Independent thinking

Today I had quite a few thoughts on how independent the majority of people really are. I noticed that the majority is actually following "the crowd" or "a guru" or "an expert". In general people do not read up on the research themselves.
This is something most people were taught as children. We were shown that adults were right, teachers were right, doctors were right, experts were right. We were taught not to question the people who were right. But were they always right?
I am teaching my children not to take my word of it, or anybody else's word for it. I want them to think for themselves. If the topic is not very easily thought through I want them do their own research and make up their own minds.
I offer them books and internet pages on the topic from different angles.
I myself dig through things that way as well.
One thing that recently came up in our family was veganism or vegetarianism. We know quite a few families who eat that way. The kids wanted to know why and whether it was in the best interest of the environment and whether it was possible to eat that way without jeopardizing their health.
So together we went on a search. I have my mind made up based on my reading, but it never hurts to dig through things again to see if I could change my mind on it.
There were some news books on the market on the topic, so we read them and discussed them.
We also found some interesting new research had been done.
Anyway after reading together, and also looking at traditional way tribal communities ate we came to a couple of conclusions:
1. We need animal foods to stay health, to have a normal dental arch, to have healthy teeth and bones. No indigenous community is without animal products in their diet. Some take mainly milk products, others take mainly meat products, some take milk, meat and blood products. We therefore think that vegetarianism might work for some people, but it requires very serious thought and very serious work.
2. An abundant supply of fruits and vegetables are not necessary for good health, as various tribal communities in Africa have shown. Those communities live (have lived) mainly on meat, milk products and blood and they are (were) very strong and healthy and have no dental caries.
3. Environmentally speaking its not helpful to only eat plant based foods. There is no use in it for the following reasons: plants need to be "fed" animal based foods, else they will not grow well. Pure compost from only plants will in the end exhaust the soil. There is quite a need for bone and blood meal, if you want to do it environmentally friendly. Though there is always artificial fertilizer which is made of fossil oils, we all know that is not the best of "foods" for our soil and plants. So nobody can really truly be a vegan, when you start looking at where the plant foods come from.
We found more reasons which make it clear that animal foods are really necessary for humans.

Another interesting one is dog food, most people buy the rubbish in the shop, but that is food that is plant based. The main component of commercial dog food is grains, then some vegetables and then to make it taste a bit some meat like bits. But when you look at what a wolf - the ancestor of a dog - eats, that has nothing to do with commercial dog food. A wolf eats raw meaty bones. A wolf does not cook its food, nor does it go out and eat grains or vegetables or fruit. A wolf may get a bit of predigested plant based foods from the stomach of his / her prey, but that is really where it ends. Oddly enough even VET's are often convinced that commercial dog food is better, but why then are so many dogs suffering from degenerative diseases? That would not happen if they were eating biologically appropriate food.
Its all propaganda.

Next on my list of thoughts is Gardasil.
People send their daughters to get vaccinated, but how many of these people are read the insert leaflet of Gardasil? How many people have followed the money trail to see who benefits? How many people have read up on the studies done with Gardasil? How many people actually really know that Gardasil was fast tracked through and there is no evidence at all it is safe?
But most will just be good sheep and simply follow the guidelines they have been told to follow and get their daughter that very dangerous shot.
And I personally have not found a vaccine yet that is safe and that is really doing what it promises to do.

Another one of those topics is birth. We are told that birth is painful. We all believe it and therefore are frightened and stressed beforehand and of course, then it does become painful. Stress hormones interfere with the birth process, that process needs a relaxed woman, under those circumstances dilation happens smooth and easy. But we are all told birth is dangerous so we "need" to be in a hospital. But a hospital is usually the place where people get stressed, as they are monitored and all has to go to the minute that is prescribed. Pity that the female body has not "read the book with the schedules" that are used by doctors.
So a lot of women simply end up with a C-section, purely because they are stressed out as they cannot think of birth as a pleasant experience or it being a normal human process that is in itself safe.
So what if a woman does know its safe and does know it can be pleasant.
Well.... then that woman would feel secure enough to stay home, where she feels comfortable and safe. That woman may have a midwife, if she feels like it, but if she doesn't, she has educated herself on the topic and knows what the variations of normal are and will act upon those.
The baby will not be drugged, nor will the mother and in most of the cases all will be smooth and painless (when you know its not supposed to hurt it won't), breastfeeding happens easy and mother recovers quickly.
In the other cases mother knows something is not completely right and gets herself some help quickly. Even in those cases a normal birth is in most cases still possible.

And then we get pregnancy. How many women know that pregnancy is a normal physical state of being for the female body. Very few, most feel they need medical assistence. That is a shame as with that you set yourself up for intervention which is really not necessary most of the time.
There has actually been a study done which shows that prenatal care does not change the outcome.
With knowing that, why bother with all the stress of prenatal (s)care.

And then to my last topic. Education.
Kids are really not taught to think for themselves. Its amazing that some people do end up being independent thinkers as that is really not what they are taught.
At university they start expecting you to be independent and do your work and studies and research. I have however seen that there are people who are completely incapable of doing so at that time. Their education has consisted of being kept busy and being told what to do. How on earth are you going to do stuff independently then.

Well... that is all for now.