No; that would obviously be going from one extreme to another. With eight billion human beings on the planet, each different from every other, that would mean a potential listing of eight billion or more different options. Which, I suggest, would be as silly as the current practice of assuming just one is the right answer. The middle ground is to begin with an assumption that ‘conventional wisdom’ is useful for only some people, and poor or bad advice for others.
At the heart of my argument is an assumption that Choice buying guides (in whatever format) should tell the truth, the whole truth, and leave readers able to make as fully-formed decisions as space allows. Given that buyer’s guides are relatively short, while the information that they COULD contain is of infinite length, the primary challenge is to highlight the issues that buyers need to consider in their choices. If the present ‘milk alternative’ buyers guide is a fair example of all Choice buyer’s guides, then Choice is deeply failing.
This guide begins under the heading ’ What is the best alternative to dairy milk?':
*Cow’s milk is usually seen as the benchmark for liquid nourishment. It’s recognised as a good source of many nutrients, including protein, iodine, vitamin A, vitamin D, riboflavin (vitamin B2), vitamin B12, zinc, and – importantly – calcium.
This statement is begins with two hidden assumptions and an open proposition:
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Hidden assumption #1: Vitamin content is the only factor worth considering in choosing a benchmark for liquid nourishment. There are, however, very many other factors that buyers might wish to consider - including, most importantly to those with a cow’s milk allergy, whether or not it will kill you. Any half-way reasonably buyer’s guide would have flagged these right at the beginning.
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Hidden assumption #2: That a distinction between liquid nourishment and liquid refreshment is somehow meaningful within the context of people reading a buyer’s guide. Given that the topic of the day was ‘alternative to dairy milk’, this is seriously off-topic.
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Questionable assertion: “Cow’s milk is usually seen as the benchmark for liquid nourishment”. By whom? Vegans? Mad scientists? Fake news writers? Without detail, this statement is rubbish. If the writer wishes to invoke expert knowledge, then it is mandatory to state what kind of expert.
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I could go through the rest of that buyer’s guide para by para, but I guess that would be tedious. Suffice to say, every paragraph fails the test of a buyer’s guide, in that either it hides the issues that a buyer should consider, sneers at them for considering the ‘wrong’ issues, or insults their intelligence by gross oversimplification.
(Oh, and in case you think I am a Choice-hater (if there is such a thing), I have been reading Choice buyer’s guides for over 60 years; this just happens to be the first time that I have been in a position to express my annoyance at their lack-of-total-perfection.)