The human body is an incredibly complex machine and the diseases that viciously attack it equally complex and difficult to eradicate. Knowing this, devious alternative medicine “doctors” take advantage of most people’s lack of knowledge regarding the human body, diseases and modern medicine in general. They also love the fact that basic critical thinking is rarely taught in schools, making many people easy pickings for clever, smooth-talking snake-oil salesmen. The following are just five of the primary ploys used. Many more are outlined in the Related Posts.
Quack medicine advocates dupe their listeners and readers when:
----They take
advantage of the human need for certainty and correctly say
that in modern medicine there is no certainty. There is certainty in their
alleged “cure”. This takes advantage of the majority of people’s ignorance of
the scientific process:
“This should come as no surprise to those committed to
science-based medicine because there is a profound conflict between our human
desire for certainty and the uncertainty that is always inherent in so much of
our medical knowledge. The reason is that the conclusions of science are always
provisional, and those of science-based medicine arguably even more so than
many other branches of science. Why? Because medicine involves applying
imperfect science to the treatment of disease. Often that application produces
clear-cut cures. Arguably more often, though, the results are more mixed and
less satisfyingly clear-cut (e.g., the treatment of chronic diseases) ……..Take
that craving for certainty and mix in some dichotomous thinking and any
conclusion of medicine that isn’t 100% certain becomes very uncertain.”
----They
claim that since there is no perfect consensus among scientists and doctors
over an issue, there is no consensus at all. They fail to say that at least 95%
do agree. There will always be outliers for a wide number of motivations. The
hapless victim is never told this.
A good example of this irrational thinking is from David H. Gorski, MD,
PhD, science writer and surgical oncologist at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer
Institute. He writes about the occasionally unhinged Bill Maher:
“Basically, Bill
Maher, when interviewing
Dr. Jay Gordon, kept harping on the uncertainty in medicine as a reason
to doubt the safety and efficacy of vaccines, to doubt the conclusions of
science, listing examples of dietary recommendations that changed, of Accutane
being withdrawn from the market, and various other examples of when new
findings led to significant changes in medical practice. Basically, his entire
line of ‘reasoning’ if you can call it that, was exactly the flaw in thinking
that I listed above: If we don’t know everything then we know nothing, but with
an additional point. If we don’t know everything about everything in medicine,
then anything is possible, no matter how much evidence against it exists; e.g.,
a link between vaccines and autism.”
----They unreasonably demand a 100% cure rate from conventional medicine, especially when it
comes to cancer. Their victims are never told of their abysmally low
“cure” rate, and if they do find out, the cancer quack is ready with a list of
excuses. As Dr. Gorski writes:
“Because I specialize in the surgical treatment of breast
cancer, I understand that it’s incredibly scary to be diagnosed with cancer,
even a cancer like breast cancer, which most of the time can be treated with a
high likelihood of long-term survival or ‘cure,’ if you will. Most patients,
even those who believe in cancer quackery, will accept that surgery ‘works’,
because it’s fairly intuitive that removing a cancer will treat it, but far
more have a problem with chemotherapy and radiation. That’s why there are so
many women with alternative medicine cancer cure testimonials who, when you
examine their stories more closely, turn out to have accepted surgery but
refused chemotherapy and/or radiation and were, in essence, lucky enough to
have been ‘cured’ by the surgery. In any event, the same sorts of arguments are
common. If there isn’t a 100% cure rate, then conventional cancer treatment is useless
and a dangerous mix of ‘cut, burn, poison’.”
----They cite
studies that supposedly disprove accepted conventional treatments, such as the
numerous successful methods used to treat cancer. There may be 1,000 studies
and trials that back the treatment, but if there are 5or 10 that don’t, they
cite those and ignore the rest, never telling their victims the truth. The fact
is there are numerous reasons for studies to reach different conclusions, such
as small sample size, lack of proper controls, not double blind, randomized
tests, etc.
