Purposeful Summary – Toetio

Posted on February 6, 2024 by toetio

It seems counterintuitive that people with similar conditions may be receiving different treatments, however, in the case of medications for mental health such as Prozac, this is exactly what is occurring.  Prozac is a widely used mental health medication made available in 1987.  Since then it has been prescribed to numerous patients for a wide range of issues.  However studies show that there is a discrepancy in how people receive this medication,  White people and people with health insurance, receive these medications at a much higher rate than people of color and people without health insurance.  Numerous causes have been suggested for this phenomenon, ranging from cultural differences to racism.  Unfortunately, it is difficult to come to a definitive conclusion with the limited data available, and due to the sensitive nature of the information, collecting data is also difficult.  It is in all likelihood a mix of factors working together which cause the discrepancy.

It seems counterintuitive that a resource-rich country could end up worse off than a country without resources, yet as history has shown, that is often the case.  This phenomenon is known as the resource curse and it has afflicted many countries throughout history. Today it is most associated with oil-rich countries such as Iraq, Iran, and Venezuela.  The cause of the resource curse is a matter of debate amongst scholars.  People have theorized and developed many approaches to combating the resource curse, one of the most promising ideas is also a relatively simple one.  Invest oil money in the country’s citizens.  In the places where plans like these have been implemented, it has been fairly effective.

It seems counterintuitive that something supposedly healthy like vitamins could be dangerous, but that might just be the case.  Many people in the United States take some form of supplemental vitamins, however, research shows that most people who do, already fulfill their daily needs from the foods they normally eat, and are at no risk of developing a deficiency-related disorder.  Because most people already meet their daily needs without supplements, taking them can give someone an overload of vitamins, which can lead to a variety of health problems.  The vast majority of already healthy people do not require vitamin supplements and taking them can actually make your health worse.

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Purposeful Summary-HockeyFan

Posted on February 6, 2024 by hockeyfan

It seems counterintuitive that a person who is taking a pill or gummy filled with vitamins are not receiving benefits from it. Studies have been shown that they not only do not protect from the diseases they claim to protect from, but can also cause birth defects when pregnant women take them. People do not need to eat a bowl of kale when they wake up in the morning to get their vitamins in. Eating a balanced diet gives you most if not all of the vitamins you need. The fact of the matter is that these companies are lying to us about what they are preventing as well as putting in our bodies. 

It seems counterintuitive to be giving heroin addicts free heroin. Vancouver is setting up stations to give our free heroin administered by nurses, those given the drug will not be penalized for it. Instead of having more control at the Canadian border to stop the drugs from coming in they are being administered to keep the addiction alive. There is no point in giving people heroin as a way to help them when it is only going to hurt them in the long run. Witnesses in Vancouver have said that they are killing the people of Vancouver, just in a nicer way. As opposed to finding them with a needle in their arm on a street corner they are keeping them addicted safely.  

It seems counterintuitive for a doctor who is supposed to be doing life saving measures for someone, is waiting for them to die to take their organs. A man was declared brain dead by a nurse and doctor who were waiting to harvest his organs, a neurosurgeon later came in and confirmed he was not in fact brain dead and his organs were not ready to be harvested. Doctors today are said to be more on alert for patients who are likely going to be diagnosed brain dead, this poses a question on how ethical it is to have a doctor check a patient more frequently for brain activity in order to harvest the organs. Patients’ families are outraged that their loved ones are being pronounced brain dead by doctors wanting to harvest their organs whilst they still have brain activity. 

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purposeful summaries — gymrat27

Posted on February 6, 2024 by Gymrat

How Mom’s death changed my thinking about end-of-life care – It seems counterintuitive that the health care system sometimes fails when the doctors feel as if there is nothing else to do but what already has been done and allows the person to die. there have always been conversations on end-of-life care specifically because sometimes people choose to keep the dead alive. The publisher, Charles Ornstein went through something similar with his mother. As she was on her death bed with ventilators helping her breathe he started second guessing the health care systems. Before becoming a healthcare reporter, he decided to dig deeper into what could be done. There he discovered there had been incidents where the doctors sometimes knew there was one more treatment twhy not try that, a case of doctors misdiagnosing someone’s brain death, and having previous experience with his father almost dying of cardiac arrest where the doctors told them he was not going to make it. This is not saying every doctor is corrupt though, as he and his family did decide to try to do further tests to see if there was any potential of her making it. There wasn’t in the end she was plugged off life support. This also raised the question of Doctors trying to do it quicker for the money? In reality, some doctors do and others do not, but in the end, it is the loved ones’ decision of how far it will go for the one on end-of-life care.

