Counterintuitive Fall 2024

Clean Girls Get Sicker?

It seems counterintuitive that children that are clean, are ultimately getting sicker than other children. The children that are acquiring more autoimmune diseases the most are the stereotypical little girls in dresses. 

A philosopher of science at Oregon State University, Sharyn Clough, states young girls are expected to be clean and pristine compared to boys who are expected to get down in the dirt. Women are more likely to get asthma, allergies and have autoimmune diseases. 

Being more open to germs will give children the chance to be more immunized to the bacteria. Dirt has many different kinds of germs that the children can be exposed to. In the meantime, we have higher rates of sanitation than we once did.

Surviving the Shower

It seems counterintuitive that something so simple as taking a shower can also be a high risk of hazard for people, especially the elderly. On the island of New Guinea, a tree falls every night and Jared Diamond became close to many fatal accidents because of falling trees. 

The New Guineans are very careful about their regular activities because one false move and they can be dead. If people didn’t care about making mistakes even with simple tasks, it could cost them their life. Americans seem to worry about the wrong things, things that they can’t control rather than what they can. People shouldn’t live in fear and not do anything with their lives, they just need to be careful even with little everyday tasks that we don’t find a big deal. 

Do Toms Shoes Really Help People?

It seems counterintuitive that buy-one-give-one companies are helping people in communities, but also competing with their local businesses. Toms shoes are given out to children in Ethiopia, but the children already have shoes. Toms doesn’t really give work to local shoe companies, rather just giving them competition. 

For a buy-one-give-one company to be useful, they need to work hand in hand with local companies in the community rather than just supplying goods and putting the companies out of business. Customers of these buy-one-get-one companies have a right to know exactly how their money is being used, so companies need to make sure they put those details on their website. 

Belgium Senate approves measure allowing doctors to euthanize children 

It seems counterintuitive to start off with how the Belgian Senate voted to allow euthanasia against disabled kids only . According to (nature.com), 6% of newborns are born with a disability which is over 7.9 million infants. Belgium has always supported euthanasia but just because a child is born with a disability does not mean they are a human being and don’t have value. Parents who would allow such thing to happen to their child are cruel and the definition of uncaring. Belgium government states that they support euthanasia because “its already being done to them.” The child didn’t ask to be born with a disability so what gives us the right to just take their life away. Euthanasia is something that can really start a debate between people and I understand that sometimes when people are older that it can make sense but when it comes to little kids with disabilities it is just not right.

Extreme parenting 

It seems counterintuitive to give an insight on what parenting is like in a Chinese family and how it can be misinterpreted but talk about the exact style people think it is. It sounds like what people might call a “stereotypical” Chinese family from what the author talks about in the article. Really It is no different from types of American families because school does come before anything and parents want to see their son/daughter strive for greatness. Parents get on their kids because they want nothing but the best for them and sometimes it takes yelling or punishments for kids to know how much their parents care. You can argue that parents who do this start making their son/daughter lose interest and now don’t want to do it anymore. Sometimes strict is good but at other times it really can sway a kid into turning down a wrong path because they feel like all their parents do is be harsh. A 50/50 combination of both strict and helpful will allow for a kid to know what they must accomplish throughout there educational journey and have parents who will be there for them when they have questions or just want an opinion.

Gun regulation 

It seems counterintuitive to start off by saying how a man is mentally unstable to attend college and be in the military but can easily purchase a firearm. Gun regulation has been an on going battle for ages now. The U.S. really struggles to regulate the right items especially guns. The amount of guns that people have in the U.S. alone in 2019 was over 390 million. The process of purchasing a firearm is clearly not a process at all. You can argue that people buy them to hunt or for self defense just incase but really guns are doing more harm than they are protecting someone in a case of self defense. More time is being spent on the regulation of cars than there is on guns. It feels like owning a gun is the same as owning phone they are so common throughout society at this day and age.