Off the top of my head, as it's something I have contemplated for awhile now with my own friends and family.

You don't. If someone is interested they will ask. You can't just walk up to them and say "this is bad, this is good, etc". When going out to eat at a restaurant ( I don't, but an example ) you could just order a salad and water (or better yet nothing). When asked why don't you get something more explain briefly in hope that another question, hopefully leading to more depth, will be asked.

Some people just don't want to hear about how they are being lied to in the media/government, how bad for them the food they eat is, how the little things they spend their money on is what actually keeps them financially fucked, etc. Especially these days. "Dont question [perceived] authority. Report any suspicious activity. What we give you to eat is good for you. Money is essential to live, and living makes you happy..."

At the very least, if you want to help expand their view, put together a compendium of research papers, articles, and/or documentaries on certain topics to get them inquisitive. Or, get them to go outside with you for an extended period of time with no modern distractions and see what kind of topics come up and how well they both talk and listen. Try to isolate someone who is more attentive away from someone who outright will not hear you. Get creative.

Would you mind elaborating on the "how the little things they spend their money on is what actually keeps them financially fucked" part of that? I'm interested.

Fast food, a soft drink here or there, a pack of gum or a candy bar, perhaps buying a new pair of shoes or new outfit every week, smoking, going to the bar, etc. Now, individually some things (not limited to my examples) may serve a beneficial purpose; at the same time they are also a coping mechanism. Combined they are entrapment which goes for the following:

Paying rent, making a car payment, car insurance, paying utilities, phone/cable bill, gasoline, student loans, etc; these are the "necessities" that people must use in order to live; in order to live, one must also work for an exchange that allows them to trade for those "necessities". All of these necessities compliment each other, the same as the former.

What most people never consider is how by way of those coping mechanisms, the little things, they are trapping themselves into working for those "necessities" and digging themselves more-so into what I will just flat out call enslavement; by the end of their life they may have their house paid off, and their car paid off, but what if you could've achieved that at 30, if you didn't receive prior assistance (non-governmental, of course; familial, perhaps), by simply not being swaying to the ebb and flow of "norms". Some of the most accepted acts in society are some of the worst things you can possibly do both individually and collectively.

"What do I need, what do I want, and what can I not afford to ensure that I am putting as much as possible to being as independent as soon as possible; buying land, building small house, growing/cultivating own food etc. And what can I learn during this process of freeing myself from depending on other people or the "but you have to!" contractual services which I know little to nothing about."

Alas, many people don't want that; it's "foreign" and "weird" and "too hard" and, the big one, "un-american".

That's not weird at all. It's being smart.

I was thinking that with the allowance and birthday money I've gotten over the years, I've spent thousands, but haven't really obtained much to show for it.

Sure, you and I see it as being smart, but not everyone sees it that way and most don't even see it at all.

figuratively speaking...

If you told someone car insurance was a scam, how would they respond? "What? You have to have insurance. You can't not have insurance." Orly?...

What about buying your own house? 30 year death-contract? I mean mortgage... you end up spending in some cases 3 times what the actual cost of the house is at the time.

Or paying 1000 dollar a month for renting an apartment over 10 years?

Get a loan for a few acres (if you have to), have a house built, start growing their own food, and have utilities run to it (if they want them), for less than half what they spent on the rent over 10 years, 1/10th the cost of buying a house over 30 years, and have it all done in a few months?

Leasing a car? Just fucking stupid. No need to go into detail here.

How about buying a new car, getting a trade-in, then financing/loan from a dealer? ... Why?

You get the idea. People don't think about it. They don't want to think about it. And when people don't think about the "big" things in their lives, what else do they not think about? Everything... and everything else is the reason they don't think about it. It's a circle.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is, if people can understand themselves and why they do the things they do (or what other people do) without trying to excuse or justify it, then they will naturally be more inquisitive about other things that they normally wouldn't. They don't see the things they do, use, and complain about at the same time as being bad; they don't see themselves as bad, so they don't change.

My parents and I moved about a year and a half ago, about fifteen miles over to a new city. I've overheard the clusterfuck they've gone through with trying to get a loan for this house, trying to sell the old house, and now trying to get a refi on this loan. Jesus Christ, it's as if the bank has to rip its eyes out to give my parents a loan. And they're not deadbeats, either. Never missed a payment.

I agree with the new car thing. I have no plans on ever buying a new car, when you can buy a car that's just like it used for half or even less.

All the apartments in this area are full of shady types. It's like $1500 for the cheapest cockroach-infested ones. When I move out, I'm going to look for a room to rent in a nice neighborhood. Make sure the money goes to people, not whoever the hell owns the apartment complex.

Land around here is INCREDIBLY expensive. I do know that since our new house is in a fairly rural area, and with a fair bit of land, my parents (my mom at least) want to slowly move off the grid. Clear some land and plant fruits and veggies. Get on well water (which won't have fluoride, but I figure we'll still need to get a filter since it's apparently high in nitrates), and get solar panels installed.

If it wasn't the law, fuck, I wouldn't have insurance. But it's the law here, and you have to consider that they can sue your ass if it's your fault. It's not like I have that much to take anyway, being a college student and whatnot.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=tap-drinking-water-contaminants-pollutants

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=us-drinking-water-wells-contaminated-with-arsenic-other-elements

You don't. I learned this the hard way because people do not want to help themselves. If they want to know, they'll ask. Where I draw the line (personally) is when my family speaks ignorantly in my presence, or if they challenge me on the legitimacy of my information. If one of those two conditions are met, then I will engage and try to persuade. I let THEM bring it up, that way when I come swinging with truth I don't look as much like the asshole...

