Facts Can Save Your Life BY KARI FOWLER & LUKE HARBERS Tax Scams Daniel Bullock- California man church going orthopedic surgeon loses medical license because of a sleazy tax-shelter promoter He got scammed thinking he found a short cut in paying taxes. He did not look for evidence and solid information before believing what he thought was true What have we learned: Look for evidence of the contrary. The Grey Goose Effect Belief that high priced goods are better quality. Brand names really do not matter When something has a higher price people are more likely to buy it because they think it is better Taste Test between Grey Goose Vodka and Smirnoff Vodka only 50% could tell which was which. (Smirnoff is cheaper than Grey Goose Vodka.) Prices do not only deal with food though colleges are now making tuition similar to Harvard’s and other ivy league schools and vacuums, prices have nothing to do with quality! What have we learned: Finding generic brands of your favorite foods can save you a lot of money. Just because something cost more doesn’t mean it’s better. You’re really just paying for the brand name. Selling False Hope Chuck Hysong diagnosed with bone cancer Scammed into taking Optimizer ENG-G from a man who didn’t believe in modern medicine and believed in “alternative” medicine The man said he had a 100% cure rate of cancer and it cost $5000 After taking the alternative medicine his symptoms got worse and his body fell apart Selling False Hope Cont. Hysong was so desperate for a cure but taking this risk only left him worse off. He passed away 3 months later. People fell prey to quackery and medical fraud because there are no cures for some of their illnesses Scam artists like these are still very prevalent in today’s society. What have we learned: Trust your doctor’s advice, buying medicines from people that are not doctors can be extremely dangerous. What really Kills Women? Heart Disease is the number one killer of women. People need to educate themselves on health and need to check for more than just breast cancer because heart disease is worse, There is so much promotion for breast cancer because so many women are surviving from it. What about heart disease? What have we learned: Taking the time to do research on your own health is very important. Don’t just believe something because you see it all the time in the media. Dangerous Ignorance Teenagers put their health at risk by engaging in sexual activity. Many teens get their facts wrong about sex, a group of ninth-graders thought you couldn’t contract any STDs from oral sex. That is completely false. Why are teenagers getting involved in sex so early? Because they think everyone else is doing it and they fall prey to peer pressure. Studies have shown that not nearly as many teens are engaging in sexual activity as the teens thought. Male college students feel the need to drink large amounts of alcohol in college because they feel it is expected of them. What have we learned: Don’t put yourself in dangerous situations. Talk to authority figures and peers if you feel pressure to do something. Just because you hear gossip doesn’t mean its true. Facts Change History Did you know? That desegregationist whites were a big majority in the South. But thought they were the minority. If they would have known otherwise there might have not been so much segregation and our country might have been able to advance quicker as a union. What have we learned: Many things and circumstances can be change if we stand up and speak out. Finding out the facts can make a huge difference for generations to come. Fighting Words Getting people riled up about war can cause major conflict. It is easy to convince people to go to war when the facts are skewed. For example, the Spanish-American War started after the assumption that the Spanish sank The Maine. The government got everybody to point the finger at the Spanish when the U.S really wasn’t sure who did it. What we have learned: It is important to get the facts before making judgments. A Military Duty to Lie All in all our history might have been different had the public known the facts. War fever might well have been lowered Leaders might have acted differently THE END