I haven’t posted a Daily Read for a while – sorry about that. Let’s get back on track with this great article from science blogger Yvette d’Entremont, who blogs as the Science Babe. Writing for Gawker, d’Entremont makes short work out of debunking the unbelievable bullshittery hawked by Vani Hari, otherwise known as the Food Babe (I won’t link to her site but you can Google it if you really want to look). Hari has made a career out of scaring people about what is in their food and taking advantage of the general public’s overall ignorance about science (I don’t say this as an indictment of the public, just as a factual observation). Hari seems to be utterly incapable of understanding science, nutrition, health, or any of the subjects about which she rails so hysterically. D’Entremont’s article abounds with examples of Hari’s stupidity (I can’t call it ignorance in this case, because she’s been corrected by experts too many times to count and still holds to her irrational beliefs). People like Hari are a danger to the public because they play on people’s fears and employ scientific-sounding words to generate sophisticated nonsense (h/t to Steven Novella of The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe for that phrase). Hari’s recent popularity is frightening and bad news for critical thinkers everywhere.

The “Food Babe” Blogger is Full of Shit