Well that may not be true... there probably isn't a University that offers degrees in capital 'Q' Quackery. But if there is and they aren't offering him at least an honourary degree they are missing out on a prime candidate.
He calls himself the 'Health Ranger' and has a second web-site called 'Natural News.'
It seems that no one with any real sense gives him any credit. Nor should they. He is flogging medical advice and information as a non-practitioner. What education does he have in medicine? None. He has read a bunch of books mostly by other non-doctors.
According to his bio he developed Type 2 diabetes at age 30 brought on by bad diet and lack of exercise. He did a bunch of personal research - which I heartily advocate, but not to the exclusion of an actual doctor's medical opinion - and cured himself.... through better diet and excercise. Well, guess what? If you do a google search for type 2 diabetes treatment, and restrict yourself to ACTUAL medical sites... the very first thing they will say is that type 2 diabetes can be controlled, at least initially, through better diet and exercise! You can probably verify that in about 30 seconds if you started right now. It is SO FUCKING SELF-EVIDENT I am not even going to provide a link. Just go try.
Further from that... we are informed in his bio that "Mike had his blood chemistry analyzed by a local medical lab... All results are 100% verifiable and on-file with his naturopathic doctor. " Or, if you prefer the translation to reality: "Mike had his blood chemistry analyzed by someone we aren't willing to specifically name because we are misrepresenting the data, but if you doubt our word you can ask this person who we pay who is NOT ACTUALLY A DOCTOR."
Oh... and did I for get to mention, Mike obviously knows what he is talking about because he is "the son of a Pfizer contractor." Yeah, well, my Dad worked at the airport... wanna go flying with me as the pilot?
But hey, Mike has written more than 1600 articles on health and completed dozens of books and special reports...! Uh... yeah. Carl Sagan wrote books about space... it didn't make him an astronaut.
I could carry on, picking apart his specious claims to expertise, but honestly - they don't get any better.
But here's his latest stinky pellet... utterly devoid of talent or factual content.
This garbage about vaccines being dangerous is in fact dangerous in itself.
If people aren't vaccinated, people die. It's as simple as that.
I turn 40 next month. I bear on my left shoulder a vaccination scar - practically anyone born in the Neo-Western World after 1905 but before 1972 has one. It's not that visible, but it's there. As a result of decades of mandated vaccinations pretty much anyone alive today grew up in a world where the most ravaging diseases like polio, small pox, measles, rubella and so on were rarely caught and therefore virtually out of mind. And becuase these diseases seem so rare, people aren't scared of them - they don't remember a day when a vastly less densely packed population was scared of them. If we quit vaccinating they will come back - spreading like wildfire. And then we are back to square one as far as eradicating them.
Look, I need to be clear - I am not a doctor. Do not take your medical advice from me. But please please please, take your advice from real doctors and real scientists. Arm yourself with the skills it takes to know the difference between actual experts and people who simply claim to be. Get to know the science - the real empirical evidence behind what these ignorant fear-mongering, attention-thriving shit-heads who are trying to promote their insane agenda are trying to tell you. Learn a little about how vaccines work and what herd immunity is. Find out how the medical community went above and beyond the call of duty to answer to the anti-vax paranoia about mercury preservatives, and then the anti-vaxxers blatantly ignored the results that decisively discredited them.
Fuck they make me mad! If it was just themselves who were at risk, I'd say "This is where Darwin does the work!" and let 'em all die out from their own stupidity. But there are innocent children at risk while these foolish idiots murder them with misinformation.
I do not say that lightly. I mean it. They are murderers.
Unfortunately, if you are a like me you haven't got a lot of time for indepth research about stuff you aren't invested in (and for the record - this IS a fight I am invested in). You probably appreciate a bit of a helping hand - a primer. To that end, here is a good place to start. Another good place to start - is with your doctor. Not with a rapping quack like the self-annointed "Health Ranger."
And, for the record, here's a short list of people who are not qualified to give you good medical advice:
- Mike Adams
- Jenny McCarthy
- Oprah Fucking Winfrey
- Jim Carrey
- Kennedy Goodkey
- Your priest or other spokesperson for a 'higher-power.'
- Robert Kennedy Jr.
- Arianna Huffington
The list goes on quite a long way, there are approximately 6778953003 people on the full list, so you'll forgive me if I quit while I am ahead.
Meanwhile, if you need expert advice you can ask one of the roughly 1423880 who are qualified. Chances are they won't rap their advice to you. I promise you they will tell you something to the effect of:
"Get vaccinated against H1N1 - protect yourself, protect your children, protect others via 'herd immunity' who genuinely can't be vaccinated for medical reasons."
