Why Does Your Mom Love Alternative Medicine (GMSkeptic)

Comments by Charles Sulka

YouTube Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkqJo0yAE4Y

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Users of alternative medicines (altmed) are primarily women (mostly mothers.) The presenter lists the reasons why he believes those advocating alternative medicines are primarily women and mothers.

* Altmeds fits with their personal philosophy, it treats the whole person (it is ‘holistic’ medicine.)

* Altmeds fits with a personal philosophy of a kind of do-it-yourself attitude: a) altmeds can be used at home, which is more convenient; b) altmeds provides the perception of additional options for treatment.

* Women claim that their belief that altmeds actually work — when in fact they do not — is because of their ‘gut feeling.’ Here they are relying on instinct. Young mothers — inexperienced, untrained, and probably totally illiterate on the subject — place more trust in their instincts and the opinions of others than they do in the assessment of intelligent, educated, highly trained medical professionals.

This is stupid, but it is not uncommon. I have personally known women who gushed about their knowledge of health care — going so far as to describe themselves as health care experts — when their only knowledge of medicine and health care came from reading ad copy in catalogues of nutritional supplements. (Which are all bunk, by the way.) They have never had formal medical training, and, indeed, have probably never read a scientific research paper (in this or any other field.) For what it’s worth, these women also happened to be members of the IC (the so-called ‘intelligence community.’)

* Altmeds are thought of as ‘natural’ treatments. It is understandable that many long for a simpler, more wholesome, natural lifestyle. However, the idea that home remedies, herbal teas and oils, elixirs, nutritional supplements, and various New Age treatments including magnets, crystals, polished stones and magic amulets are actually of value in treating medical conditions is total nonsense. I personally knew a woman who died from ‘natural’ treatments (homeopathy and so-called faith healing) when a visit to a real doctor would have saved her life; she died a horrific death from a ruptured appendix, something which, while serious, would have been easily treatable. (See my article, “Finders, CIA Front or Satanic Cult.”) I also overheard two women who ran a health food store advising a male customer who was distraught over his upcoming cancer operation to cancel the surgery and use herbal remedies instead. He died too after following the medical advice of these alternative medicine ‘experts.’ Altmeds may be natural, but they are almost never helpful, and they are often harmful, sometimes fatal, if only because the underlying medical condition is not treated in time by a real doctor.

There are a lot of snake oil salesmen selling herbal medicines and New Age nonsense. They are mostly Republicans, by the way, probably because Republicans have an innate aversion to science and a hereditary condition — a genetic defect — that inhibits the development of scruples, the characteristic that differentiates homo sapiens from lower animals. Despite a great deal of intensive research, scientists have never been able to detect any sign of scruples in Republicans.

Have nothing to do with alternative medicines, and for goodness’ sake don’t waste your time on faith healing. You probably don’t have enough faith in you. Few people do … so why take a chance? I expect that God is tired of all these fools praying for Him to heal them when all they have to do is go see a doctor.

I would add several more reasons why the users of alternative medicines are primarily women . . . .

* Women are gullible. Women lack discernment. By nature, women are not equipped with the same analytical abilities as men (of course there are exceptions.)

There is a simple explanation, and it relates to our animal nature. (It could even be said to fit with evolutionary theory, but that is not the point here.) For the survival of the family / tribe / clan / species, men need to have the ability to make life-and-death decisions in real time. Men train for responsibility all their lives, honing their decision-making prowess.

Men learn to function cooperatively, using reason and logic, and, importantly, respecting hierarchies of competency. For example, young boys playing sandlot football select the most capable player to be the team captain and quarterback, a key role in the game. This is a group decision, often a tacit one, because the strengths and weaknesses of all participants are constantly being assessed. (I would never have been chosen quarterback, for example. The other boys said I threw like a girl. Actually, that’s not really accurate. I usually didn’t throw the ball at all — more often than not, if I did manage to get my hands on the ball, I would fumble it.) In life, as in sports, the success (or failure) of the team depends upon the appropriate assignment of tasks based on the respective capabilities of the individuals in the group.

With men, the stakes are high. Mistakes are not allowed. No margin of error is permitted. There is no place for emotion or frivolity.

Women, on the other hand, operate under a different set of rules. Women operate individually. Their success (speaking in evolutionary terms) is a matter of monopolizing a mate who will provide for and protect them and their offspring. Women are far less critical — more tolerant and accepting — as the survival of the species does not depend upon their ability to outsmart and outfight adversaries, including of course nature itself if we attribute disease to nature. Quite the contrary is true: the survival of the species is improved by women’s tolerance, by their compassionate, forgiving nature. Strictly speaking, women are not biologically equipped for the task of defending the family (or the nation, for that matter.) Women are physically unsuited to fighting; women are psychologically repulsed by violence (I have met some exceptions); women’s thought processes are not appropriate for the task; and women’s growth and social development does not inculcate the requisite values.

The inherent differences between men and women became obvious to me when I was fifteen years old. I was what they called a ‘late bloomer’. Other boys started to notice the differences between the sexes several years earlier. Still, by this age I had figured out that girls were mostly nice, and boys were mostly jerks. I’m seventy years old now, and things haven’t changed much.

