aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!
Thursday, 19 February 2009 11:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Science Is My Friend. Science Likes Me. What's Your Problem?
I had to restrain myself on the telephone today, during a conversation with a very nice person. I did so.
I did not call this person a fuzzy-brained example of what happens when pregnant mothers are frightened by Deepak Chopra best-sellers. In fact, having had previous experience with this very nice person, I'm ashamed that I was caught off guard by the comment delivered to me over the phonelines.
You see, during a discussion about BB's health, my acquaintance tendered the following, which made me grit my teeth and search, silently and desperately for some inoffensive bromide with which to respond:
BB should take milk thistle to "clean his liver" of "impurities." .
Seriously?
Milk thistle? To clean his liver???? Are you in-frakking-sane??
Let's leave aside the fact that I haven't got one frail clue on god's green earth what milk thistle is, except that it sounds vaguely unpleasant. It's just everything that the entire impossibly medieval-tinted comment encompassed and represented to me.
It's the fucking fuzzy-headedness that assumes that Western medicine is EEEvil, and Science is Baaaaad, (wooooo! Pretty scary, eh kids?) And that non-Western medicine works better. Why? Because ... because ... because it's not Western Medicine.
Or perhaps it's because our animal spirits reach through our chakras and straighten out our fucking subluxations when we eat macrobiotic goat feces, and refuse to take our insulin, because if the Great Ascended Beings who sank Atlantis and govern us through the stars wanted our bodies to, you know, work right, they'd do it naturally. Organically. Without medicine.
Geez, I hate it when unnatural inorganic shit works to keep me alive, don't you?
Chemistry, folks. Titrated doses. Medicine that works.
Case in point: We don't take slippery elm for headaches, because Evil Scientists were able to replicate what slippery elm did, improve upon it, oh, about A GAZILLION TIMES, make sure that each dose had the same amount of really effective painkiller (and, hey, all without stripping the damned elms of their slippery bark!) Oh, and no misplaced powder of amanita mushroom to gum up the works.
It's called aspirin.
Did you ever notice how much Evil Science has added to our lives? Like light bulbs, central air, life-span and good teeth?
In addition to saving vast forests of slippery elm, Evil Scientists also found ways to control diabetes, fight cancer, attack mental illness (because that whole "trepanning to let out the sick humours/devils/bad blood" thing was going so well - oh, wait. It wasn't.)
Evil doctors work their hearts out to keep us alive, along with Evil Nurses, Evil Nurse Practitioners, Evil Nurse's Aides and Physical Therapists, Evil Psychiatrists and Evil ... well, you fill in the blank.
And to forestall what may be inevitable "Oh, she doesn't understand the intangibles of the spirit/what about the Third World and the way shamans keep their tribes healthy and centered/doctors never listen, and they're arrogant, and make mistakes" responses - let's be real clear on a few things.
Drug companies can do awful things. That's called greed and bad policy.
Doctors can be assholes. That's called ... being an asshole.
The Third World? The tragedy is that we're not providing them with the Evils of Science. Evils like clean water, medicine, and enough food.
That failure isn't one of science, or medicine, or the scientific method.
It's one of humanity.
Science doesn't fail us. Medicine doesn't fail us. We fail us. It's the spirit inside us, that fails us, that fails our brothers and sisters in the Third World, or our own cities and rural countryside. We Don't Share. We Don't Play Well With Others.
That isn't Evil Science. That's Stupid Humans.
Western medicine isn't the problem, and I don't want to live without it. So keep your goddamned milk thistle to yourself.
I had to restrain myself on the telephone today, during a conversation with a very nice person. I did so.
I did not call this person a fuzzy-brained example of what happens when pregnant mothers are frightened by Deepak Chopra best-sellers. In fact, having had previous experience with this very nice person, I'm ashamed that I was caught off guard by the comment delivered to me over the phonelines.
You see, during a discussion about BB's health, my acquaintance tendered the following, which made me grit my teeth and search, silently and desperately for some inoffensive bromide with which to respond:
BB should take milk thistle to "clean his liver" of "impurities." .
Seriously?
Milk thistle? To clean his liver???? Are you in-frakking-sane??
Let's leave aside the fact that I haven't got one frail clue on god's green earth what milk thistle is, except that it sounds vaguely unpleasant. It's just everything that the entire impossibly medieval-tinted comment encompassed and represented to me.
It's the fucking fuzzy-headedness that assumes that Western medicine is EEEvil, and Science is Baaaaad, (wooooo! Pretty scary, eh kids?) And that non-Western medicine works better. Why? Because ... because ... because it's not Western Medicine.
Or perhaps it's because our animal spirits reach through our chakras and straighten out our fucking subluxations when we eat macrobiotic goat feces, and refuse to take our insulin, because if the Great Ascended Beings who sank Atlantis and govern us through the stars wanted our bodies to, you know, work right, they'd do it naturally. Organically. Without medicine.
Geez, I hate it when unnatural inorganic shit works to keep me alive, don't you?
Chemistry, folks. Titrated doses. Medicine that works.
Case in point: We don't take slippery elm for headaches, because Evil Scientists were able to replicate what slippery elm did, improve upon it, oh, about A GAZILLION TIMES, make sure that each dose had the same amount of really effective painkiller (and, hey, all without stripping the damned elms of their slippery bark!) Oh, and no misplaced powder of amanita mushroom to gum up the works.
It's called aspirin.
Did you ever notice how much Evil Science has added to our lives? Like light bulbs, central air, life-span and good teeth?
In addition to saving vast forests of slippery elm, Evil Scientists also found ways to control diabetes, fight cancer, attack mental illness (because that whole "trepanning to let out the sick humours/devils/bad blood" thing was going so well - oh, wait. It wasn't.)