A Nigerian writer mocks US disease concerns, saying that Africa should screen Americans for measles- It seems counterintuitive that the US would be lacking in their vaccinations when they are always checking for travelers to have theirs. During the Ebola outbreak of 2015, Elnathan John made a statement saying that the US should be screened before going to Africa. This is due to America wanting to screen everyone coming from Africa for Ebola before coming into the US. The claim is that there is an inconsistency in the laws because the citizens did not have all the vaccines people out of the states had to have. To add to this studies showed that many kids were to rely on their pediatrician for childhood shots, unlike other countries where there are inoculation campaigns that give the vaccine. With the United States being so fearful of spreading diseases maybe it should be the other way around due to their lack the vaccination of children who could later grow up to be sick.

Is Walmart really going organic and local?- It seems counterintuitive that somewhere like Walmart would ever become fully organic, but they have had great sales of organic food. Walmart is partially a grocery store, selling 18% of the groceries sold in the US. In 2006 it started selling more organic food and in 2007 it became one of the places most visited rather than any other grocery store. The company’s whole goal with this though was to spend less. In 2010, they changed to getting produce from small and medium farms where they sold $1 billion worth of produce by the end of 2015. Walmart was later exposed for gaining credit for something it had been doing for years. The only thing they would have to do to keep selling from local farms is to open more stores closer to other farms. Walmart was then asked what farmers they bought from, all that were listed were not organic the way it was believed. The problem with organic foods is that the quantity wanted is not sold. Walmart also does not state how many products are organic. In the end, the main things being sold as organic were milk and baby food. Walmart exists to profit not to socially please people as well. The sales will always depend on what the people want, that is where the profit is made and priorities are at.

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Purposeful Summaries — Holistic25

Posted on February 6, 2024 by holistic25

It seems counterintuitive that certified humane labels aren’t as humane as the word suggests given the fact that this certification still allows for feedlot style confinement. It’s preposterous that food labels, especially in regard to animals, need their own interpretation. Words imply things, but still may not necessitate the highest quality standards, such as the example of the word humane as it pertains to raising animals. A food label may mean nothing at the end of the day. Take the American Sheep Industry Association for example, there’s no way of knowing that sheep farmers abide to this associations standard because there is no auditing required. The consumer needs to be more vigilant than ever in its approach to buying animal products, and should ideally opt for animal-based products backed by independent auditing systems as opposed to typical industry standards due to stricter guidelines.

It seems counterintuitive to pay top dollar to supplement for nutrients rather than obtain them in the form of everyday, whole foods. The supplement market is unregulated, and lures consumers in on their misleading advertising. The sentiment of an individual not being able to out supplement a poor diet will forever remain true, no matter how advanced the latest and greatest pill is. It is ironic in an era of abundance of food that a large number of people are turning toward non-food sources in the forms of vitamins in capsules to fill their daily nutritional needs. Why is it that consumers are willingly spending top dollar for supplements when they could be obtaining those same nutrients for a fortune less at the grocery store? It is essential for nutrition education to be dispersed in the context of whole foods rather than supplements to the benefit of consumers, so they can save their money and develop connection to the food on their plate.

It seems counterintuitive that a loan may be given out strictly due to an individual’s social media following. There’s not much ground to stand on when it comes to judging a loan applicant based on who follows them on social media. Humans are much more complex than the number of followers may suggest or any algorithmic means to determine popularity. Financial credibility is not a basis on social media followers because each individual uses social media for different purposes. An individual may have a profile, but may only periodically browse on a platform, thus not engaging with individual people. Also, an individual may have an account for strictly entertainment purposes, not caring who follows them. This way of assessing loan credibility must come to an end for there are an incredulous number of false conclusions one comes to by judging a mere profile and ‘friends’.

References

Butler, Kiera. “Do Multivitamins Really Work?” Mother Jones, 12 Mar. 2012, http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/03/econundrums-do-vitamin-supplements-work/. 

Eichelberger, Erika. “Your Deadbeat Facebook Friends Could Cost You a Loan.” Mother Jones, 18 Sept. 2013, http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/lenders-vet-borrowers-social-media-facebook/. 

