Comments on: NPR and Nimoy

By: Vicky

Vicky — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:47:49 +0000

Simon “what’s his face” speaks about the women “looking into the camera” like they’re dumb animals in a zoo who find facsination with their own reflections, laughable.

By: mimi

mimi — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 17:52:37 +0000

I’ll just add this. I’m reading Library Journal right now at my job and this is the upcoming blurb for Scott Simon’s new novel due in March ’08.
Simon, Scott. Windy City: A Novel of Politics”
“A widower from India with two rebellious daughters, Chicago alderman Sonny Roopini has new worries when the mayor evidently eats himself into a fatal heart attack. From NPR host Simon; with an eight-city tour”.
Library Journal Nov 1, 2007 vol 132, no 18 p.44

By: enchanted_black

enchanted_black — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 00:02:14 +0000

The fact that man mentioned a cancer study that is biased and has been proven untrue…just makes me want to send him a nasty email.

As for Mr. Nimoy…I always knew there was a reason that I loved that man.

By: Emma

Emma — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:50:19 +0000

I thought mentioning the cancer study was poor form. Even if there is any sort of validity to that study, he had no way of knowing that Heather died of a cancer that was studied, and as mentioned above, it appears that she did not. Aside from that, it wasn’t a story on obesity and health. It was a story about art. Up until he mentioned that, I didn’t get the impression he was really fat bashing, but I did think bringing up that study like it was a foregone conclusion was super inappropriate and disrespectful to Heather. Kudos to Nimoy, though. He was eloquent on the topic, and his pictures (and subjects) are beautiful!

By: sue

sue — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 21:08:28 +0000

Hi,
I too heard the NPR story. I just left this email on the NPR website.

I heard your interview with Leonard Nimoy about his book ‘The Full Body Project’ and was surprised and disappointed to hear a recent study concerning fat and health brought up in this context. My hope would be that you would do more than pass on a press release or abstract.
Personally, I would love to hear a discussion about how to interpret the validity of this study. Was it a cohort study, a clinical trial, a meta-analysis, etc? Could the study as designed ever show anything more than association?, why, why not? Was there a control group? Was it similar in health/activity/socioeconomic status/ etc to the study group? What was the change in risk and was it significant for this type of study? Did the study results report actual health outcomes or risk markers? What is the difference and how does that help evaluate the conclusions? What did the actual research paper show (as opposed to the press release or abstract)? How does this fit in with the body of research in this area?
Bottom line, if you don’t critically read the actual study and/or you don’t educate yourself on statistical methods and study design so that you can evaluate the validity of scientific research, then reporting on it appears pretty irresponsible. Especially in the last few seconds of a story.

By: Cindy

Cindy — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:59:59 +0000

With much respect to all the posters here, I have to say that I didn’t find Scott Simon’s introduction or interview inflamatory. I also didn’t think his remarks about the cancer study (and he didn’t fund or participate in the study, after all) were meant as a hateful aside about heather.

Rather, I heard the interview as a probe about Nimoy’s experience with models who are treated as less-than by the market and considered problematic by the medical community.

I really, really didn’t hear him fat bashing.

I believed his e-mail response in that he wasn’t looking to add fuel to the anti-fat fire.

I really respect the posters on this board, and I enjoy your posts. No malice intended here – just disagreeing.

By: divaboots

divaboots — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 22:25:45 +0000

On the bright side, I thought Leonard Nimoy was wonderfully eloquent in the interview. I agree that it’s absurd to bring up cancer when discussing a book of photography that’s not about cancer.

This line in Scott Simon’s reply made me laugh out loud:

“We even chanced to use the word obese, which is usually confined to stories about snacking children.”

At least he knows NPR is prone to doing that kind of story.

By: vedran

vedran — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 21:06:41 +0000

being slim is no protection against any cancer…being slim is what today’s like to call atractive

By: Lori

Lori — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 19:55:47 +0000

People want a reason to be able to say it’s wrong to be fat so any study that goes in that direction gives them a basis to say, see it’s wrong and gross and ugly and now I’m right because of this study so now I don’t need to feel bad about how I feel. They aren’t going to look around and see if the study is viable, they are happy to have this idea to cling to that gets them off the hook for being prejudice.

By: mo pie

mo pie — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 18:56:55 +0000

My grandmother died of ovarian cancer. In her 80′s she was slim, ate incredibly well (I never saw her eat anything other than whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and lean meats), exercised every day (she had a swimming pool and spent hours doing laps and water aerobics), and was so spry and energetic that if her roof leaked, she climbed up and fixed it. So whose “fault” was her cancer, then?