IT'S ALL NATURAL!

(Originally published, by Scott Duncan, on Facebook on the 26th June 2014 at 19:10)

You often hear me lament the fact that there are people who only pretend to think. I often counter this unfortunate phenomenon with Tim Minchin's "Storm". More specifically, I reference the quote "Do you know what they call alternative medicine that's been proven to work? ...medicine". The alternative medicine crowd has no idea what this means, as they consider PhotoShop pictures and Youtube videos "proof". They try to look "sciency", but rarely have anything resembling proof, while always seeming to have a "store". This, in and of itself, should make you suspicious about the self-serving nature of anything being recommended, but the larger issue is with the process itself.

What I'm about to show you here is the mechanism by which entities like "Natural News" feed on your credulity.

I'm going to point you to a peer-reviewed article on the use of essential oils to treat a zoster-class sub-species of virus. These "essential oils" are easily obtained and are, of course, all natural. Entities like "Natural News" (if they ever got wind of this) would throw up a misleading headline like, "OIL CURES HERPES!" This would of course be accompanied by numerous not-so-subtle prompts to visit their "store".

Places like "Natural News" do not care if what they publish is true. They really like it, if what they publish happens to be true, because it makes their profiteering seem more "credible", but they really don't give a shit if it's true, or not. Money is money. Truth is irrelevant.

The next thing I'm going to point you to is peer review of the aforementioned article. Please note the methodology employed, and the fact that these specialists in the field, possessing far more knowledge on the subject, than the scientist who published the original paper, certify the method is sound, and can reproduce the results. In both cases, sources are cited for absolutely every subject touched upon.

Places like "Natural News" tend to point to an obscure blog or Fox News...and if they're really desperate, The Alex Jones Channel (If you can't support bullshit, point to yourself. :D Alex Jones = "Natural News". Same company/owners ). You see it doesn't matter if you're an expert in the field or not. If you cannot reproduce the results, it's not science.

After reading the article and its very well-annotated peer reviews, please take the time to examine these sites that such things are presented on. Notice the methodology employed, the citations and peer reviews, and the absence of any store links. There's no "Click to fucking donate" button; for the reality is the research that caused this data to exist in the first place has ALREADY BEEN PAID FOR. This is an issue everyone ignores. Aaron Swartz was fighting an ugly trend of peer-reviewed articles being hidden behind paywalls. It cost him his sanity and his life.

All delusional thought is connected, and affects everything. It's why I fight it so vehemently.

People who make a living capitalizing on your credulity make up the bulk of that 1% you claim to oppose. If you want to see what happens to a society which condones that sort of activity, you have but to look at South Africa; where their Ministry of Health promotes, as a fact, the treatment of AIDS with onion juice, while giving no opposition to idiotic superstitions like "Sex with a virgin cures AIDS".

Scientific facts should stand the test of scientific scrutiny. Your love of placebos is not something your children should pay for; because if one of them is unfortunate enough to get AIDS they may find themselves in the uncomfortable position of being prescribed onion juice (as that's the only thing their health plan will cover). In the United States there is a constant and well-funded effort to convince people that superstition and science are the same thing. The point of this post will go over most people's heads, which unfortunately only serves to prove my point.

Read this post several times and examine the mechanics. Follow the money. It ends at Natural News; Anything they make after that is PURE PROFIT.

REFERRED TO IN THIS ARTICLE:

Storm: http://youtu.be/HhGuXCuDb1U

Original article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/17894898/?i=2&from=/21888012/related

FULL Text: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2099429/

Peer review: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?linkname=pubmed_pubmed_reviews&from_uid=17976968

South Africa as a nation... will believe ANTYHING: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5319680.stm

Sex with virgins cures AIDS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_cleansing_myth