Paranoia and the Alt-Med Lobby
Another brief post. Today, I’ll be mostly looking at homeopathic paranoia.
I’m somewhat baffled as to why homeopaths always assume that any dissenter is somehow in the pay of Big Pharma. I’m not and have never been in the pay of Big Pharma. Edouard from the ‘Other Health’ forum, however seems to think that I am. Based on absolutely no evidence. Ah, well. ‘Twas ever thus with the homeopaths. Perhaps there should be a homeopathic tag-line? How about: “Guaranteed: Evidence-free since 1807”.
Another common misconception is that when there are two or more dissenters, they must be the same person posting from two different accounts. There seems to be a collective paranoia that pervades homeopathic forums, blogs etc. Perhaps this paranoia is merely symptomatic of the muddle-headed thinking that predominates the alt-med lobby. Susan seems to think I am some kind of sock puppet.
I suppose once you’ve suspended your disbelief (say, in order to accept the claims of homeopathy at face value) it may be hard to begin thinking rationally again. This kind of muddled thinking is not limited to homeopaths, of course. Anti-vaccination lobbyists share the paranoia displayed by homeopaths as can be seen on the ridiculous JABS forum. The same may well be true of other Alt-Med lobbyists, whatever their particular hobby horse. If you have any good examples then please feel free to post in the comments section.
Stuff And Nonsense 
Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Altnernative Medicines, but never dared to ask .. said,
April 19, 2008 at 3:23 pm
How many questions have you already asked yourself about your health? How often have you turned to websites or books only to find the information to be confusing or simply unconvincing? Are you worried that you aren’t exploring all of the options available for taking care of your health? Wouldn’t you feel better if you just knew the basics of alternative medicine? Maybe you’ve been diagnosed with a certain disease or maybe you just have concerns your health or the health of your family. In either case, your mind is filled with questions about what you could, what you should do, etc. Have you begun to feel like you’d never know everything? Or at least, do you feel like you’ll never be able to learn the really important things in order to make life changing decisions? Have you been wondering if there was a way that you could finally learn more? The good news is that no matter if you’re the patient or the caretaker; “Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Alternative Medicines but Never Dared to Ask!” is the perfect resource for everything to do with your body and alternative treatment possibilities. Not only will you learn about how to approach your concerns from a medical standpoint, but you’ll also learn about what you can do on your own.