Some thoughts on Stefan's interview with Marc Jacobs

[Guest - Josh -]

 

 

I have a few quick thoughts on this video concerning nutrition and gun violence:

 

 

1)  I was reminded of an article I saw on reddit the other day, entitled, "40 Years of Government Nutrition Data May Be Flawed." It discussed this study. Funding information for the study can be found here; keep in mind the sponsors had no say in the methodology or conclusions of the study.

 

I thought it would be useful for Stef to reference in future videos, or to use in presentations on health if he chooses to do so in the future.

 

 

2)  Another thing I noticed Stef mention was the "Harvard study" on gun violence. I remember seeing many articles that mentioned the study, such as this one. I ended up posting "the study" on another forum, only to find out it was in fact not conducted by Harvard (but was simply featured in a student journal that isn't even peer reviewed), and that its data might be skewed (at least according to my opponent at the time). In any case, it's not a Harvard study.

 

Of course, I had to be corrected by someone who favored gun control, which was somewhat embarrassing to say the least. I absolutely hate to be wrong about things. I ended up retracting the source to maintain credibility, savoring a mouthful of humble pie as I did. Ah well, everyone makes mistakes.

 

My view on gun control has not changed, since I oppose it for moral reasons, among others. And there are still several examples of violence (gun and otherwise) going up in the UK as a result of their gun bans. I'm willing to accept that I'm wrong (on the off chance that gun control -- at least in China, or places with fewer privately owned weapons -- means less gun crime [not of course counting state violence]), but maybe I just haven't come across enough data to back up my arguments. Unfortunately, Harvard's actual reports on the matter are typically welcomed by gun control advocates. ^1,2,3,4