Harvey, Michelle Venetucci. “Parsing the New ‘humane’ Food Labels.” Grist, 7 Apr. 2021, grist.org/culture/food-2011-01-21-parsing-the-new-humane-food-labels/. 

Posted in Holistic, Purposeful Summaries | 1 Comment

Purposeful Summaries-ravensfan

Posted on February 6, 2024 by ravensfan8

First Article-Are Multivitamins Dangerous: It seems counterintuitive that multivitamins are advertised to be a healthy supplement but in reality they can be causing severe health problems like organs. Illnesses that the vitamins say they get rid of do not actually help it. Nearly a third of Americans use multivitamins daily. Vitamin Shoppe makes over $700 million dollars annual. Research has found that if you take too many vitamins they could lead to the person getting extremely sick or even cancer.

Second Article-Is this photo ethical: It seems counterintuitive that an innocent girl was still alive but then died because photographers wanted to get their perfect picture to make them big. Photographers were there after a historic earthquake. Fabienne’s death was very unexpected. Her death was not from the awful earthquake from nature but from human action. She was shot in the crossfire by police. The photo became a symbolical meaning and blew up from a disgusting act.

Third Article-Paper or Plastic: It seems counterintuitive that making paper can be a bad thing but it turns out that it might not be as harmful as it seems. The trees hold on to carbon even after they have been cut down. As long as the tree and products that make the paper are not decomposed the carbon stays trapped inside which is called a carbon sink. 16.7 million tons of carbon contained in wood products in landfills this includes paper. That means 61.1 million tons of carbon dioxide would be floating in the atmosphere but it is not.

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Purposeful Summaries – NatureChild

Posted on February 6, 2024 by Naturechild101

3 Counterintuitive Topics

Three sources | Three summaries

Topic One | Africa should screen Americans for measles 

 It seems counterintuitive that Africans would be more scared of the potential diseases Americans could carry than Americans are of illnesses coming from Africa. A viral tweet belonging to a Nigerian writer and lawyer named  Elnathan John called America out on its inconsistencies with its procedures about measle vaccines and held out a hope that American travelers were screened before entering the country. Any immigrant looking for opportunities in America has to provide a series of documents proving that they were fully protected against measles or any other disease while Americans could easily sidestep the rule if vaccines were recommended for kids in schools, daycares, housing facilities, and colleges. It is proved by statistical numbers that Central American residents have higher rates of being vaccinated already compared to U.S residing occupants. Thousands of Central American children were even detained at the border and forced to get the measles vaccine even though it was highly likely that they received it once before. This scenario further pushes that Americans are more scared of diseases from the “outside” than the ones brewing from within. 

Topic Two | Elephant Cruelty 

 It seems counterintuitive that an animal supposedly loved by millions of people would endure unimaginable abuse and lack of care behind every show curtain. A three-year-old Asian elephant named Kenny was due to perform tricks in a live circus but unfortunately was severely ill. It is said that elephants in the wild, especially younger ones, would still be by their mom’s side and exploring the world as it presents itself however, because this young elephant was in captivity, his interests related to only food and water. By federal regulation, sick animals are to report to medical attention and obtain approval from a vet to continue performing, Unfortunately, neither happened and the animal was forced to continue performing. This resulted in Kenny developing severe stomach complications, bleeding from the bottom, and fatigue, he was only prescribed antibiotics and later found on the concrete flooring, unresponsive. This triggered the owner to be sued but that would not hold through and be eventually forgotten. It’s counterintuitive that people would pay money to see animals that they “adore” but not bat an eye when their well-being is being called into question, but it’s just a show, right? Unfortunately, every attempt to change the animal protection law had fallen through and no justice for Kenny the baby elephant was obtained.

 Topic Three | Do Tom’s Shoes Help Anybody?

 It seems counterintuitive that the “buy one, give one” motto is heavily used by company marketing, but does it always mean that the company will stay true to its claims? When a shoe company called Toms used persistent marketing that “if you were to buy a shoe, you’d be giving a pair to another person in the world” a lot of sneaker and shoe heads found benefit in getting new shoes and adding a good deed to their belts. This same concept in models is recognized to be used in other companies that if you buy their products a tree would be planted, donations would be made, essentially any promise of good deed to encourage others to put money forth into an organization. It turns out that it’s risky to invest in companies that promise good intention when the companies themself provide very little information on how they plan to carry out the donations. As much as it’s advised that customers do their research before committing to a cause that claims to want to help others with profit, it’s expected that companies are fully transparent with their intention with the product, profit, and cause if the claims are prominent. 

