Surrounded by idiots

So the other day at work I was casually eavesdropping on a conversation in the office, and the outspoken right-winger was going on about the EU outlawing eating meat. Now I had never heard of that, and the whole concept was so patently ridiculous that I joined in and told him so. He insisted that it was true, and moreover that there was a school where they were now serving meatless Mondays. Now the conversation was sliding down a further slippery slope, and I spoke up saying that eating meat at every meal is clearly having negative effects on Americans health. Not only is meat being processed in an unsafe manner leading to thousands of hospitalizations per year, but the number one cause of death is... At this point I deferred to the insurance dept. lead of our company who chimed in "Medical coding errors, and physician mistakes". NO! The answer is Heart Disease. Sure, if you believe government statistics, I was reprimanded. My god. I am totally surrounded by idiots. I can understand giving some extra credence to non-governmental statistics, and trying to check multiple sources, but Thursday just ended with a face-palm. That is not what scientific inquiry and skepticism are about...