The Information Diet by Clay Johnson

The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption by Clay A. Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Overall, I liked this book but, like all diet books, when it came down to the "how" portion, my eyes glazed over and I mostly skimmed. Johnson draws the comparison between our food intake and our information intake, i.e. some information is more processed, contains fillers or even toxins, and should not make up a significant part of our diet. When he explains how he came to study this subject, through being immersed in the Washington political arena, I found myself nodding as I read. While the situation is not too intense this side of the border, the US population has been neatly divided into Red and Blue states for a few decades -- and it's doing no one any favours.

I agree with most of Jonhson's key suggestions, including consuming information in its most raw form (he calls this infoveganism). This has been the role of researchers, and the best journalists, for ... well, forever, really. Having worked in libraries for over 20 years, we recognize this information as "primary sources" -- raw statistics, first person accounts, government reports and original scientific research. However, I don't feel the need to use software to limit which sites I visit or keep a handy list of biases nearby. This may be simply because I consider myself to be rather advanced in information literacy, but if I weren't I wonder whether I would consider his suggestions reasonable?

It's clear there is a problem with the extreme biases in some media and Johnson does suggest ways those of us who are comfortable can help -- including pursuing open data projects and forming local information diet groups who can meet face to face. I'd have preferred to rate this one 3.5 stars; it's not quite 4, but it's not really fair to give it 3 stars either.



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Pink Ribbons Inc. (2011)

Every October, North America is awash in pink, "for the cure." Pink Ribbons Inc, a documentary by Léa Pool, looks at the corporatization of breast cancer fundraising and asks some pretty pointed questions about how much money is raised and where, exactly, that money is spent.

In discussions with activists, medical professionals, fundraisers, marchers and others, the filmmaker seeks to answer why, after billions of dollars have been raised for "breast cancer research," are we no closer to a cure? More than one of those interviewed came to the same conclusion: you cannot cure something if you don't know what causes it, and no one is willing to research what causes it.

The most heartbreaking interviews are with a group of women with Stage IV breast cancer. No one can explain to them why their cancer metastasized or why their only option is to subject themselves to chemical therapies that may or may not extend their life by a few weeks but may also make them so sick that they cannot enjoy those extra weeks.

The film also highlights some particularly deplorable  campaigns (KFC and American Express really stuck out) and conflicts of interest (products emblazoned with the pink ribbon that also contain known carcinogens and/or endocrine disruptors).

Pink Ribbons Inc is in the same company as Food Inc, The Corporation and Bowling for Columbine -- films that look at our cozy relationship with big business and ask if maybe we shouldn't be doing things differently. As with many recent documentaries, Pink Ribbons Inc uses editing to get across some not-so-subtle messages that aren't otherwise explicitly stated. My favourite such moment featured a medical researcher, being interviewed midway through the San Francisco Walk for the Cure. In the foreground, she is speaking about the dangers of so much plastic in our lives; in the background, a participant is eating something from a zippered plastic bag.


The overall message of the film is to "take back the ribbon" -- to go back to the protests and to separate the corporate backers and big pharma from the key research. We took our daughter, who is 10, because I think it's critical for her to understand that there is a lot more going on behind the ribbon than a feeling of hope. When I asked for her opinion after the showing, she summed it up nicely, "I didn't know whether to laugh or scream."

To say that breast cancer is epidemic may be stretching it, but the fact remains that today 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed in their lifetime. We need to fix those odds; seeing this film is a good start.

*****



For more information, visit the NFB site for Pink Ribbons Inc.

X Saves the World by Jeff Gordinier (Viking Press 2008)

Jeff Gordinier is unflinching in X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft but Can Skill Keep Everything from Sucking. The book is as much a call to action for Generation X as it is a rant about the generations between which it is sandwiched -- the ubiquitous Boomers and the up-and-coming Millennials (aka Generation Y).

Gordinier echoes demographers' arguments about the parameters of Generation X while adding another level by suggesting, via Douglas Coupland, that Generation X is as much a mindset as a birthdate. He is also careful to admit that he is making broad generalizations throughout the book and that being born during a given year does not automatically make one fall into step with everyone else born that year.

That said, no matter how you slice the Gen X pie, I fall squarely into the demographic both by birth and by attitude. I'm not sure how non-Xers would react to this book; likely call us all whiners and write it off as more gloom but the crazy thing is, there's a lot of hope in this book. It feels a lot like the end of V for Vendetta; I won't spoil the ending but I left the theatre feeling an overwhelming sense that change -- real change -- was achievable.

There were sections I skimmed -- personally, I could care less about Nirvana but Gordinier hangs an awful lot of his book on the impact of both "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and also on Kurt Cobain's suicide. I also skimmed Gordinier's take on the Poetry Bus -- something I had never heard of prior to this book and will not bother to research further.

On the other hand, I reveled in his descriptions of the internet boom and bust, about the movies and the directors who speak for and to our generation, and about Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart who brought Generation X's brand of subversive humour to the main stage.

Throughout X Saves the World, I found myself laughing ("By 1999 a fecal tide of suckitude, suckness, and suckronicity was upon us..."¹), nodding (oh, yeah, I have definitely encountered the "grey ceiling"), and making note of suggested ways I could help keep my world from sucking.

****

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¹ Introduction, p. xxiv