Ignorance

Honestly, sometimes I don't understand people. I'm not sure if it's mainly American people, or if it's just people in general - but it rather frightens me how sheeply people are.

I don't understand how women can take birth control (of any kind) without fully understanding the side effects.
I don't understand how anyone can go to the doctor and NOT realize that they didn't complete the examination before they leave.
I don't understand people who immediately dismiss anything that ruffles their world view without even CONSIDERING if it's true.
I don't understand parents who feed their kids food that they KNOW isn't healthy.
I don't understand how people can so easily abdicate responsibilty for their own lives by taking everything that they have ever learned at face value.

Maybe it's because I know a little bit about so MUCH stuff, and that I rarely (if ever) take what I first learn at face value. I'm naturally suspicious. But it's downright EXASPERATING when I try to share that knowledge with others - and they don't even CARE. ESPECIALLY when it has to do with health.

For example - several of my coworkers (for some reason) were having a conversation about milk. I mentioned the FACT that after the age of TWO most humans rapidly lose the ABILITY to fully digest milk - any kind of milk, especially cow's. One of my coworkers (without having ANY other information besides what the Diary Farmers of America have been pumping into the social arena) more or less called us 'crazy'. *sigh* And we aren't even going to TALK about how they dismissed the facts that the hormones in milk and meat cause girls to develop faster (and gain weight). It's KNOWLEDGE. It's understanding more about your body and our world and... I just don't GET how people are willing to just dismiss it - without even checking to see if it's true.

I'm usually a very outspoken person. I live in the heart of the Midwest, and a good majority of my personal choices are distinctly outside of the norm. I've adopted those choices because of the research I've done on it - not because some commercial told me to. Lately though, I've noticed myself keeping my mouth shut more and more. I'm TIRED of defending my choices because some NUMBNUT doesn't have to drive to inform themselves about the choices they are making.

I really need to find some 'unconventional' friends, otherwise I might bite my tongue off. I know that I can come off as VERY 'know-it-all' and I've been told sometimes that I am a little 'holier-than-thou', and truly, I try to remain concisous of that and let people make their own decisions - even if I viruently disargee with them. The hardest thing for me though is staying silent when I KNOW they aren't coming from a place of complete knowledge - that they are relying on what' they've been told rather than what they've learned.

I've got to get out of this state.