From Convictions To Crazy
(25 September 2023 Note: Kevin Trudeau had been in the news a lot in 2005 because of fraud allegations, the pulling of his infomercials, and interviews. It had become clear that he was not trustworthy and I had never seen his book before, and when I saw a copy at Charlie & Delisa’s house, I was really excited to see what it was all about. In the years after I wrote this, more would come out to really cement the idea that Trudeau is a charlatan and fraudster. His book should not be trusted and in today’s climate of conspiratorial thinking, I would not recommend anyone reading it.)
We had just come home from the dinner and I was really feeling ill from my cold. I decided (or, I was convinced) to go to bed. Delisa needed to work on her lesson for today anyhow. I watched some Ellen and then retired to the guest bedroom, where I took a book to read. I settled on Natural Cures “They” Don’t Want You To Know About by Kevin Trudeau. You may have seen this moron on television, proclaiming the horrors of everything from fast food to prescription drugs. To this guy, everything is “toxic.”
I couldn’t think he was a bigger crackpot. Nothing in the book is backed up with research (or he doesn’t cite his research, which is cause for skepticism), many of his points are merely quotes by various sources which are not cited properly and clearly could be taken out of context, and it is so poorly written and unfocused that I cannot imagine that any publisher agreed to take it on.
I think it is worth reading. I have never been so angry as I was after reading it. I kept thinking, this chapter would have made a brilliant book if he had spent more time explaining and supporting the arguments. Mostly over prescription drugs. I want to see the proof, as anyone should. I refuse to take him at his word for two reasons. Freedom of speech allows for such books to be written, regardless of consequence, and this is the same person who so heavily promoted the Atkins diet on television. He has a lot to say in the book about the world being about money and how obviously evil that is, but he himself is profiting from a product designed to scare you. That is all about the money.
Read it, hate it, and please come to your own conclusions. I personally have never been more turned off of anything “organic,” which was not his intention. Also, the book offended me when it referred to fishing in Canada, where he had an “Indian” guide. Now, unless a person from India came and helped them fish, I think he needs to catch up to the rest of the world. Or is it just me who finds that offensive? Personally, I would use either Native American (if I totally didn’t care about/know the person) or I would have mentioned which nation/tribe the individual belongs to. It is an outrage that such blatant ignorance is still allowed in the world today.
So, I have been in Alaska for two weeks! Considering I have spent the past 4 days mostly sick in bed, I have not found a job yet. I did get the paper this morning and it should be helpful as I am starting to get over my cold.
What I have found weird is the almost militant veganism they subscribe to. It is somewhat subtle, but borders on bitter and nasty. I attended the first meeting (potluck) of the Alaska Vegetarian Society as a guest last night. In and of itself, the dinner was nice and the people were so friendly. It was one of the happiest places on Earth. But I found that an underlying theme in the evening was how wasteful the planet is and how cruel we are to the “very intelligent” livestock we eat on a regular basis. I absolutely appreciate the argument, but I don’t agree. Mind you, I fully support vegetarianism for its many benefits, but this type of over-the-top veganism doesn’t sit well with me.
I think Daria summed it up nicely. And this newest adventure in my life is quickly becoming one of the most frustrating too. Things just never go smoothly and I think that from time to time they just should.
coming up with the money for the apartment, getting my stuff/cats up here, paying for gas/tires along the way. It is all just a little much to handle.
It seems quite official — we are moving to Alaska. Lori has had a lot of luck in finding a job, but I still have nothing. I need to try just that much harder this week so I can find something. Justin seems equally ready to just “get the hell out of Dodge” so to speak. It seems we have reached a conclusion that this is where we want to be.
I have asked Brent for help, but I am not sure to what extent he can. It is a bad time to be moving and I know that one or two months ago would have proven easier on us. But we won’t soon forget the arduous trek across the continent, just to find something new. It will likely be one of the highlights of our time of the planet, regardless of the level of success we have in our new lives.
We are here! Experiencing life in Alaska by way of vacation. Of course it is beautiful up here – that is pretty much common knowledge, but I didn’t expect such kind people. We arrived in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, searched the entire city of Anchorage for a hotel room (to no avail) and finally drove to Palmer and stayed in a motel there. That is where we are staying anyway. Palmer is the town where my dad grew up and we have been fortunate to be allowed to stay with one of his friends, Peter-Ann. She is so incredibly generous and I felt bad for being so quiet yesterday – I was just so tired.
was great and you could really tell that they love their airline. We did however get stuck with a motley crew of passengers around us. From the guy with part of an ear missing (which didn’t bother me for about 6 hours, but by that 8th hour I never wanted to see him or his ear again) to the woman with the back problem (she was 2 rows in front of us, but spent the ENTIRE flight from Dallas to Seattle turned around talking to a woman she didn’t know in a seat in front of us). It was interesting – and exhausting. The small kids directly behind us were the most quiet and well-behaved passengers around us.