In my freshman year of high school, in biology class, we were expected to dissect insects, frogs, etc., just to see what was inside. For all of the boys in the class, this was great. For the boys, biology lab quickly became their favorite class (after recess.) I remember the anticipation of all the boys in the class as they picked up their scalpels and set to work.

I’ll never forget how differently the girls reacted. Some were disgusted; others were appalled. They all wished they were somewhere else, that was obvious. I remember one of the girls asking plaintively, “do we really have to cut this frog up? Won’t it hurt it?” The boy next to her said, smugly, “Naw, it’s already dead. It can’t feel anything. It’s soaked in formaldehyde.” I’m sure that was the first time he had used a word with that many syllables in his life. He couldn’t contain his excitement. The girl next to him was absolutely horrified.

This was when I realized that there was a reason why doctors and surgeons were mostly men, and nurses were mostly women.

The distribution of alternative health care products, like the distribution of cosmetics (Mary Kay) and housewares (Tupperware), is an occupation that is ideally suited to women’s primary role as mother and housewife. The sale of holistic health care products is home-based, is usually part-time, and the flexible hours need not interfere with household responsibilities. I know a woman, an Amway distributor, who would breast-feed her baby between appointments, sitting in her car. The little tyke didn’t care; he loved it, as the view was constantly changing, which is probably good for a child’s development. At that age, babies are primarily interested in one thing — where their next meal is coming from. Only a woman can be a mother. This is the way God and Mother Nature intended it.

The issue of alternative medicine — quack medicine — is important for the future. Only in America (and other primitive cultures) are New Age treatments, magic, voodoo, and ‘alternative medicines’ widely used (although for totally different reasons.) Most of the civilized world prohibits such deceptive sales tactics and dangerous and unsound medical treatments.

America spends by far the highest share of its national income on health care, while having the worst health care of any industrialized nation (by every measure.) This is without taking into account the $30 billion or so spent by gullible Americans on quack medicines. If we are going to bring down the costs of America’s health care, we need to first eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse. Alternative medicine is $30 billion yearly in fraud. This is $30 billion dollars that is wasted on worthless health care products and ineffective medical treatments every year. This is a problem that needs to be corrected before America adopts a single-payer universal health care program. There is nothing the altmed industry would like more than to be paid lucrative payments out of taxpayers’ funds for their bogus health care products and alternative medical treatments.

Politics is an ugly business. From a practical standpoint, a good strategy would be to promise that alternative medicine and holistic health care will be incorporated into the program when single payer national health care is enacted. Single payer is something the vast majority of Americans want, but which the government, subservient to special interests, refuses to adopt. By promising to pay for New Age quack medicine, proponents of single payer health insurance would elicit the support not only of a majority of women, but also of Republicans who have historically been opposed to measures, such as universal health care, that actually benefit people (other than themselves.) As has been noted, most of the purveyors of alternative health care products are staunch Republicans. This also explains why Republicans hate government regulation. Regulations limit their ability to sell snake oil, from voodoo economics on the one hand to quack medicines and male enhancement pills on the other.

Once single-payer is enacted, prudent and responsible administration of the program will see the vague promise to pay for New Age medicines rescinded. This could be done without fanfare — and, importantly, without rancorous debate or additional legislation — by simply requiring scientific testing and certification of all products and medical treatments covered under the national health insurance program. People could still purchase bogus medical products and New Age treatments using their own money (after all, this is a free country, isn’t it?)

Breaking promises after lying to promote a cause is perfectly acceptable in American politics — always has been, in fact. It’s the way politics is done. It’s probably accurate to say that if it weren’t for their lying, American politicians would not get anything done at all. (And that is the cause of the underlying problem in American politics.)

Waste, fraud and abuse can be eliminated — or at least reduced considerably. Alternative medicines — altmeds — would be a good place to start. One thing that we could try in American politics would be to find God-fearing men and women to serve in government — honest politicians. While, admittedly, it is a novel concept, it is an idea that just might work. One thing is certain: we have to do something. We can’t continue the way we’re doing things now.

(chs 09-27-2018 1454 -0500 / 02-03-2019 1527 -0500)

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Why Does Your Mom Love Alternative Medicine?

(14:39)

Genetically Modified Skeptic

Published on Feb 22, 2018

We all know a mom who loves alternative medicine. She may call herself a natural mom, a crunchy mom, a holistic mom, etc. Why do moms, specifically, love this kind of pseudoscience? Whether it’s anti-vax, anti-gmo, naturopathy, reiki, homeopathy, or essential oils, mothers seem to eat it up. Here’s my take on why that is.

Special thanks to Natalie Newell, podcaster and Science Moms producer, for joining me. Here is all her great work.

Website and film: http://www.sciencemomsdoc.com
Parenthetical (Science) Podcast: https://www.parentheticalscience.com
Science Enthusiast podcast: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/sciencee…
Natalie’s twitter: https://twitter.com/ncnewell

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A companion piece to this video, also by ‘Genetically Modified Skeptic’, provides further discussion of this issue:

Title: 7 Common Arguments for Alternative Medicine DEBUNKED

YouTube Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=levbjG4t5tc