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From: geb@cadre.ARPA (Gordon E. Banks)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: Folk Medicine & quackery
Message-ID: <483@cadre.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 14-Aug-85 07:55:43 EDT
Article-I.D.: cadre.483
Posted: Wed Aug 14 07:55:43 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 19-Aug-85 05:10:18 EDT
References: <651@gitpyr.UUCP>
Reply-To: geb@cadre.ARPA (Gordon E. Banks)
Organization: Decision Systems Lab., University of Pittsburgh
Lines: 33


The posting on "folk medicine" was a good one on illustrating the
modern form it seems to be taking, which has also been illustrated
on the net by the "holistic medicine" and nutrition posters.  
It indeed is a mish-mash of ancient ideas, old wife's
tales, and misunderstood gleanings from science.  One sure way
to tell a quack is that they claim to have all the answers
and the answers are usually simple.  While on the one hand they
claim to be "back-to-nature" boys, one the other, they deny
all scientific evidence about man's natural (evolutionarily determined)
biological nature by propounding that he take all manner of
megavitamins and stop eating foods that he has eaten for thousands
if not millions of years.  There are no panaceas.  All disease
is not caused by eating the wrong foods, environmental poisons,
misalignment of the spine, vitamin deficiencies, etc. etc.  
The scientific approach is to admit our ignorance in the many
places it exists.  Those impatient for answers or cures, or
insecure in a capricious universe turn to systems promising
the answers, be it "medicine" or fundamentalist religion.  I think
it would be fascinating for someone to study the psychology
of people who embrace these belief systems.  Their threshold
for evidence is incredibly low, as witnessed by what they
accept as evidence, laid out for all to see here in their recent
postings.  They also seem to have the inability to consider any facts
contrary to their beliefs.  I would be interested to see some
survey that correlates religious belief with folk medicine.
I know they aren't all fundamentalists, but even those I have
known of a left wing pursuasion (mainly in the '60s) have tended
to Buddhism, B'hai, and other religous systems.  Some of my
relatives who have been Shaklee vitamin crazies have been more
or less religious fanatics too.  I would guess someone could
garner material for a master's thesis right here on the net, if
they were interested.