The answer to your question is really quite simple. You show them these "tons of scientific studies" that "prove the dangers of these things."

In fact, I would also like to see them. I'm curious if your version of "scientific studies" are the same as mine.

Typing in fluoride on Youtube brings up tons of things about fluoride. I tried googling it, too, and I wasn't able to find anything about how it's good.

I did find that supposedly calcium fluoride is good for your teeth, though.

No offense intended (and I mean that), but given my field of study, I encounter a lot of claims advertising themselves as truth. What makes something true is when it can be proven with supporting evidence, which in turn can be verified through scientific method. I speak largely of medical claims here, of course.

Citing Youtube and the people on it is not exactly providing the people you are trying to convince with a reliable source of information. We're talking about a completely public medium in which anyone can toss up misinformation, biased reporting and whatever else they feel backs up their claims, which could be anything from a carefully edited study to a complete off-the-cuff hunch. What a perfect place to say just about anything you damned well please, right? (Let the record show that I feel the mainstream media does the exact same thing, btw)

You are perpetuating your own stereotype by doing this. What you need to do is find credible sources of information supporting these claims. And cross reference them! Don't just build an entire argument on the first bit of evidence you stumble upon. You see, and this is the unfortunate thing about today's internet world, it is getting more and more difficult to sort out unfounded opinion from actual verifiable fact. Most people are unwilling to put the effort it takes to research any information they find, and as a result they either take what they hear at face value, or they just ignore it.

Until I started really using the internet to my full advantage, I was guilty of these things as well. Especially with medical claims. I've learned a few things in the last ten years or so. When it comes to health-related science claims, one thing you can do while browsing for sources of trusted information is look for something called a "HON" seal. It stands for Health on the Net, and is a group of doctors and scientists from all over the world who dedicate their time to the verification of health and medical "facts" you find online. If that's not enough, many university libraries have access to scientific journals, in which nothing gets published unless it is verifiable or clearly stated that what is being claimed is currently a theory.

Basically, put some effort into the research. That does not include sites like YouTube. Even Wikipedia is not exactly a trusted source, but at the very least, it can be a good starting point.

There's really no way around the fact that if you want to avoid being the tin hat guy, then you have got to have disciplined research to back yourself up, and this takes a lot of time and dedication. Even a medical doctor needs to present sound reasoning and verifiable fact when supporting an idea that is contrary to an existing one. We are no different.

So, when you're out there Googling away, and encounter sites like this, I want you to ask some questions. Who are these people making these claims and why are they making them? Is their evidence verifiable? How were the studies conducted, and who funded them? Is it possible that they are biased for a reason other than public health concerns? Why hasn't this information been more widely propagated, and to what end is the opposition of it working toward?

Thank you for that, really. You've given me a fresh perspective with which to examine issues.

Glad I could help!

Also, not sure what the deal is, but we are getting downvoted. It irks me when people do that without contributing to the conversation.

I don't understand why certain threads even have downvotes. I actually pondered it for a while, and determined that there's a Scumbag Steve-esque guy going around and downvoting all threads that don't have boobs.

You won't be vaccinating your children? I'm very interested in the research you found that led you to make that decision... I do agree with avoiding aspartame when possible, and flouride is and has been a hot topic. MSG however, is fairly harmless in appropriate doses for most people, and the slander against vaccines is absolute stupidity 95% of the time...

Also, be wary of what scientific studies you are reading. Youtube might not be the best place to do research - Although the information is very accessible, it is difficult to appraise its accuracy.

I just realized I didn't answer your question - A lot of people simply don't want to hear it. Your best bet is to be very calm, and not pushy. Bring up these topics in the context of "I read this interesting article about x, did you know that research suggests...." instead of "The government is controlling us through x! You should be angry!"

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Another good move with the deodorant, the correlation between that and certain medical conditions (Alzheimer's) has been known for a while now. I guess my concern here is that there is a large number of vaccines available, and some of them are very important to keep herd immunity in a healthy population. A polio or pertussis epidemic would be unpleasant and entirely avoidable to say the least. Several vaccines do contain the metals you mentioned, but they are not in doses high enough to cause problems in most people. I'm not saying vaccines are perfect, but I feel that most of the opposition to them comes from a very vocal minority underqualified to speak about the effectiveness of medical treatments, so I'm merely suggesting you take a closer look at the literature before making a decision that will effect a child's health. I should probably do the same

I've read that vaccines contain mercury and aluminum

Almonds & apples contain cyanide and that water contains hydrogen!

Listen to this guy, please - the guy who made the first vaccines+autism link is disgraced and has redacted all of his falsified work, has been struck from the medical register and is no longer allowed to practice medicine in the UK. See what the BMJ thinks of his 'research' and his plan to profit.

Jenny Mccarthy or whatever that bint is called wrote a fucking foreword for his book too, she's in cahoots.

If you're anti-vaccine you might as well have a tin foil hat.

Ridiculous.

You sound ridiculously impressionable.

I am. ._.

On the topic of flouride, have you started filtering your water with a reverse osmosis system?

No, I don't have the money for it. I don't drink any of the water from the tap and I try to take shorter showers.

I thought I was unable to afford an R/O system until I found a portable system on ebay for around $90 which quickly become cheaper than purchasing bottled water.

for one don't tell them what you are doing because most people are so programmed they will never understand.

Sounds like you need to convince yourself first.

You can't convince someone to wake up if they are in love with being asleep.

Be the change; when you refuse to participate in those things, they will ask why. That is your moment; be prepared for it.