancer and finding a cure.

One of the most difficult issues we face today is who to trust for our most important decisions. Clearly nobody has all the answers, but we must trust someone. The fact is that nobody can serve two Gods at one time. In business, the two Gods are money and doing what is right for the customer. If push comes to shove, only one can win and unfortunately, today the winner is nearly always money. Buyer beware, especially when it comes to shaping your thoughts and beliefs!

Image Credit: erix!