Why do so many discussions over food safety get caught up in semantics?

[hedgehog]

Organic patron: I don't want chemicals on my food (clearly meaning petrochemicals)

Typical response: Why, water is a chemical!

I want my food to be organic(meaning raised using non-conventional techniques)

Response: why, all food contains carbon, so it's all organic!

I don't want GMO food (referring to organisms that have had genes from very different organisms inserted, ex, fish with genes from corn or whatever)

Response: All food is GMO because it's all been selected from wild stock and/or hybridized within the species

I don't think GMO foods are safe for the environment.

Response: GMO foods are perfectly safe to eat!


If you can't defend your position without twisting words and/or ignoring arguments, then why should we believe anything you have to say on the subject?

[leftofcool]

1. Why does anyone care what anyone else eats?

Why can't I eat what I want to without anyone else having an opinion on it?

[alp227]

4. Ignorance is ignorance. People are always going to disagree with you.

"Why can't I eat what I want to without anyone else having an opinion on it?" Seriously? Are you trying to shut down critical thinking?

If you have uniformed opinions, like considering fast food healthy or Bigfoot to be an animal, expect your opinion to be laughed at.

[sendero]

2. I have a helpful strategy for dealing.

... with such idiocy. I stop talking to that person because I prefer to spend my time learning and you can't learn anything from an idiot.

[A Little Weird]

3. I've wondered the same thing

It's a strategy that's worked pretty well for the NRA crowd. A debate about guns usually gets derailed by a long and tedious discussion about automatic vs semi-automatic and various other minutiae.

[alp227]

5. Arguments that use poorly chosen words are ineffective.

If you want to say "petro chemical" use that, not "chemical", or else your opinion will be considered as ignorant as Food Babe of "chemicals are bad" fame.

And I consider GMO phobia are ill informed as creationism or UFO sightings. Studies DO show GMO's are safe.