In what has to be one of the wackiest news stories ever to appear in print in Taiwan, or the world, or that matter, today’s TAIWAN NEWS has an article on page 3 headlined “NGO group promotes ‘friendship’ day” and subheadlined “Foundation launches education program designed to help achieve social harmony.”
A non-governmental organization, The Peacetime Foundation of Taiwan, yesterday introduced an education program designed to promote the concepts of friendship and reconciliation among students as a step toward easing ethnic tensions that surfaced during this year’s elections.
SO FAR SO GOOD. But click on the link, read the entire story and when you get to this part, tell me if you think this is really really real or just a figment of our collective imagination? I know that praise is good and all that, but can praise really keep a bowl of white rice white while negative remarks will turn white rice into black rice?
[… teachers demonstrated the power of praise as opposed to censure.
a teacher placed in each classroom three bowls of rice labeled respectively “praise,” “neutral” and “curse,” then asked students to frequently praise one bowl, curse the other and leave the third alone.
After ten days, it was found that the rice in the bowl labeled “curse” had apparently gone bad, turning black, while the rice in the bowl labeled “praise” remained shining white.
the students were all convinced of the negative effects of “cursing” which they agreed could damage friendships and destroy harmony.]
!!!
This was reported as fact. Is there any hope for the Taiwan News after this?
What fact???
The newspaper reported a typical political story and said the students were convinced that cursing was bad for relationships – how is this reporting a fact? A fact that the students thought something?
How is this fact any different from Bush thinking Iraq is a threat…well the fact that Bush had the power to order an invasion does produce more ramifications but still the idea is the same…just because one idiot (or a bunch of idiots) believes (believe) something doesn’t make it so.
If you want real news stick to a real newspaper! (BTW this excludes all english language newspapers published in Taiwan!)
The rice thing sounds crazy. But, maybe all that spittle flying along with the curses sped up the decomposition?
Or, the teacher sprayed the “happy” bowl with some kind of preservative?
I saw – with my own eyes – an experiment to prove how negativity could affect us, and it seemed to work. Anyone want to read the details? I ask to avert another one of my long, rambles in case the interest isn’t there…
I seem to remember some studies done with plants.
Verbally abusing one group, verbally supportive and complimentary to another group and ignoring another group.
The verbally supportiive group grew faster and was healthier than the other 2 test groups.
I have no problem with this. Cows listening to classical music have higher milk production than those listening to hard rock. I don’t know if country music has been used in the test or not.
[quote=“rooftop”]The rice thing sounds crazy. OR COURSE! But, maybe all that spittle flying along with the curses sped up the decomposition? SMILE!
Or, the teacher sprayed the “happy” bowl with some kind of preservative? GOOD ONE!
I saw – with my own eyes – an experiment to prove how negativity could affect us, and it seemed to work. Anyone want to read the details? YES DO TELL US. OR SEND PM. I AM INTERESTED. I ask to avert another one of my long, rambles in case the interest isn’t there…[/quote]
Learn all about it in the Buddhist Science Reading Room.
How did the rice react to being cursed? It got steamed!
There was a metaphysical book called “Talk does not cook the rice.” Guess they’ll need a new title for that one!
Not to be close-minded about new frontiers of science and all, but–come on, people, this is ridiculous. News flash: Plants don’t care what you say about them, particularly after having been cooked. If you saw some “study” that said otherwise, I’d be very suspicious of its replicability. (Studies coming from Maharishi University don’t count.) Same with prayer studies, ESP, and similar weirdness.
[quote=“Screaming Jesus”]
Not to be closed-minded about new frontiers of science and all, but–come on, people, this is ridiculous. News flash: Plants don’t care what you say about them, particularly after having been cooked. If you saw some “study” that said otherwise, I’d be very suspicious of its replicability. (Studies coming from Maharishi University don’t count.) Same with prayer studies, ESP, and similar weirdness.[/quote]
Have you heard that raw vegetables are still ‘‘alive’’ when we eat them? And therefore prayers should be offered before we take them into our vestibules?