Salutations, Sailors! Welcome back to the Snake Oil Bulletin, your premium blend of all the latest and greatest in quackery, hackery, and general chicanery. We've got a full schedule ahead of us, so let's nose dive right in to it with some cancer woo.
Long term illnesses like cancer are the traditional targets for quacks. It's scary, common enough that most everybody has encountered it, and takes a long time to die from it.The magical thinking about vegetables is a perfect con; everybody knows they are good for you and you probably should eat more of them, so it's easy to convince a lot of rubes that you have a secret formula to health, wealth, and longevity.Less prominently, you'll find a whole 'nother set of cons selling the same snake oil for emergency medicine. I'm not going to link to any of it, but there are NUMEROUS websites devoted to using cayenne powder as a first aid treatment for heart attacks and strokes. There is even a truly hard core group of fanatics that gives instructions on making a pepper tea to treat full cardiac arrest. When an emergency room physician commented that this was dangerous advice, a vitriolic pile-on ensured, with people screeching about how doctors were all lying shills for "Big Pharma" (the physician took the high road and didn't accuse the kooks of being in the pocket of "Big Mortuary".)
That's 90% of the human condition, not really confined to homeopathy.... anyway, I don't believe in homeopathy, but I know friends who do, and they all take it in combination with other (stuff that actually works) treatments.I'm sorry to hear that there are more batshit people in the US who either practice or take it in the complete exclusion of anything else, but I guess that's the American Condition in a nutshell - excess and over-excitement and hyperbole.In Europe and Canada, things are taken with a little more moderation and/or a pinch of salt, I guess ;/
Exactly - a friend of mine had a dog that developed an aggressive brain tumour. After the operation (they removed as much as they could) his friend talked him into giving the poor mutt a "special diet" prepared by some quack, in person, every day, with special "supplements".Of course, it didn't work, but the guy got paid a fucking fortune for over a month.... and that was just for a dog. God knows what people will do when a human's involved.Altho my dad got bowel cancer late on, and after two ops to remove stuff, my mum basically went "fuck it" and fed him whatever he wanted. He was quite happy for another two years, eating and watching tv, until it finally metastasized into his liver and shut him down for good.He was a stubborn bugger! :)
My mother is totally sold on the "alternative medicine" thing, and although she visits "regular" doctors weekly (thanks to my stepfather's excellent medical benefits), it seems like she goes only to tell them about the latest tea she's drinking and to criticize them either for not taking her bajillion imaginary conditions seriously or for being in the pocket of Big Pharma because she thinks they "overprescribe" for her.
When my stepmother was diagnosed with lung cancer, Mom sent her a box containing a bunch of teas and other nonsense that her holistic practitioner had recommended. My dad and stepmother were nice enough to realize that it was Mom's way of expressing concern and trying to help, so they thanked her very nicely for her kindness and pitched the whole mess into the trash.
My mom visited her "holistic practitioner," Dr. Bob (no joke - that's how he's known), a chiropractor with extra certificates in a number of "alternative therapies," for about 25 years. In comparison, she changes GPs about every 8 months as she becomes disenchanted with them. She started going to Dr. Bob for chiropractic care after a minor car accident, and it was like seeing her get sucked into a cult.
Her visits to Dr. Bob basically involved a little electrical stimulation on her neck and a conversation about how his therapies were doing wonders for her, and then he'd just pile bottles into a bag and hand it to her at the end of every visit - and add the cost of the contents to her monthly bill.
Our pantry had two large shelves packed with bottles filled with utter bullshit - everything from homeopathic crap to shark cartilage to herbal "treatments" for the "allergies" Dr. Bob "discovered" she had using "applied kinesiology." When she went to see "regular" doctors (of whom she is incredibly critical), she'd bring a huge shopping bag filled with her "remedies" for them to evaluate (their growing impatience with the crap she doses herself with contributes to the high turnover rate for actual medical doctors in Mom's life).
While Mom has now broken up with Dr. Bob because he got a bit ugly about an outstanding bill, she still believes that he rescued her health (rather than just accepting that she's basically just pretty healthy), and so she still spends money they now can't afford on the "remedies" he pushed on her.
While I'm sure he believes in what he does, Dr. Bob managed to relieve my now-retired parents of a shit ton of not-covered-by-insurance money over the past 25 years. Before my stepfather retired, that was like a stupidity tax, but one they could afford. Now, thanks to some bad investments and bad financial decisions, things are tight for them in retirement...and the money my mom still wastes on bottles of bullshit makes a serious dent in their budget, but neither one will put a stop to that crap because they've been convinced that her health is at stake.
OK you guys, you got my attention.
Let's put it to rest.
(one for each of you)
You're curiously obsessed with dicks.
Splutter sputter grr something.
You ain't got nothin but dicks.
Changing your name from RJSquirrel to Vincenzo Oregano does NOT change your Disqus ID.
I asked you to stop.
I told you to stop.
I am now going to blacklist you.
If you wish to comment here again, you can email me and explain to me why: shypixel@wonkette.com.
