How did we get so casual about conspiracy theories?

I was talking with someone today about nutrition. This person has a PhD in material science. They mentioned eating beef daily and I asked about the cholesterol implications. The answer was about a vague ‘they’ wanted us to think that, but it wasn’t true anymore.

I hear the vague ‘they’ so frequently now it’s just a normal conversation. In truth, as soon as I hear the vague they I dismiss the speaker’s credibility on the subject, but how did we get here? Vague they wanted us to think X is a valid counter argument by the most highly educated people in our society?

This sounds like more of a rant than a question, but I do truly want to know how this happened? Was it pop culture like the X Files that made conspiracy theories main stream? Was it social media? When will the vague they stop being an accepted explanation? Has it always been this way and I didn’t notice?

Thanks, love you!

  • timmytbt@sh.itjust.works
    2·
    15 hours ago

    Trans fats are from processed vegetable oils though, right?

    My understanding is that typically, unmodified vegetable oils are considered the safest oils for human consumption.

    “In the past, most of the trans fat in foods came from partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), formed through a manufacturing process that converts vegetable oil into a solid fat at room temperature. Trans fat also occurs naturally in food products from ruminant animals (e.g., milk, butter, cheese, meat products).”

    https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/trans-fat

    • Death_Equity@lemmy.world
      11·
      13 hours ago

      That is my understanding of the available and validated research.

      Vegetable fats are the lesser of two evils when it comes to processed vs unprocessed vegetable sourced fats.

      However, I have come to the conclusion that vegetable fats are lacking in terms of overall benefits vs meat fats.

      Could we eventually adapt to plant fats being better than meat fats? Absolutely, but we haven’t evolved that to be true and too many micronutrients are less available from vegetable fat sources.

      No matter, processed foods are worse than natural sources and meatless diets are harder to maintain health than an omnivorous diet.