Denigrating Homeopathy

The Enemies of Reason Part 2 has been uploaded by the Richard Dawkins Foundation. Personally, I feel that he gets to more of a point in this one and does more exposing of pseudoscience and pseudoscientists than in the first, but alas the first part was still amazingly well crafted. In this part, which runs a little over 47 minutes, the content is mostly on the health care system and the tax-funded homeopathic and placebo-based cures. Mention is made, which it is not often unfortunately, of the links between what we see as "old" and "ancient" being given credence for the simple reason that it is aged - aged, that is, to a point where it predated germ theory and in some cases science in totality. Just because Ayurveda and Homeopathic medicine is based on "ancient" processes lends no fraction of truth or reality to it. Quite the opposite.

It is far too often that the science of medicine gets flogged by those who esteem naturality and earth-based righteousness to be higher realms of existence. It is as if we are saying that if we love nature, are environmentalists, are tree-huggers (guilty), are humanitarians or the like, then we must...must...have disdain for reality and existing methodologies. This is highly irrational. Rationality, in its truest sense, must be based on what has proven to work and on what has given the most benefit. I see no reason to accept homeopathic practitioners as reliable or commendable people. I see only honestly ignorant people being captivated by purported efficacy, when in reality they are paying good money for false functions. The dangers are really summoned to fruition when decisions are made for children, on their behalf, that negate real medicine and support fake medicine.

The most provocative point here is that self acclaimed doctors are lying to people and they have no concern with that reality. They accept it. They know it is a placebo effect at best and innocuous (medically innocuous) at worst. They know that a person claiming to have sever medical ailments will have to see a real doctor. They know that they are lying. But they continue.

This placebo effect industry must not be allowed to delude others, even themselves, at the cost of human and environmental health.

Would we support pouring oil on and oil spill in an attempt to clean it up? No, because it goes against chemical foundations, physical foundations and our common sense of reality. Why, then, will we drink poison ivy extract to cure poison ivy? It falsifies even more understood foundations of biology. Then, to take it one step further (as the video does more elegantly), the poison ivy extract isn't even in the medium of medicine you are taking. The water 'remembers' it and is able to work on its behalf. This is utterly absurd and a provocation or crackpottery.

That said, watch the video. The best part, from a comedic point of view, is when the lady near the beginning is changing Richard's DNA from a double helix to a.....watch to find out. He stifles a laugh, but I could not.