Best

We often see contests and businesses with advertisements “The Best.” This often has been puzzling to me because there were thoughts as to how this was determined, who determined it, and when it was determined. If it concerned food, for example, was it voted on by the entire area, city, state, country, or world? Was it a result of the most populated establishment getting the vote out or the establishment with the most relatives or simply the establishment with the most tech savvy individual to submit the vote electronically? Were there allowances for the different taste buds? As you search your memory, back in school wasn’t there a division between tasters and non-tasters? The “Best” advice is to let your taste buds decide for you.    

This “The Best” thing can get more complicated as you go forward. Who conducted the test is also confusing. Just look at the confusion regarding coffee. Research says that it is unhealthy for you, then, conversely, research says it is beneficial for an individual, then research says that in certain quantities it is beneficial. Salt, chocolate, sugar, and other foods enter the category of multiple evaluations. These researchers just confuse a person. Who is the one who can accurately determine what is and is not beneficial? Can anyone who does not have an interest in the outcome be honest about the research? Look at the tobacco companies. For decades, they professed that not only is tobacco not harmful to you, it is even healthy. Then there was a revelation that for decades they not only knew smoking was unhealthy, it could be deadly. This was their own research. But they didn’t reveal it because they wouldn’t be able to draw as many people into smoking if they knew it was deadly, which shows you to what lengths some people will go to get the almighty dollar. They would rather people risk their life, rather than their own income, to avoid the risk having to go into another line of work. Is there such little consideration for the other person that we are willing to risk someone else's life for our own benefit?  They would also compare cigarette quality; one had a filter, the other had a special filter, another had Turkish tobacco, and so on.

Just a suggestion; whatever you choose, do your own testing. Don’t rely on advertising to make your mind up. There are millions, perhaps billions of dollars spent each and every year to convince you to do things in a way other than what may be logical to you. Just look at Willie Soon, who was a scientist, who claimed through his research, the petroleum industry had little if anything to do with global warming, which later was reported that the petroleum companies paid him $1.2 million. Go with your instincts and believe half of what you see and none of what you hear. Remember this when you are selecting leaders at any level of government. Look at the billions of dollars that are spent to get someone elected to an office that pays, in salary, a fraction of the money that was spent on advertising. Why do you think that this is the case? It is becoming more common that the “Best” qualified person for a particular position isn’t going to run for the post because of lack of financial backing. The one with the backing quite often has to repay the backers. Remember this when you are selecting leaders.