Live data from Hacker News

The Strange Case of Dr. Ho Man Kwok (2019)

news.colgate.edu

101–110 of 373 posts

Re: The Strange Case of Dr. Ho Man Kwok (2019)

#101
> Since the initial reporting of this story, information has come to light calling into question Howard Steel’s role in the MSG controversy. For more on this fascinating story, listen to This American Life episode #668.

Does anybody know the conclusion? Was the part about a joke letter because of a bet real or not?

Re: The Strange Case of Dr. Ho Man Kwok (2019)

#102

This article is trying to equate a medical controversy with racism. There exists a medical controversy over the effects of MSG. There exists racism, both in general and in particular against Asians in the United States. There also exists a very profitable industry that relies on flavour enhancers, and MSG is one of the most potent yet least expensive flavour enhancers available. I'll tell you that I've inadvertently…

>> There exists a medical controversy over the effects of MSG.

That’s not true.

>> most potent yet least expensive flavour enhancers available

Salt is approx 1/4 the price, as is sugar.

>> I've inadvertently done the double-blind "Is MSG harmful" test too many times

Cheese, tomatoes, it would be hard to avoid it. What kind of restrictions do you need to follow?

Re: The Strange Case of Dr. Ho Man Kwok (2019)

#103
post #18
post #2

This article is very long and having skimmed it I'm still not entirely sure: is monosodium glutamate unhealthy or not after all?

It's a pretty frustrating article. There is a specific section titled "The truth about MSG" .... which ... doesn't tell you the truth about MSG. Instead, the "truth about MSG" is buried half way through the next voluminous section titled "A cautionary tale". Which appears to be ... no evidence has conclusively shown its harmful in the quantities used in food, and in fact, randomized blinded studies found no effect at…

  > randomized blinded studies found no effect at all.
And other randomized blinded studies have found an effect. Hence, the controversy. Not to mention that the American food industry is very dependent upon the availability of an inexpensive, effective flavour enhancer.

Re: The Strange Case of Dr. Ho Man Kwok (2019)

#105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Invoking racism and gender discrimination when it’s not the reason, causes more racism and it gives more than ample opportunity to actual racists within us to exploit it for their own nefarious needs.

There’s a long history of racism against Chinese immigrants in America. Among the only jobs they were allowed to have was having restaurants. Of course this led to rumours of Chinese restaurant being dirty and their MSG causing sickness. It’s a very long history and it’s well documented. While you’re at it, read on the Chinese exclusion act. And now you’re saying that people who call this racism for what is is are th…

The Chinese Exclusion Act was 1882.

If that's the most recent example, I'd call it an "ancient history of racism", not a "long history of racism".

Re: The Strange Case of Dr. Ho Man Kwok (2019)

#106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Invoking racism and gender discrimination when it’s not the reason, causes more racism and it gives more than ample opportunity to actual racists within us to exploit it for their own nefarious needs.

I've heard this repeated so many times but I don't actually understand what that means - can you elaborate? Mentioning racism causes more racism? Doesn't that make sense? Sort of sounds like the same thing as "the more you test for COVID the more cases there will be" I've read your sentence like 10 times and it makes no sense to me. How would one exploit someone calling out (false by your definition) racism to cause…

I’ve made this point before, it’s similar to dry snitching, ‘I’m happy to hear you finally stopped beating your wife’. Uh? I never did, but Jesus way to throw something over my head that I now have to clean.

Will this cause more racism? Inadvertently, yes. Racism occurs due to bigotry and ignorance, one which needs to be systematically exposed and the other requiring remedial education (what you think you know is not right). If the problem requires intellectual engagement and discussion, and the intellectual battlefield is a Vietnam helicopter drop off where your average time of survival is 7 minutes before you die, lots of people will be dodging that draft.

So the war never gets fought.

Re: The Strange Case of Dr. Ho Man Kwok (2019)

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Invoking racism and gender discrimination when it’s not the reason, causes more racism and it gives more than ample opportunity to actual racists within us to exploit it for their own nefarious needs.

I've heard this repeated so many times but I don't actually understand what that means - can you elaborate? Mentioning racism causes more racism? Doesn't that make sense? Sort of sounds like the same thing as "the more you test for COVID the more cases there will be" I've read your sentence like 10 times and it makes no sense to me. How would one exploit someone calling out (false by your definition) racism to cause…

I think the actual argument should be that if one cries wolf so many times it is hard to take it seriously when there really is a wolf.

Hence people don't take it seriously... Racism fatigue.

Kinda like quarantine fatigue when particular mitigations don't make scientific sense.

Edit: take my own advice and change "you" to "one."

Re: The Strange Case of Dr. Ho Man Kwok (2019)

#108
post #78
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish people stopped invoking racism everywhere, when plain "being misinformed" explains things just fine. Millions of Koreans swear up and down that MSG is bad for health. Are we also being racist? (Against whom?)

Koreans are generally racist against Chinese, especially Mainland Chinese.

MSG comes from seaweed that Koreans eat with absolutely everything. They probably east more MSG than China.

Re: The Strange Case of Dr. Ho Man Kwok (2019)

#109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So stop calling MSG sensitivity "chinese restaurant syndrome". Do you suppose that hysteria does not exist because it is a sexist term?

Hysteria is no longer a valid mental diagnosis according to the APA, so yes.

And they removed it as a valid mental diagnosis because it has sexist connotations? I doubt it though considering current political climate, I wouldn’t be surprised. His point still stands, however.

Re: The Strange Case of Dr. Ho Man Kwok (2019)

#110

Dave Chang has a small scene in one of his Ugly Delicious (great show, by the way) episodes where he gets a group of non-Asian Americans, who claim to be MSG-allergic, to come and share their stories of MSG-related symptoms after eating at Chinese restaurants. He then hands out Doritos and American products that the participants claim they love and can eat all day. Hard to see where this is going... he says, all thes…

My white mom became convinced she had MSG sensitivity at some point, but she loved chinese food so much she ate it anyway.
Post reply on HN