Re: RE: Pandemic: Coming soon to a body near you.
passpatoo said:
... What would then have been considered a homeopathic remedy, breast feeding, is now widely understood to be best practice.
That has nothing to do with homeopathy; you need to do a little research on the subject. I suggest you start here:
http://www.skepdic.com/homeo.html. Breast feeding would never have been considered a homeopathic remedy. The essence of homeopathy is that like cures like: vanishingly small doses of things that cause certain symptoms in healthy people will cure sick people of the same symptoms. For instance, poison ivy causes skin rashes. A homeopath would take the irritant from the poison ivy plant, dilute it repeatedly in water or alcohol so thoroughly that there won't be even one molecule of the stuff left in the final mixture, and offer it as a treatment for the rash. It used to be called sympathetic magic, and there's no validity to it at all, it's complete nonsense.
As for chiropractic, have a look at this one:
http://www.skepdic.com/chiro.html
and this one:
http://www.quackwatch.org/ and scroll down a bit to the section on chiropractic. Chiropractors can do some good when they restrict themselves to what amounts to massage therapy, but the theoretical essence of it, spinal subluxations, is totally without merit.
And for Just the Facts, who objected that I didn't mention chiropractic in my original post, here's a partial list of some of the nonsense that pervades today's world, none of which have any detectable substance to them:
astrology, palmistry, graphology, iridology, reflexology, reincarnation, recovered memories (especially of childhood sexual abuse), astral projection, out of body experiences, channelling spirits (either people long dead, or aliens from the Pleiades, or anyone else), telepathy, teleportation, telekinesis, psychokinetic powers of any sort, clairvoyance, any link between quantum physics and consciousness, hidden codes in the Bible, anything Nostradamus ever wrote and anything anyone now thinks it might mean, almost anything based on a literal interpretation of Scripture, the healing power of crystals, tarot cards, Ouija boards, homeopathy, pyramidology, psi in any form or manifestation, dowsing, ancient astronauts, UFOs as alien visitations, most herbal medicine and naturopathy, most self-help books (especially ones whose authors prominently identify themselves as “Ph.D.” or “M.D.”), most works about Atlantis, except the ones that identify it with Cretan or Minoan civilization, anything about Lemuria or Mu, most aspects of most religions...ah, the list is endless
There is no end to the mystic nonsense in this culture, promoted by con artists and frauds, irresponsible mass media, an irrational world view that supports unsupportable claims, and a general ineffectiveness of public education, which fails to teach the basic skills of critical thinking. We teach people what to think, not how to think.
I've spent a good part of the last 20 years trying to learn how to think clearly and critically, and I think I've got it mostly right now, but I still screw up sometimes.