----They are
relentless in using the unethical and immoral propaganda method known as
“firehosing”:
“Firehosing relies on pushing out as many lies as
possible as frequently as possible. That’s typical for propaganda, but the
aspect that makes firehosing a unique strategy is that it doesn’t require the
propagandist to make the lies believable. That seems counterintuitive, but as
Carlos Maza of Vox explains, firehosing is effective because its goal isn’t to
persuade. It’s to rob facts of their power. Firehosing inundates us with so
many wild opinions that it becomes exhausting to continually disprove them. In
this scenario, reality is reduced to positioning and who can sell their
position best.
“The strategy is effective for those trying to hold
on to political power, and it’s the same for those who gain power from engaging
in science denial. Anti-vax influencers such as Jay Gordon and Andrew Wakefield
can keep repeating disproved claims – and in the case of Wakefield, doing so
despite having had his medical license revoked – because their lying
effectively debases reality and gains them followers and fame in the process.
It’s the same for media personalities such as Bill Maher, who grow an audience
and build a powerful brand by taking up outsider positions, regardless of
whether those positions go against all objective evidence.”
Related Posts
The Facts On Cancer Survivorship: What The Quacks
Don’t Want You To Know http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2017/02/good-news-on-cancer-survivorship.html
Naturopaths and Cancer: Deadly Deception and Fake
Science http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2018/07/naturopaths-and-cancer-deadly-deception.html
False Hope: 10 Indicators Exposing Counterfeit
Cancer Clinics http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2018/01/false-hope-10-indicators-exposing.html
Sly Smooth Talkers And Their Fake Cannabis Cancer
Cures http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2017/11/sly-smooth-talkers-and-their-fake.html
8 Basic Reasons People Fall For Alternative
Medicine https://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2019/07/8-basic-reasons-people-fall-for.html
9 Sly Methods Cancer Quacks Use To Dupe the
Desperate http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2018/06/9-sly-methods-cancer-quacks-use-to-dupe.html
9 Basic Ways Shameless Health Gurus Dupe Their
Followers http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2018/02/9-basic-ways-shameless-health-gurus.html
13 Basic Ways Alternative Medicine Takes Advantage
Of Patients http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2018/01/13-basic-ways-alternative-medicine.html
17 Concise Reasons Why Homeopathy is a Fraud http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2013/10/17-concise-reasons-why-homeopathy-is.html
30 Prying and Probing Questions To Bolster Critical
Thinking http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2016/10/30-prying-and-probing-questions-to.html
Next Level Snake-Oil: Women Duped By Goop http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2017/09/next-level-snake-oil-women-duped-by-goop.html
17 Concise Reasons Why Natural News Is A Fraud http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2017/07/17-concise-reasons-why-natural-news-is.html
How To Avoid Bad Medical Advice: A Basic Guideline http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2016/05/how-to-avoid-bad-medical-advice-basic.html
Well-Meaning Parents Placing Their Children At Risk
http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2017/01/well-meaning-parents-placing-their.html
Yet Another Victim of Cancer Quackery http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2015/09/yet-another-victim-of-cancer-quackery.html
13 Concise Reasons Why Mercola Is A Fraud http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2017/01/13-concise-reasons-why-mercola-is-fraud_27.html
9 Brazen Reasons To Shun Naturopathic “Medicine” http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2016/02/9-brazen-reasons-to-shun-naturopathic.html
Liars! How Snake-Oil Doctors Use 5 Logical
Fallacies http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2015/11/liars-how-snake-oil-doctors-shrewdly.html
9 Devious Ways Alternative Medicine “Doctors”
Deceive Their Patients http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2015/01/9-reasons-why-some-alternative-medicine.html
Pseudo-Health & Snake-Oil: 14 Examples of
Faulty Thinking http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2016/06/pseudo-health-snake-oil-14-concise_22.html
Jerry De Luca is a Christian freelance writer who loves perusing dozens of interesting and informative publications. When he finds any useful info he summarizes it, taking the main points, and creates a (hopefully) helpful blog post.
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