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Summaries – Ilovemydog

Posted on February 6, 2024 by ilovemydog

“A Nigerian writer mocks US disease concern, saying that Africa should screen Americans for measles” – It seems counterintuitive that Americans can sidestep laws that they enforce amongst others. When Ebola was at its peak, some Americans wanted to screen Africans entering the US. However, immigrants from many places, including Africa, found that the US had started to develop a decline in vaccinations. Not only was there a decline in the vaccination rates, but most of the time the immigrants that US citizens were scared of had better vaccination rates in their home countries. Most of the countries that the US sees immigrants coming from have mostly eradicated the diseases that are known to be preventable.

“Francine Prose Explores Anne Frank’s Literary Genius” – It seems counterintuitive how such a young person’s writing from World War II can remain a model for many. Anne Frank started writing entries in her diary when she was just 13 years old. However, the entries seemed to come from an older mind. People even today are willing to appreciate the raw energy that is encapsulated in the diary. Every day, even in more modern times, people can make connections with what Anne was writing about. Through Anne’s writing her sentiment and views shine through.

“Do Multivitamins Really Work?” – It may seem counterintuitive that the vitamins most of us take could potentially cause future health problems. Data has shown that the nutritional value we may believe we are getting from multivitamins is quite scarce. Taking these vitamins doesn’t prevent heart disease, breast, lung, and colon cancer. Multivitamins also have a lot of folic acid which could even increase the risk of heart disease. Most of the time the vitamins you need can be reached through the food that you consume. That is healthier then taking vitamins.

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Summaries- Temporal

Posted on February 6, 2024 by temporal111

It seems counterintuitive that a group of activists would advocate against their own interests, yet the tea party is working to dismantle net neutrality. Net neutrality is an internet policy enforced by the FCC that works to prevent powers such as corporations from filtering out certain internet media based on their own interests, which ensures that the little guy can have his voice heard, such as a relatively small political party, even if it’s something that Exxonmobil might not want people to hear. The tea party explains their position by equating net neutrality with marxism, that it’s just tyrannical governmental control over the media. This counterintuitive position can most likely be explained by the actions of the Institute of Liberty, a conservative group that often works hand in hand with corporations while insisting that they wish to help small businesses. They have worked with the tea party to promote certain issues that pertain to executive america, such as reducing pesticide restrictions for Monsanto. It seems as though the tea party’s lack of understanding of what marxism is has led to susceptibility of being persuaded that any slightly restrictive governmental policy is “marxist” and therefore bad, allowing for conservative interests such as the Institute of Liberty to take advantage of them by reaffirming their ignorance.

It seems counterintuitive that a company that gives away a product to a poorer country every time you buy a product may not be helping all that much, and in fact may be doing some harm. Tom’s is a company predicated on that idea; they give a shoe when they sell a shoe. Other companies follow a similar model, but it may not be very effective, as argued by aid effectiveness expert Greg Adams. It can affect the market surrounding the donated product; organizations donated a great surplus of rice to Indonesia after a flood in 2006, which negatively affected the rice markets there, and wasn’t needed since the flood did not affect the inland as much. What seems to be a more practical solution is to work within the community to help the people be able to help themselves, rather than just give them a flood of random products. An example of this is Warby Parker, who provides kids with foods from local places, rather than shipped overseas.

It seems counterintuitive that taking some extra vitamins for your health can actually be damaging. Big vitamin tries to convince people that you can’t get enough vitamins from just the food you eat, but studies have connected excessive folic acid and slightly increased risk of heart disease with an excess of vitamins. They have also been shown to not protect against any of the things they claim to. Also, the FDA doesn’t regulate the labels on vitamin supplements, which have been shown to be wrong sometimes. Health officials recommend vitamin supplements really only to certain people in certain cases, such as pregnant women or the elderly, not to the everyday person.

