During the brief respite of down time between the end of my internship and start of the new semester, I journeyed home, and indulged in the usual binge of netflix programming. My little nerd heart, wracked with the guilt of wasted time watching television, I gave myself parameters that I was only allowed to watch Spanish films or documentaries.
In a week, I watched nearly every nutritional documentary on netflix instant queue. I also watched a lot of documentaries about American politics, the state of our economy, social and class issues, poverty in America, and finding the root of happiness. And I began to question.
And then I began to google, and read and read and read. I went to the library. And then I read some more. I kept watching more films, and I kept reading more books, and I kept googling.
Let me tell you, I felt like I was breathing air for the first time. Like a mole who has stuck its head out of a hole, I’m seeing sunshine, and it’s blinding, and hurts my eyes a bit, but it’s also beautiful.
Some of the takeaways from my end of summer netflix binge:
1. Being a college student, young adult, general lover of literature, history and avoider of journalism means that I live in a lovely bubble making uninformed choices day after day.
2. No one is telling the truth. Information we read, see, and hear is based on opinions or conclusions drawn from observations formed from not necessarily true information. I think we all know not to whole-heartedly believe politicians, documentary film makers, and non-fiction writers and journalists. But we can’t believe everything we’re told by experts and scholars, the FDA and the government in general, our parents, our priest even. I’m not a crazy conspiracy theorist. I just no longer believe that anyone necessarily knows anything.
An example of my trust no one conclusion: my elementary school hung “Got Milk” banners in our cafeteria, and milk was included in our lunches, and given to us at snack time. Based on the ads, and what I had been told in health class, I thought it was very important that I consume 3-5 servings of dairy per day. It turns out that Got Milk ads are paid for by dairy farmers that want to sell more of their products. After running into my elementary school health teacher last week and realizing she’s a heavy smoker, and a very heavy woman in general, I’m beginning to question her endorsement of milk as well. I don’t believe dairy is unhealthy, but I no longer think it’s particularly necessary either. There is a lot of evidence arguing against dairy consumption, perhaps as much evidence arguing for it. So maybe it isn’t super important I have three servings of dairy in a day, but also not super important I become a vegan either.
Now that I’ve ranted about dairy products like a lunatic, back to the discussion of documentaries. If you want to join my enlightened, overly suspicious, and skeptical club, here are some suggestions to get you started. Keep in mind, don’t believe any of these movies, they are just more opinions, take what you will from them and remember, they are still entertainment.
Nutrition: Forks Over Knives, Food, Inc., Hungry for Change, Supersize Me
Social Issues: Waiting for Superman, The Thin Blue Line, Religulous,
Environment: Who Killed the Electric Car?, An Inconvenient Truth, The Cove
Life Philosophies: Happy
Gender and Sex Equality: The Invisible War, For the Bible Tells Me So, Miss Representation