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Re: [GWL]: A New Rant

In a message dated 01/25/2002 8:55:21 AM Pacific Standard Time, jeffball@starband.net writes:


But Joe's list had me add
to the list.



OK, here I go, playing devil's advocate once again.

How, as a reporter, do you identify myths and debunk them? There are two immediate problems as I see it.

1. Sometimes real knowledge changes. That is, all of the best evidence---scientific and anecdotal---indicates that X is the case. This goes on for years. Then further research and experimentation reveals that Y is actually the case, and X is false. Are you perpetrating a "myth" when you report X? Or has the new data just not caught up? And what if that new data is, itself, controversial? See, for instance, the raving arguments over the scientific name for tomatoes.

2. As you research a question, what happens if everything you uncover indicates X. A good case in point: the use of gysum to help break up clay. Virtually every reference I've seen on this says to use gypsum. Even saw one scientific break down as to why gypsum works for this purpose, complete with chemical analysis. Now you and others are saying this is a myth. Worse, you're saying that if I repeat it in a column or article that I'm a sloppy garden writer who doesn't know what he's talking about. Seems a little harsh to me.

Among other things, I'm a herbalist, and have seen far too many instances where some writer has debunked the "myth" of herbal remedies. Now herbalism is becoming mainstream, and suddenly the same writers are talking about how effective these remedies can be. In each case, they got their information by intervieing medical "experts." So, does this make them sloppy writers?

Is a puzzlement!


Brook 
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