Verification Report - Haseeb Sheikh (1) (1)
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Communications
Date
Nov 24, 2024
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7
Uploaded by shafiqshaikh88
Sheikh
Haseeb Sheikh
Lauren McConnell
ENG4U q1+
June 6, 2023
Deepfakes: In a world where seemingly everything can be faked, how can we identify the
truth? How concerned should we be about deepfakes?
As we studied in the New Media study that we need to be thoughtful consumer of online new
media and before believing upon any news we need to search the reliability of source giving that
news. We need to do lateral readings on the most reliable sources to check the validity of news or
any opinion. We are supposed to apply the filters of chomsky’s theory to become a thoughtful
consumer of the media. In many situations we can be confused when we encounter two different
opinions or contradictory information and following a wrong piece of information or opinion
given online can lead us steering down to the wrong pathway causing damage or worsening the
situation. In this article we will give an example of such contradictions given in online articles or
websites.
For decades we know saturated fat cause an increase in blood LDL cholesterol levels
and that increased blood LDL cholestrol is associated with coronary artery disease, which is a
leading cause of death.
For last some years a new theory or propaganda is prevailing online that
coconut oil is good for heart health and there are online article from othe websites, claiming that
coconut oil is worst for heart health. Now we need to find the truth by investigating the source of
information and reliability of the websites. The first article, which promotes the misconception
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is “is coconut oil good or bad for heart health” by Stephen Sinatra on his website
“healthydirections.com. Dr. Stephen sinatra and his co-worker wrote a book also named “ The
great cholesterle myth”. This book is available on google books. In that book he use very
rhetorical approach to convince even very educated people by giving meta-analysis of previous
research studies that actually it is not cholesterol, which cause heart attack and on the contrary it
is very good for the brain and memory. Dr. Sinatra in his book and in this article says,
“What's also important to note is that while coconut oil contains saturated fat, it's made up of
medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA)—not the long-chain fatty acids found in most oils. So,
it's
heart healthy”
.
Since cholesterol is composed of 3 fattyacid and one glycerol molecule. The emphasis of Dr.
Sinatra is that other oils have long chain fatty acids, which cause clogging into the arteries, while
coconut oil has mostly medium or small chain fatty acids, which does not clog the arteries. In the
triangle of rhetorical approach, he uses the ethos by giving his position of being chief of
cardiology at Manchester Memorial Hospital and his past 40 years of practice. Though in his
approach of logos of rhetorical approach he is very great, his theory is not accepted by the
reliable sources like WHO, heart and stroke foundation of Canada, American heart association
and many other reliable sources as all of these web sites say that coconut oil is bad for the heart
as it contains large amount of saturated fat, which is not good for the heart.
Another online article “ Coconut oil is marketed as health, but it had more saturated fat then
butter and lard” is on the CBC online website. This article rebutts the theory of using coconut oil
for heart health and informs that the marketting of coconut oil was sparked after the research
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work of “ said Marie-Pierre St-Onge, a human nutritionist, who herself does not recommend the
frequent use of coconut oil. This article quotes the comments of St-Onge, who says that it is
unfortunate that coconut oil has been given this health halo, especially since we know that
saturated fat increase the cholesterol concentration, which increase risk of cardiovascular disease
and she further said that medium chain fatty acid in cocunut oil is only 15 percent.
To further confirm the truth, we should do lateral readings on the reliable sources such as
American heart association research journals,
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.119.044687
, coconut oil and
heart health , Fact or fiction, which says “coconut oil contributes to cardiovascular disease would
appear noncontroversial because its saturated fat content increases plasma low-density
lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol concentration”. This article further says that it is due to the
successful remarkable marketing of coconut oil and related industry, which caused 70% of
Americans to believe that coconut oil is good for the heart health.
Now we see how reliable is the website healthydirections.com, which recommends to use
coconut oil for heart health. This website is marketting a number of coconut oil based products
including coconut oil. It seems that there is marketing relations between coconut oil industry and
the owner of the website. If we apply Krastave theory of echo chambers, which says that
consumers shares the messages without checking the reliability of source and it keep going on.
So it is obvious the 70% of the general public in america is an example of Krastave theory of
echo chamber. Since Dr. Stephen is very rhetoric in his approach and has a team of other Doctors
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with him as well. It seems that even his team members are part of gaining the profit earned by
promoting the gimmicks of making people use the product for a large share of the profit.
If we apply the filters of chomsky’s theory of propaganda model, It is obvious that Dr. Stephen is
running his business of products made up of coconut oil and the filter of ownership and profit
applies on his online propaganda. Another filter which can be applied to healthyconnections.com
is “Flack”. Since there are many reliable sources which does approve and on the contrary
condemn this theory but no such comment can be seen on the website. In the review section of
the website there are only comments regarding the shipment of the products and the products
being very good but no comments that decades of research and reliable sources do not approve
the use of coconut oil, which shows that the element of flack has been employed by the website.
Though Dr. Stephen did not use the filter of “common enemy is his online article but he
employed it in his book, The great myth of cholesterol” by telling public that dementia is cause
by the deficeincy of cholesterol and our ancestors used the saturated oil and at that time heart
disease was not so rampant. He disapproved the use of statin drugs prescribed by the other
cardiologists to decrease the level of cholesterol. Giving his logics that coconut oil does not have
long chain fatty acids, so it does not increase harmful LDL but only small chain LDL, he says
those patients of heart, who have memory problem, will get benefit from coconut oil. There is a
big controversy and lobby or grouping due to his false propaganda as indicated by the
McLuhan’s theory of retribilization. Dr. Stephen’s propaganda is a big concern for the safety of
general public. For the benefit of general public and to reduce this grouping Goverment should
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employ policies to bring such promotors of false propaganda into the court and promote
awareness through different sources.
The article which disapprove the coconut oil, is from the CBC news website, which is a reliable
source. Further this article employs the comments of the scientist, (who originally promoted the
small amount of coconut oil to reduce obesity in 2003) not to use coconut oil frequently and that
only 15% of coconut oil is medium chain fatty acid. This article is supported by the reliable
sources and by the medical books taught in the universities for last many decades. The filters of
chomsky’s theory can not be applied to this article and purpose of the article is to promote
awareness for health and safety of general public.
Works Cited
Is Coconut Oil Good for Your Heart? | Dr. Stephen Sinatra
,
www.healthydirections.com/articles/heart-health/the-heart-health-benefits-of-coconut-oil.
Accessed 6 June 2023.
“Why Coconut Oil Might Not Deserve the ‘health Halo’ It’s Been given | CBC News.”
CBCnews
, 15 Nov. 2019,
www.cbc.ca/news/health/coconut-oil-healthy-marketplace-1.5357284#:~:text=Health%C2
%B7Marketplace-,Coconut%20oil%20is%20marketed%20as%20healthy%2C%20but%20i
t%20has%20more,almost%20entirely%20of%20saturated%20fat.
Coconut Oil and Heart Health | Circulation - Aha/ASA Journals
,
www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.119.044687
. Accessed 6 June
2023.
“Fats and Oils.”
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
,
www.heartandstroke.ca/healthy-living/healthy-eating/fats-and-oils.
Accessed 6 June 2023.
Bowden, Jonny, and Stephen T. Sinatra.
The Great Cholesterol Myth: Why Lowering Your
Cholesterol Won’t Prevent Heart Disease--and the Statin-Free Plan That Will
. Fair Winds
Press, an Imprint of The Quarto Group, 2020.
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