i t is known that “popeye the sailor” is a fictional cartoon character which was created by elzie crisler segar and first appeared in a comic strip in 1929. popeye later appeared in popular theatrical and television animated cartoons. in 1934, an agricultural pest destroyed the entire crop of good maize of the famous american farmer john charks, who used to supply to dozens of large food factories in the us, and suffered loss of sales. one day, patrick seally, a short- film producer in hollywood, visited a friend’s house, which was located at the entrance of the vast farmhouse, north of los angeles. he saw the devastation — moral and material devastation — of the huge farm and its owner. at the time, a team of agricultural engineers came to present a summary of their findings regarding the future of the agricultural project. the head of the team advised the owner to stop relying on one agricultural crop and to diversify his products to include fresh vegetables for seasonal sale and olive cultivation, in order to create a reliable industry to depend on, in addition to other products. the producer seally paid attention to the agricultural expert’s report and to his suggestions, and kept an idea to himself, as his friend charks was not happy with what he heard. after the agricultural experts left, the two friends sat together. seally told his friend he was prepared to buy a small part of the farm for a price much less than its real price. in return, he promised that his profits from the farm would double in a few years; if not, he would return the land for free. charks thought carefully about the proposal and did not make any immediate comment. after a long silence and smoking his pipe, he rose from his chair and extended his hand to his friend to express his approval. seally said the suggestion of the agricultural engineer was logical, revealing that there is a cartoon character called popeye the sailor who is greatly popular among people of different ages, especially mothers and children. a great idea came to his mind to convince the player of the character popeye, as he is a friend, to make some modifications so that popeye eats a large amount of spinach, which causes his muscles to swell and for him to become stronger, eventually defeating his fierce enemy bluto and getting back his girlfriend olive oyl. popeye then celebrates his victory while sitting and smoking his pipe. seally said the modification would indirectly prompt mothers to encourage their children to eat spinach, which is of high health benefits. it will also be easy to convince the family to consume more olive and its oil, as well as urge men to smoke. at that time, it was not known that smoking is harmful to health! time proved seally’s idea was right, especially after televisions entered american homes. that was the beginning of the wealth of the two men which came from a simple idea. the story above, apart from the first paragraph, is completely fabricated. perhaps some believed it out of their confidence in what i write. what i have done here is not very different from what many people are doing these days through bad exploitation, sometimes criminal, of communication means by publishing and republishing bad news, often false, and fabricating stories in an attempt to create confusion and tarnish the reputation of individuals, groups and countries for a purpose. therefore, it is necessary to exercise caution, and not to believe any messages before verifying them, especially those related to health, politics, benefits or harms of food, and other things that really confuse all of us. if there is even a bit of doubt over any messages, that is enough to write them off and forget about them.

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