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Purposeful summaries- Thatpersonoverthere

Posted on February 6, 2024 by thatpersonoverthere

It may seem counterintuitive that a person’s pursuit for happiness leads to them being less happy. Though in an article written to evaluate the core belief of a psychologist who survived the perils of a concentration camp argues this being the case. That is the core message of the book, Man’s search for meaning, is that happiness cannot be pursued and that there is value in human suffering. This notion completely flies in the face of those held near the hearts of many Americans. Though this is a notion that I personally agree with. People do place a certain amount of stake in their personal happiness and this does lead to more confusion down the line. One can’t simply be happy. There are some situations where one just can’t. And not being happy isn’t a mark in a person’s character either. Happiness is just an emotion, one of several in fact and a person cannot be expected to feel happy all the time because if they are then they’re not really happy. They’re comfortable and people can’t be comfortable forever. 

It may seem counterintuitive to believe that only women are raped(I believe this is the article that pretains to men defining rape). There are several cases that prove this false. There have been several cases of female teachers abusing their power and engaging in sexual activities with their male students. Which constitutes rape. Sure women and girls and those who identify as being feminine may feel more comfortable in sharing their sexual assault, and even with this there are still stereotypes against women who speak out about their assault, it can still happen to men. So an act that can be in acted against both sexes should be able to be defined by both sexes. 

It may seem counterintuitive that there would be a boycott in regards to the polio vaccine. But in 2003 that’s what happened. Of course people want to be more cautious of what goes into their bodies as someone who is trying to lose weight I understand all too well. But to openly reject a vaccine for a disease that has ravaged entire populations is frankly ludicrous. They should reject the vaccine because their injecting an unknown substance some person with a medical degree, who probably doesn’t know what the substance is made of either, told them to. Who cares that there are people with immune systems that are too weak to even get the vaccine so they would be more protected if more people were willing to get it.

Posted in Purposeful Summaries, ThatPersonOverThere | 2 Comments

Purposeful Summaries- Username

Posted on February 6, 2024 by username1132005

Are Multivitamins Dangerous? It seems counterintuitive that the supplements that are advertised to make us healthier, can be the reason causing severe health issues in humans affecting organs such as our hearts, and can even cause birth defects. The supplement business is one of the leading businesses in the world. Supplements are bought by more than a third of Americans yearly, causing establishments like the Vitamin shop to come in with over 700 million dollars of revenue each year. Supplement companies know exactly how to get people to buy their products, which is why they make their supplements look and taste like candy. By making their supplements taste sweet like candy, the consumer is bound to keep buying them. Supplements are giving false hope to over 39,000 women saying that they can help with fighting off illnesses such as heart disease and lung cancer, which has proved to be untrue. Instead of buying hundreds of supplements yearly, people instead can get their vitamins and minerals through healthy eating and water. There needs to be a change in the system in regards to supplements, so that us Americans are healthier overall and safe if people choose to continue to take these supplements. 

Do Toms Shoes Help Anybody? It seems counterintuitive that the buy one system seems as if it will help people, but in reality may be a waste. Toms shoe brand was founded in 2006 with the intent of helping people around the world by creating a system that with every pair of shoes bought, one is given away to someone in need. At first sales were skyrocketing and everyone thought it was a great idea, but as time went on people pointed out the risk factor that comes along with this. The people who buy a pair of shoes have no idea where the other pair they bought is going to. For example, many times these shoes are shipped to Ethiopia, because it is an area of poverty with many children needing shoes. Even though children there can be gifted with a Toms shoe by the school district, at home there is a possibility that they already own shoes. It could be that the parents just want their children to get a free pair of shoes, which in return is wasting peoples money who bought the shoes, and is not helping the cause. 

End-of-Life Care. It seems counterintuitive that we know what the right thing to do is in situations but still have our doubts based on lack of trust in society. In hospitals, people’s loved ones are fighting for their lives, their main goal would be giving them the best care possible, and to do the right thing for what they have wished for. The lack of trust in doctors and nurses has put a wrench in people’s decisions in regards to what they should do with their loved ones once they are in that state. Doctors are humans too, and everyone makes mistakes and can make wrong calls, but in the case of people’s loved ones on their deathbeds, there is not a lot of room for mistakes. The doctors may encourage one thing, while the loved ones of the person in pain may think otherwise. With your loved ones’ final moments, there shouldn’t be the stress of worrying about costs, right decisions and plans for after death, let alone worrying if the doctors are providing accurate information. Doctors can give a misinterpretation of what they think the status is with that particular person, but if they were wrong and the person beats the odds, they would be heavily criticized. Overall, there needs to be more trust in society, and people need to be confident in their own decisions and know that everything happens for a reason, and to never live with regret because life is too short.

Posted in Purposeful Summaries, Username | 1 Comment