Long term illnesses like cancer are the traditional targets for quacks. It's scary, common enough that most everybody has encountered it, and takes a long time to die from it.The magical thinking about vegetables is a perfect con; everybody knows they are good for you and you probably should eat more of them, so it's easy to convince a lot of rubes that you have a secret formula to health, wealth, and longevity.Less prominently, you'll find a whole 'nother set of cons selling the same snake oil for emergency medicine. I'm not going to link to any of it, but there are NUMEROUS websites devoted to using cayenne powder as a first aid treatment for heart attacks and strokes. There is even a truly hard core group of fanatics that gives instructions on making a pepper tea to treat full cardiac arrest. When an emergency room physician commented that this was dangerous advice, a vitriolic pile-on ensured, with people screeching about how doctors were all lying shills for "Big Pharma" (the physician took the high road and didn't accuse the kooks of being in the pocket of "Big Mortuary".)
Ah, substance mixed with a vitriol base, until there's nothing of the original substance left. See, homeopathy works! ;p
Then I'm sorry that you've met some weird homeopaths who like to psychologically abuse you. :(
Eat a bag of dicks. A new blood test came out in '03, and a lot of folks found out that they were celiac who would not have been easily tested before.
That's 90% of the human condition, not really confined to homeopathy.... anyway, I don't believe in homeopathy, but I know friends who do, and they all take it in combination with other (stuff that actually works) treatments.I'm sorry to hear that there are more batshit people in the US who either practice or take it in the complete exclusion of anything else, but I guess that's the American Condition in a nutshell - excess and over-excitement and hyperbole.In Europe and Canada, things are taken with a little more moderation and/or a pinch of salt, I guess ;/
1) Psychological abuse is the norm in our culture, not the unusual. This entire website is a very healthy form of group therapy for dealing with it.
2) They were not in any way unusual.
Exactly - a friend of mine had a dog that developed an aggressive brain tumour. After the operation (they removed as much as they could) his friend talked him into giving the poor mutt a "special diet" prepared by some quack, in person, every day, with special "supplements".Of course, it didn't work, but the guy got paid a fucking fortune for over a month.... and that was just for a dog. God knows what people will do when a human's involved.Altho my dad got bowel cancer late on, and after two ops to remove stuff, my mum basically went "fuck it" and fed him whatever he wanted. He was quite happy for another two years, eating and watching tv, until it finally metastasized into his liver and shut him down for good.He was a stubborn bugger! :)
Hmm, well, okay. Good luck with your point of view :)
My mother is totally sold on the "alternative medicine" thing, and although she visits "regular" doctors weekly (thanks to my stepfather's excellent medical benefits), it seems like she goes only to tell them about the latest tea she's drinking and to criticize them either for not taking her bajillion imaginary conditions seriously or for being in the pocket of Big Pharma because she thinks they "overprescribe" for her.
When my stepmother was diagnosed with lung cancer, Mom sent her a box containing a bunch of teas and other nonsense that her holistic practitioner had recommended. My dad and stepmother were nice enough to realize that it was Mom's way of expressing concern and trying to help, so they thanked her very nicely for her kindness and pitched the whole mess into the trash.
My mom visited her "holistic practitioner," Dr. Bob (no joke - that's how he's known), a chiropractor with extra certificates in a number of "alternative therapies," for about 25 years. In comparison, she changes GPs about every 8 months as she becomes disenchanted with them. She started going to Dr. Bob for chiropractic care after a minor car accident, and it was like seeing her get sucked into a cult.
Her visits to Dr. Bob basically involved a little electrical stimulation on her neck and a conversation about how his therapies were doing wonders for her, and then he'd just pile bottles into a bag and hand it to her at the end of every visit - and add the cost of the contents to her monthly bill.
Our pantry had two large shelves packed with bottles filled with utter bullshit - everything from homeopathic crap to shark cartilage to herbal "treatments" for the "allergies" Dr. Bob "discovered" she had using "applied kinesiology." When she went to see "regular" doctors (of whom she is incredibly critical), she'd bring a huge shopping bag filled with her "remedies" for them to evaluate (their growing impatience with the crap she doses herself with contributes to the high turnover rate for actual medical doctors in Mom's life).
While Mom has now broken up with Dr. Bob because he got a bit ugly about an outstanding bill, she still believes that he rescued her health (rather than just accepting that she's basically just pretty healthy), and so she still spends money they now can't afford on the "remedies" he pushed on her.
While I'm sure he believes in what he does, Dr. Bob managed to relieve my now-retired parents of a shit ton of not-covered-by-insurance money over the past 25 years. Before my stepfather retired, that was like a stupidity tax, but one they could afford. Now, thanks to some bad investments and bad financial decisions, things are tight for them in retirement...and the money my mom still wastes on bottles of bullshit makes a serious dent in their budget, but neither one will put a stop to that crap because they've been convinced that her health is at stake.
That's the harm they do.
Joan Crawford--Mommy Dearest. You youngsters will need to use the google machine to understand.
Oh god, I got that joke. I'm an old.