how fluoride exposed is flipping fluoride conspiracy thinking for science learning

Taking advantage of fluoride controversy to explore all kinds of science questions

fluoride-conspiracy-collage

Fluoride conspiracy ... secret government plots ... nefarious powerful interests ... people who aren't what they first appear to be.

O.K.! We confess!

We do indeed have an ulterior motive. We are not what we first appear to be, here at Fluoride Exposed. And it all depends on a force so powerful, it will blow your mind.

We've written a bunch about what we're doing here, and why. We've described how we use respect and compassion in our approach to science communication. We've talked about how excited we are to tour the halls of science and fluoride with you. And we've talked about how much we're motivated by asking science questions.

But there is one other motivation pushing us to expose not only fluoride, but all sorts of related scientific topics, too ...

That motive is our not-so-secret goal. It's not very secret since we say it loud and clear on our homepage. But still, we feel a little mischievous, a little crafty, a little ingenious ... because we seek to take advantage of something. We have a plan! Indeed, a scheme!

We are going to use the conspiracy thinking about fluoride for a noble goal.

We are plotting to flip the long-running controversy and conspiracy thinking on its head. We're going to flip it ... for science learning.

But if you're more neutral, or uncertain, or supportive, we are especially hopeful that you'll get our concept to flip things.

We hope you'll appreciate our effort to carve out this space online as a place where we transform the lingering controversy and lingering conspiracy thinking ... and use it ... use it to our playful advantage ... to advance science learning.

Think about it this way ... Pseudoscience about fluoride is widespread online. And that online pseudoscience spills over into real life, causing local controversies, which then get media and internet attention.

That means that influential pseudoscience is like bad publicity for science.

But you know what they say about bad publicity.

There's no such thing.

It's time to use the controversy to reach people who are ready to learn science. (Hopefully, you!)

It's time to use the fact that when the controversy grabs people's attention, they have questions about all kinds of science topics that go beyond dental questions.

When the controversy and conspiracy theories grab people's attention, there is an opportunity to get people thinking "accurate thoughts " – as Neil deGrasse Tyson put it – about all kinds of science topics they might never be asking questions about otherwise. Water, drinking water, chemistry, elements, protons, electrons, public health, nutrients, epidemiology, toxicology, dose, environmental science, salmon, randomized control trials, natural experiments, weight of evidence, and a whole laundry list of other science subjects that are connected to fluoride in the public's hive mind.

Fluoride pseudoscience is like science's sex tape* – we can't seem to stop it, so we might as well turn it to science's promotional advantage.

*Hey, we did call our site Fluoride Exposed! ;-)

...because all of those topics that people have questions about sure could use better promotion. Lots of people think those science topics are boring, or confusing, or mind-numbing, or too hard, or whatever. Why? Because there is too much science education out there that drones on, in the most dull and baffling fashion possible.

When really ... the secret is that these sciences are thrilling.

Thrilling to explore.

Thrilling to discover.

Thrilling to expose. (Ha!)

So we hope you'll forgive us for our scheming. We are definitely scheming – scheming to lure you in to loving science as much as we do. We're scheming to empower you – empower you with science. We're scheming to strengthen your innate scientific abilities, to build on your abilities to ask science questions, and to get you walking the halls of science like you own the place.

We are ecstatic that you are here. And we can't wait to embark on this science learning quest with you, and uncover all the key questions, all the leading evidence, and all the best science surrounding fluoride and fluoridation.

You can explore for more fluoride and science topics ... or you can read more about us and why and how we're motivated to help you discover more and more science ...

Read on for HOW ALL THIS WORKS

Or go back to WHAT WE'RE DOING HERE AND WHY

Or! Wait! You could also go back to ...

And! One more option! You could join us and ...