Deck 11: Fact and Opinion

Question 1

Avoiding Health Fraud and Quackery
According to the Federal Trade Commission, consumers waste billions of dollars on unproven, fraudulently marketed, and sometimes useless health care products and treatments. In addition, those with serious medical problems may waste valuable time before seeking proper treatment. Worse yet, some of the products they're buying may cause serious harm. Health fraud is a business that sells false hope. It preys on people who are victims of disease that have no medical cure and on people who want shortcuts to weight loss or improvements to personal appearance. The first rule of thumb for evaluating any health claim is that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. To check out a particular product, talk to a physician or another health care professional and to family members and friends. Be wary of treatments offered by people who tell you to avoid talking to others.
(643)
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Answer 1

The writer has a bias against unproven medical cures.

Question 2

Changing the Public's View on Aging
Aging people may be one of our least used and least appreciated resources. How can we use the knowledge and productivity of our growing numbers of older citizens, particularly those now leaving the work force through mandatory early retirement First, we must change our thinking about what aging means. We must learn to judge productivity rather than age. Capacity to function should replace age as a criterion for usefulness. Instead of singling out 65 as a magic number, we could consider ages 50-75 as the third quarter of life. Changes occur around 50 that signal a new era: children are usually grown and gone; a person has often achieved a level in career, earnings, and accomplishments that meets his or her ambitions. The upper end of the quarter is determined by the fact that most people today are vigorous, in good health, mentally alert, and capable of making a productive contribution until they are at least in their seventies. However we define old age, the costs of losing what these people can contribute to our national productivity and quality of life are too high.
(598)
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Answer 2

Senior citizens can still contribute to society well into their 70's

Question 3

Hold the Drinker Responsible
When any alcohol is consumed, the individual must take full responsibility for his or her behavior. Pardoning unacceptable behavior fosters the attitude that the behavior is due to the drug. The drinker is thereby excused from responsibility and learns to expect minimal adverse consequences for his or her behavior. Research indicates that the opposite approach--holding the individual fully accountable for his or her behavior--is a more effective policy. For example, alcohol-impaired drivers who receive legal penalties have fewer subsequent rearrests than those who receive only mandatory treatment. Restrictions on public smoking gained momentum after nonsmokers learned about the dangers that environmental tobacco smoke posed to them. Other people's drunkenness can impinge on your living or study environment. Speak up against this behavior--and insist on your rights.
(p. 291)
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Answer 3

The writer is in favor of making people responsible for their negative actions.

Question 4

How to Be a Green Consumer
It may seem like a hassle to consider the environmental impact of the things you buy, but a few simple choices can make a big difference without compromising your lifestyle. You can quickly and easily develop habits that direct your consumer dollar toward environmentally friendly products and companies. Remember the three Rs of green consumerism. One, reduce the amount of trash and pollution you generate by consuming and throwing away less. Two, reuse as many products as possible--either yourself or by selling them or donating them to charity. Three, recycle all appropriate materials and buy recycled products whenever possible. Keep in mind that doing something is better than doing nothing. Even if you can't be a perfectly green consumer, doing your best on any purchase will make a difference.
(p. 698)
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Question 5

Online Relationships
More and more, people are looking to the Internet to find friends and partners. There are drawbacks to meeting partners online, however. People can misrepresent themselves, pretending to be very different--older or younger or even of a different sex--than they really are. Investing time and emotional resources in an unrealistic romance can be painful. There have also been a few instances in which online romances have become dangerous or even deadly. Online incidents of harassment or abuse are becoming more common and more serious, and the U.S. Department of Justice estimates that nearly one-half million people each year experience cyberstalking. Cyberstalkers may send harassing or threatening e-mails or chat room messages to the victim, or they may encourage others to harass the victim. In order to be safe online never use your real name as an e-mail username or chat room nickname. Avoid filling out profiles for accounts related to e-mail use or chat room activities with information that could be used to identify you. If you do experience harassment online, do not respond to the harasser, log off or surf elsewhere, save all communications for evidence, and contact your local police department.
(681-682)
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Question 6

Growing Old Behind Gray Walls
John Saxon expects to die in prison. For the better part of the 1990s, the 56-year-old paraplegic has been serving a 15- to 30-year sentence for killing a person and wounding two others. He is confined to a hospital bed and can't feed himself or go to the bathroom alone. He is one of the nearly 40,000 prisoners aged 55 or older in state and federal prisons in this country. Elderly prisoners like John are a significant financial burden. Their medical expenses are estimated to be two to three times greater than those for younger prisoners. Inmates are not eligible for Medicaid or Medicare, and federal judges have ruled that failure to provide adequate care is a violation of the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Because of these regulations, prison systems end up footing the entire bill for treatments of cancer, heart disease, prostate problems, strokes, Alzheimer's and emphysema. Estimates are that within the next few years there could be 125,000 geriatric prisoners. Today medical expenses are the fastest growing items in prison budgets, and expenditures on prisons are the fastest growing items in state budgets. In the near future, the cost to states may well become too much to bear.
( Criminal Justice , fourth edition, by Freda Adler, New York, McGraw-Hill, 2006, pp. 370-371)
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