I chose to use google to look up the danger and safety of soy. I
specifically searched “soy safe to eat” (it was an autofill recommendation),
and “dangers of soy”. I then selected the first result for each of the
searches, so as not to cherry pick a cite. The top result for “soy safe to eat”
was an article titled “Confused about eating soy?” by Harvard Health
Publishing, after reviewing this site I feel confident that the site is
credible. The site I selected for “dangers of soy” was an article titled “Dangers
of Soy” by health renegade, I am skeptical about the credibility of this site,
I will continue with the evaluation based on this site since we were not
assigned to find a credible source.
Does one site or both appeal to
emotion?
Neither site is overtly emotional, the “Dangers of Soy” uses
some inflammatory wording, such as over dramatized hyperbole:
“Is soy bad for you? …Really?” I hear the question so often I
want to scream. (Michaelis)
The Harvard Health Publishing was factual and straight to the
point.
Which emotions?
I feel that the best description of the emotional response from
“Dangers of Soy” would be outrage, anger, or even causing the reader to feel
stupid or inadequate if they do not already believe soy is bad. Michaelis has a
tendency to present some data, and then end the paragraph with an incredulous
question.
Who owns each site?
Harvard Health Publishing is media and publishing division of
Harvard Medical School. The Food Renegade is Kristen Michaelis, a self
proclaimed nutrition educator, as well as a stay at home mother, an author, and
a passionate advocate for what she calls “real food”.
What are the biases that each
has?
Harvard Health Publishing doesn’t feel like it has a bias when
reading the article other than to educate. Whereas Michaelis seems to have a
bias based on her own one sided research, she provides a link to “independent
research,” which lands on a page with a summary, or short list, of articles
that are extolling the negative virtues of soy. Michaelis does not provide any
counter points, making her argument very one sided. On the About Me section of
her website, Michaelis mentions “I avoid pre-packaged foods like the plague.”
Michaelis has a bias to large food industries and subsidies, and says “They’re
industrial waste products dressed up in pretty clothes and marketed to an
ignorant public.” about soy products, which I feel is the best single sentence
summary for this page.
Michaelis, K. (n.d.). Dangers of Soy. Retrieved from
https://www.foodrenegade.com/dangers-of-soy/
