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Natural Awakenings Naples and Fort Myers

Southwest Floridians Share Alternative Media Sources

Jun 30, 2016 08:42AM ● By Lee Walker

Deb Post

Millions of individuals follow today’s alternative media such as CommonDreams.org, Truth-Out.org, Truthdig.com, NoMoreFakeNews.com, Mercola.com, GreenMedInfo.com, and others that thanks to the Internet, provide news and views that go unheard and unexamined in mainstream circles. For this category of grassroots revolutionaries, it comes as no surprise that the genre of independent news is rising in popularity while interest in mainstream media’s fear fare of politically biased, filtered and constructed news declines.

“We can never give up our right to independent news because it is essential for us to have numerous perspectives on local and global events. In my opinion, the public only gets the news slanted towards the opinions of those who are delivering it,” remarks Andrea Geresdi, owner of The Salt Cave, in Naples, who relies on GreenMedInfo.com and Gaia.com for news on health and spirituality.

Geresdi hasn’t watched television or listen to radio since the 9/11 attacks. Regarding global news, she Googles her particular interests and surfs though information. “I’m a much happier person since I realized it wasn’t healthy to spend so much time with things I cannot change. Personally, it’s been better to put my energy into the things that I can influence,” she says.

For medical news, Deborah J. Post, an advanced registered nurse practitioner and owner of Wellbridges, in Bonita Springs, relies on a wide array of sources such as Mercola.com, Natural News.com, the Alliance for Natural Health, Dr. Jonathan V. Wright’s newsletter and Dr. David Perlmutter’s blog and radio show, as well as the research published on GreenMedInfo.com.

“When I see how mainstream media has treated many issues, particularly chronic diseases, GMO’s, diet and nutrition, as well as pharmaceuticals, I can’t spend my time listening to misinformation designed to addict our nation to pathology management as a way of life. This misinformation is already dooming our children. It’s such a shame that as the largest [economic] nation in the world, the U.S. can’t assure a newborn child more than a 50/50 chance of being autistic,” says Post.

Dee Harris
Dee Harris
Dee Harris, owner of D-Signed Nutrition, in Bonita Springs, doesn’t depend on television or on health and fashion magazines for health information. “The majority of my time is spent undoing the misinformation my patient’s get from TV or mass media,” advises Harris, who is amazed by the number of filters and spins that prevent truth about health from reaching the public.

“For medical news, I access the Institute for Functional Medicine forum. I also follow GreenMedInfo.com and Dr. Perlmutter, a master at dissecting and interpreting clinical trials and studies. Other functional medicine practitioners that I rely on for solid information are Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. Kelly Brogan, Dr. Josh Axe and Dr. Amy Meyer, among many others. I also read TruthAboutCancer.com and listen to webinars sponsored by functional labs, neutraceutical companies and anti-aging institutes. These feature renowned scientists and doctors in these fields. Practitioners need to be aware of what is relayed through mainstream media so that we can be ready with studies, facts and position papers to defend the truth,” clarifies Harris.  

Terri Evans
Terri Evans
Terri Evans, owner of Tae Healthy Aging, in Naples, doesn’t own a television. Her health news is the result of live research from her functional medicine practice, as well as what she gets from connecting with other pioneer colleagues that base information upon science.

“When I was young, I was very political. I recognized how fighting against something, rather than building a better paradigm that attracts others, led me to lose hope and feel powerless. Today, instead of relying on negative, depressing news, I send out the highest love vibration I can every day. Now, I tune in, meditate and do what I am called to do, which is teach,” notes Evans.

Jay Weitzner
Jay Weitzner
Health news in peer-reviewed journals is what Jay Weitzner, owner of Symmetry – No Fads. All Fitness., in Naples, relies on. “I read PubMed.gov, as well as communicate and debate with colleagues who are exercise professionals currently doing research in their Ph.D. programs. Having these resources is imperative because many reported stories misrepresent research. They either cherry pick the parts they want to serve their agenda or they attempt to apply results in ways that they can’t actually be applied,” explains Weitzner, whose world news comes via podcasts, mainly NPR Planet Money and Invisibilia; WNYC Studios Radiolab, Note To Self, Please Explain and More Perfect.

These Southwest Floridians who invest their time in the alternative media grassroots revolution understand what Gil Scott Heron, an American soul and jazz poet of the 1970s and 1980s, expressed in his best-known composition, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. “The revolution will be live. There will be no highlights on the eleven o’clock news…” It’s obvious that alternative/independent and social media is indeed contributing greatly to our global awakening in many areas.