Evil doctors work their hearts out to keep us alive, along with Evil Nurses, Evil Nurse Practitioners, Evil Nurse's Aides and Physical Therapists, Evil Psychiatrists and Evil ... well, you fill in the blank.
And to forestall what may be inevitable "Oh, she doesn't understand the intangibles of the spirit/what about the Third World and the way shamans keep their tribes healthy and centered/doctors never listen, and they're arrogant, and make mistakes" responses - let's be real clear on a few things.
Drug companies can do awful things. That's called greed and bad policy.
Doctors can be assholes. That's called ... being an asshole.
The Third World? The tragedy is that we're not providing them with the Evils of Science. Evils like clean water, medicine, and enough food.
That failure isn't one of science, or medicine, or the scientific method.
It's one of humanity.
Science doesn't fail us. Medicine doesn't fail us. We fail us. It's the spirit inside us, that fails us, that fails our brothers and sisters in the Third World, or our own cities and rural countryside. We Don't Share. We Don't Play Well With Others.
That isn't Evil Science. That's Stupid Humans.
Western medicine isn't the problem, and I don't want to live without it. So keep your goddamned milk thistle to yourself.
Sing it, sister!
Date: Friday, 20 February 2009 07:19 am (UTC)That said, it appears, "Evidence exists that milk thistle may be hepatoprotective through a number of mechanisms: antioxidant activity, toxin blockade at the membrane level, enhanced protein synthesis, antifibriotic activity, and possible anti-inflammatory or immunomodulating effects." Though the same article concludes, "Clinical efficacy of milk thistle is not clearly established."
So "clean his liver?" Probably not. Have some substances that may, with additional scientific methodology, be found to have some benefit for liver diseases the way slippery elm had analgesic properties? Maybe.
Re: Sing it, sister!
Date: Friday, 20 February 2009 06:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Friday, 20 February 2009 09:13 am (UTC)I have a friend who is into every faddish "health diet" she comes across. I can't remember what the most recent one was, I think it was the "blood type" diet. These things always seem to have two things in common: a pseudo-scientific theory, and testimonials. They wouldn't know what a clinical trial or a double-blind experiment would be if they hit them on the head. When my friend starts talking about her latest one, I've learned to nod and smile.
And that non-Western medicine works better. Why? Because ... because ... because it's not Western Medicine.
Another one in the coalition of nonsense which is very similar is the "Natural is Better, and Chemicals are Nasty" one. Er, no. Here, have some Belladonna leaves, they're perfectly natural. Ooops, you just died.
Take the hysteria that surrounds different sugar substitutes. Stevia extract is "natural" (and thus good) and Sucralose (Splenda) is "unnatural" (and thus bad). The reasoning seems to be that if something is extracted by a physical or chemical reaction, it is still "natural", but if it is created by a chemical reaction, it is "unnatural". No, wait; if it is something created by a chemical reaction at the instigation and supervision of human beings, it is unnatural. No, wait; if it is something created by a chemical reaction at the instigation and supervision of human beings, it is unnatural, unless the chemical reaction is one that human beings have been using for centuries or millennia, such as cooking or cheese-making.
(rolls eyes)
What makes the fallacy so appealing to people, though, is that there is a grain of truth in it. There are a number of cases where natural is better, and chemicals are nasty. I'd rather eat Certified Organic fruit and vegetables, for example. I am glad that most places in the Western World have legislation which forces companies to say what the ingredients of their food products are. It's fascinating (and sometimes appalling) what one notices if one actually pays attention to the ingredients lists. For example, "Lite" Coconut Milk is only Lite because there's less coconut and more water and thickener in it. I feel empowered when I make my own ice cream, because I know exactly what is in it. My ice cream is made of pure, natural ingredients... and pure, unnatural ingredients.
no subject
Date: Friday, 20 February 2009 04:00 pm (UTC)Maybe someone should set up a double-blind experiment where people are hit on the head to see if it helps.
no subject
Date: Friday, 20 February 2009 06:30 pm (UTC)*chortle*
*guffaw*
BWAH!!!
no subject
Date: Friday, 20 February 2009 06:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Friday, 20 February 2009 07:53 pm (UTC)Certainly, there's a difference between "certified organic" and "organic"; the first is a tested and passed certification, the second is a meaningless marketing term.
I think you and our other Antipodean neighbors have better luck with government inspectors and regulations.
I have no data to compare on that. I do know that our Customs department is very vigilant, because we want to keep out foreign diseases - being an island nation has its advantages and disadvantages.
no subject
Date: Friday, 20 February 2009 03:35 pm (UTC)Yes, some people are allergic to vaccines (or rather eggs and other bases) but if you don't vaccinate your dang kids then the rest of us are going to get sick, and ESPECIALLY those that can't be vaccinated for valid reasons! Herd immunity, morons! There's a reason there's no polio in most of the world! UGH.
Um. I'm a little bit passionate about vaccinations. (and the rest of what you were saying. you will pry my lamictal (for seizures) from my cold dead hands.)
no subject
Date: Friday, 20 February 2009 06:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Friday, 20 February 2009 08:01 pm (UTC)Um. I'm a little bit passionate about vaccinations.
Go ahead; I'll applaud.
no subject
Date: Friday, 20 February 2009 08:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Friday, 20 February 2009 11:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Saturday, 21 February 2009 12:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Friday, 20 February 2009 11:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Saturday, 21 February 2009 12:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Saturday, 21 February 2009 04:20 pm (UTC)(Pregnant mothers frightened by Deepak???)