Many of you that listen to the radio show know that I often talk about being a member of a polling group. They often send us surveys, I would say on average at least once a week, that deal with a variety of topics. It can be about political events, social events, or a marketing campaign for a new product. We are often shown the results and sometimes they are unbelievable ;sometimes they are what you would think they would be. Sometimes what is remarkable is the subject of the survey.

Today I was sent a new survey which included a video. The topic had to do with eradicating polio in the world. The video showed various people from different organizations including the World Health Organization, The United Nations Children's Fund, the Rotary Club international, and several other organizations that you can imagine would be involved in fighting various illnesses or diseases around the world. The video was a compilation of each of these individuals reading different parts of a prepared script. The video was followed by a written statement going into a little bit more detail about their efforts and concerns.

I will give you the high points of the discussion. Polio is certainly a devastating disease. Because of the recent pandemic, efforts to continue administering the polio vaccine were hindered. That is because of the efforts of many medical personnel to fight coronavirus coupled with manufacturing efforts geared towards creating the so-called vaccines and other factors. These organizations are now collaborating to spend $5.1 billion to combat the ground they lost in trying to eradicate the polio virus by the year 2026. It certainly is believable and plausible that their efforts to combat polio were hurt over the last 15 months. The picture they paint is concerning. I did not realize that polio was such a widespread problem. Of course, they are asking for our help in donating money to combat the problem.

That is when the written statement comes onto the screen. It explains that polio outbreaks are most prevalent in Pakistan and Afghanistan where violence prevents many health personnel from administering any medical assistance much less preventative vaccines. The statement also claims that polio rates among children in certain areas of Africa are on the rise. Worldwide the number of new polio cases documented increased 300% last year. That is a significant increase. Or is it? In 2019 there were 332 new cases of polio. Last year there were 1236. well the percentage increase is significant; the total number of cases is insignificant in the grand scheme of things. It just goes to show that you can use numbers or statistics to create the picture that you want. That picture does not often reflect reality.

In the statement they admit that many of the obstacles they faced last year no longer exist and they are optimistic they will return to the previous level of administering vaccines in many areas. And as these people speaking on the compilation video sit in their well-adorned offices collecting what I would assume are at least six-figure salaries, they are begging us to spend more money on a problem that is much less severe or impactful to the world then other illnesses, diseases or challenges that people face. Maybe that is why I felt much less motivated to donate to the cause after becoming well informed.

But it is a tactic that has become more and more prevalent in our world. It doesn't matter if someone is trying to raise money for a good cause or to garner support for political ‘solutions’ to problems that either don't exist or that the politicians created, the goal is the same: to create fear in a certain segment of the population in order to cause them to act in the manner they desire. It is dishonest and only provides to line the pockets of those implementing the ‘solutions.’.it also takes away resources and efforts from problems or situations that do exist and need more attention.

It is our own ignorance coupled with the belief that people who are in charge or in the know would not lie to us that allows these organizations to profit off of our kindness. What was very interesting in this survey was the fact that the written statement provided the information that undercut their request for help. That never happens in real life. That's why these organizations pay a lot of money to test out their message with the target audience. No doubt they will tweak their message before it goes public. I wonder how many kids are dying from other situations that would be better recipients of our efforts? I'm sure the people in the video don't really care.