Finally, if you are old enough to have one, wear your vaccination scar as a badge of honour. Your kids don't have small-pox because of that scar.
Posts
LOVE this.
ReplyDeleteMy mom takes the advice of Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Mercola to heart and then tries to get me to do the same. Um yeah, no. I do my research and can smell bullsh!t from a mile away; fortunately I must've inherited that from my dad since I think hers is broken.
As far as flu vaccines, that is so far off my radar screen that I don't even bother with it in myself or my kids, and somehow we've lived to tell the tale. A few days of lost school, no worries: I stay home anyway, so I'm not missing anything and am already taking a cut in pay.
You forgot Mercola and JB Handley on your list. Add them ASAP, they might be just two more names, but they are by far of the most prominent ones!
ReplyDeleteYou are certainly right but I smell a Pyrrhic victory (I admit I couldn't spell that word.)
ReplyDeleteScientific medicine killed George Washington by bleeding him to death, the lobotomy was the gold standard of psychiatry up until the time of our grandfathers and Ignaz Semmelweiss died in a mental hospital of the same disease he dedicated his life and sanity to try to bring under control. (Most historians think the medical profession drove him crazy by ridiculing his advocacy of the germ theory.)
Healthy people try as hard as possible to avoid hospitals and doctors, and do as much as they can to tend to their own health by not smoking, etc.
But they often make the mistake, as Confucius said, of shooting through the target instead of hitting the bulls eye. That is just the way we are constructed, we naked apes.
Adams should use some of his huge profits to attend medical school and/or get a PhD in medicine or biology ....
However, knocking Adams off his vainglorious horse would is a quixotic enterprise. I would rather see Phillip Morris destroyed and the tobacco trade returned to the Indians.
Very good comments, James, and I agree completely.
Delete(this is my first time to this site, so do not have the accounts asked for below. So, just clicking "anonymous" as to not spend another 20 minutes here figuring it out... peace!)
you need to get your head out of your ass
ReplyDeleteAs always, the most well argued points are put forth by the anonymous.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI've been pretty quiet for months - for a variety of reasons. Perhaps I'll cover that in an actual post sometime soon.
ReplyDeleteMeantime, the comments awaiting moderation have been piling up. And this post is the winner both in quality of nutbar and sheer number.
There is a common belief in skepticism that it is unfair to silence our critics - it is a classic tactic of the opposition to delete any posts the rational community might put on their blogs, and that makes sense, intellectual integrity has sweet fuck all to do with their agenda.
Thus far I have followed that principle, except in that I haven't been keeping up on the posts that need moderation. But above and beyond that, the practice is now officially dead - on this post at least.
I don't have time to answer the sheer number of inane comments left here. I really don't think it ought to be my responsibility to bother when the commenters can't adhere to simple ideas like grammar or really basic logic... so fuck 'em.
If - and I emphasize IF - there is a decent bit of discussion that actually engages me, yeah I'll respond. But if you are posting here to ask me what pharamceutical company I work for (none, thanks) or to misapply the word pseudo-science to actual science or to verbally suck Mike Adams or Joseph Mercola's cock, save the typing time. I will simply delete it without publishing it in a few months once I bother to look at the asinine crap you've posted.
I see no reason to further allow these (you) idiots to share my soapbox.
Thanks.
LOL... well, you're certainly correct about being an asshole... you go, boy.
DeleteThis commentary is true enough. Mike Adams is also a minion of the cult of Alex Jones where left is right and up is down. You'll note that affiliated individuals even take on some of the cadence and inflections of 'reverend Alex Jones' Lots of quackery on his show. I think it's all a bit cynical really. Make some money selling junk and spend the rest of the time misinforming the public.
ReplyDeletei think its a disturbing trend. citizens far and wide who claim we are being brainwashed and victims of mind control actually have become victims to the likes of alex jones and others.
DeleteWe are all programmed entities and we are all "controlled", as you mention. The concept is mere fact. People conform very easily to consensus of their environment, friend.
DeleteI've heard about the quack busters being funded
ReplyDeleteAre you
Sisco
after hearing Mike Adams on a recent "Coast to Coast", i was compelled to google him. the chicken little tirade i listened to on C2C scared the hell outta me - not because i do think the government has secret evil agendas. not because i think they are in cahoots (sp) with Facebook so supress speech...i think for those things, there is always more to the story than what these martyrs state. but i was scared because he, alex jones, et al have the minds and the hearts of millions. they repeat "lies", "conspiracies", etc., reinforcing that government is evil and that its goal is a distopian paradise where everyone is enslaved. hitler was equally effective in taking people's irrational fears and creating an air of mistrust and, eventually, hatred and violence.
ReplyDelete