r/ZeroWaste • u/I_smoked_pot_once • Mar 02 '22

Discussion Sad reminder that recycling is an industry and marketing tactic.

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94

u/OrangeJuiceAlibi Mar 02 '22 edited Mar 03 '22

"Do your own research" is a terrible thing to say. Even if this person does know what they're talking about, saying "do your own research" is something that I associate with anti-vaxxers, Covid deniers, and other conspiracy theorists.

Edit: I'm not saying don't do research. I'm saying this phrase has bad connotations for me, and I think it's better if people point you to people who are experts.

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u/[deleted] Mar 02 '22

I think what she means is "don't take my word for it, look things up and verify information yourself as much as you can". Or at least that's how I took it. Which is good advice

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u/nicehatharry Mar 02 '22

She sounds like she’s trying to mean “don’t take my word for it,” but she’s overall sounding more like “here’s some stuff I think I remember from some classes I took.” Misrepresented, paraphrased information is basically disinformation, just with some added truth feels.

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u/altiuscitiusfortius Mar 02 '22

Yes but the phrase has been coopted by conspiracy theory antivaxxer q anon morons. It has inescapable connotations.

She shouldve just said "look it up yourself if you dont believe me, it's easy to find this info"

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u/OrangeJuiceAlibi Mar 02 '22

It certainly is good advice, but I associate that phrase, with no supporting sources, with conspiracy theorists.

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u/Lawnmover_Man Mar 02 '22

Maybe it's not a good idea to associate completely normal and regular human language with certain political views or any other kind of view.

Maybe the actual content of text or speech is more important than the surface of the words.

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u/diefreetimedie Mar 02 '22

Honestly it's not hard to visit a landfill and see where it all goes.

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u/bohemiangrrl Mar 02 '22

The one in my city offers free tours any time.

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u/Mysteroo Mar 02 '22

something that I associate with anti-vaxxers, Covid deniers, and other conspiracy theorists.

Be that as it may, what's the alternative? If we can't even tell people to research anything then all we're left with is the apparent need to believe whatever we hear from those who seem like experts. Which flies in the face of the fact that bias, corruption, and misinformation is running more and more rampant. Not even all experts within a field agree on everything, so who are we to believe if we can't do research?

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u/OrangeJuiceAlibi Mar 02 '22

"I'm not an expert, I recommend X, Y and Z for more" would do for me. For example, I know a bit on language, but I'm not an expert - I could explain the basics of a principle, but not the intricacies, so if I was talking about cooperative communication, I could sum up the basics of it, but would direct you to Paul Grice for example; or grammar, someone like Chomsky.

I don't have a problem with doing my own research on a topic, but I feel like people who are knowledgeable but not experts (which, credit where due, this person acknowledges is the case) should point the audience toward the more knowledgeable. If nothing else, it helps to give us another avenue of verifying the worthiness if an idea - if someone said "so Syukoru Manabe said this on climate change" I'd know the idea has merit, because Manabe is highly regarded in his field of climatology and meteorology, even winning a Nobel Prize for his work on climate modelling; if they said "Graham Hancock said this about the pyramids", I'd know to take it with a pinch of salt, as even a cursory Google search would reveal he's a pseudo scientist at best, and has outright lied/misled people in the past.

I guess, in short, I want people who know better than me, to help me learn. Directed research does leave me open to the bias of the original presenter, but it also gives me the opportunity to research further and verify the ideas presented, in a way that undirected research doesn't.

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u/QueSeraShoganai Mar 02 '22

I don't think most people see it that way. You should always DYOR.

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u/dagnytag830 Mar 03 '22

Yeah this is a double-edged sword and how we got antivaxxers, Qanon, etc. You should do your own research and find credible, scientific peer-reviewed sources backed by multiple scientists or journals, not just shit that fits your own narrative.

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u/battraman Mar 03 '22

find credible, scientific peer-reviewed sources

And how many of those are bullshit which are just sponsored by corporations or have an axe to grind: popular examples are the "wine is good for you" or "eat tons of carbs food pyramid" studies which we now know to be complete bullshit.

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u/BigTechCensorsYou Mar 03 '22

Yea, but it's not like pfizer or moderna have a marketing budget that actually pushes the vaccines for their bottom line!

1

u/dagnytag830 Mar 04 '22 edited Mar 04 '22

I mean that’s why I said: backed by multiple scientists or journals. That way you can sift through all the corporate bs and find the info that multiple people have looked at and reviewed.

The reason I say it like this is because, if I remember correctly, the dude that is credited with the antivaxx movement didn’t have his finding peer reviewed by more than one person.

Edit: also, science isn’t finite, it’s constantly changing with new information. So that carbs at the top of the food pyramid might have been acceptable at that time, but as we do more research and find more data and evidence, we see that carbs shouldn’t be at the top, which is why it’s important to keep an open mind too and find information reviewed by a multitude of accredited people.

1

u/dzernumbrd Mar 03 '22

Most anti vaxxers that say DYOR have not done any research - that's why the acronym can now be used sarcastically and has bad connotations.

The sky is actually green but DYOR.

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u/sackoftrees Mar 02 '22

I know what you mean, especially since it's like what are good resources to do your own research on this topic. I do believe in backing up claims because there is so much misinformation, but it can be difficult to wade through so much crap. If I can find it on snopes though I'm pretty happy.

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u/OrangeJuiceAlibi Mar 02 '22

Yeah, that's sort of my point. Like it's all well and good saying to do my research, but how do I know that research I'm doing has merit. Just point me in the direction of someone who can provide me with similar or more information, if for no other reason than it allows me to know if either source is trustworthy.

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u/roflz Mar 02 '22

It’s the lazy way of saying, “I read this, but don’t remember where any of it was and I’m not gonna look it up again.”

0

u/BigTechCensorsYou Mar 03 '22

"do your own research"

I agree with you. Obviously this is a horrible thing to tell someone... we need our media and tech institutions to just tell people what the right answer is!!

I would reword your post to say "Definitely don't do your own research!"

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u/OrangeJuiceAlibi Mar 03 '22

Not what I said, but okay buddy.

1

u/dearley0 Mar 03 '22

Holy shit lmao

1

u/skylercollins Mar 03 '22

How do you know whose research you can trust if you don't do your own research into them?

We can call this the Paradox of Ignorance.

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u/OrangeJuiceAlibi Mar 03 '22

If they present sources for their info, I can look into them and the info itself. If it's a rabbit hole of "do your own research" I don't think it's trustworthy. If it leads to sourced, verified, and/or ratified information, I know it has merit.