(no subject)
I have a rant coming on.
So I'm snuggling up to one of my favourite rational science blogs, laughing my wobbly bits off at Electro-Alchemy, when I see this comment:
"I feel so sorry for those of you who can't look at a modality with an open mind because of your extreme fear. Homeopathy has existed for over 200 hundred years because it works. Traditional Medicine on the other hand only masks conditions or in the case of broken bones there is honest cure and healing. Pity for those of you hounding homeopathy is a homeopath's best defence, that and our "placebo" remedys that work like a charm. Blessed Be, Sue."
It's that Blessed Be at the end of the comment that gets my goat. You see, most people are aware by now that I'm pagan.
This does not, however, mean that I have to believe every piece of snake oil woo in the more emotively-worded pages of wikipedia. Holding a religious faith, of whichever religion, does not mean that you have to shove your brain matter in the smoothie maker, much as some militant atheists believe otherwise.
So, let me elucidate. I believe in several gods, male and female. I do not believe in homeopathy. I do not believe in healing magnets. I do not believe phone masts will make your brain explode. I do believe in vaccination. I do believe in doing what my GP tells me. I do believe in dietitians, but not in nutrionalists. In short, I believe in actual medicine.
Now, anyone who's seen my front room will go "Ni, you've got more semi-precious stones mooching round your house than an Antwerp jeweler." And this is true. I'm a big ol' ginger hypocrite. However, apart from their obvious aestetic appeal, both in terms of sight and feel, I mostly use these crystals as placebos.
I mean, I know damn well that the carnelian the approximate same colour as my antibiotic pills isn't really "welcoming" and "helping" the antibiotics, but it's easy to take a few deep breaths, get myself nice and suggestible, and then tell myself that this is so. Then, when I take my antibiotics precisely as prescribed, behold the infection going away!
This being the case, I suppose I can see some of the attraction of homeopathy. It's always good to think that you're more than a meat machine that's thrown a spring, that you are a whole (and very important) person.
It's all about the belief of the matter. And just because I'm pagan, doesn't mean I'm believing in quackery.
So I'm snuggling up to one of my favourite rational science blogs, laughing my wobbly bits off at Electro-Alchemy, when I see this comment:
"I feel so sorry for those of you who can't look at a modality with an open mind because of your extreme fear. Homeopathy has existed for over 200 hundred years because it works. Traditional Medicine on the other hand only masks conditions or in the case of broken bones there is honest cure and healing. Pity for those of you hounding homeopathy is a homeopath's best defence, that and our "placebo" remedys that work like a charm. Blessed Be, Sue."
It's that Blessed Be at the end of the comment that gets my goat. You see, most people are aware by now that I'm pagan.
This does not, however, mean that I have to believe every piece of snake oil woo in the more emotively-worded pages of wikipedia. Holding a religious faith, of whichever religion, does not mean that you have to shove your brain matter in the smoothie maker, much as some militant atheists believe otherwise.
So, let me elucidate. I believe in several gods, male and female. I do not believe in homeopathy. I do not believe in healing magnets. I do not believe phone masts will make your brain explode. I do believe in vaccination. I do believe in doing what my GP tells me. I do believe in dietitians, but not in nutrionalists. In short, I believe in actual medicine.
Now, anyone who's seen my front room will go "Ni, you've got more semi-precious stones mooching round your house than an Antwerp jeweler." And this is true. I'm a big ol' ginger hypocrite. However, apart from their obvious aestetic appeal, both in terms of sight and feel, I mostly use these crystals as placebos.
I mean, I know damn well that the carnelian the approximate same colour as my antibiotic pills isn't really "welcoming" and "helping" the antibiotics, but it's easy to take a few deep breaths, get myself nice and suggestible, and then tell myself that this is so. Then, when I take my antibiotics precisely as prescribed, behold the infection going away!
This being the case, I suppose I can see some of the attraction of homeopathy. It's always good to think that you're more than a meat machine that's thrown a spring, that you are a whole (and very important) person.
It's all about the belief of the matter. And just because I'm pagan, doesn't mean I'm believing in quackery.