They Laugh At Me, I'm Laughing At Them (Hilarious,...)

“The forces of graft and unrighteousness are peculiar to no country or clime, and they have their champions in the high places and the low. Until the people themselves are better educated concerning the danger and iniquity of quackery, they must be protected from the forces that prey. The popular understanding of these matters is becoming better every day, and, aided by proper laws, the time will come, perhaps, when quackery will be unprofitable.”

That's a wonderful quote to summarize what we've learned (so far) about "the forces that prey" - politicians like Mitt Romney, Orrin Hatch, and Tom Harkin, as well as cult groups like the Mormons, and the other NewAgers in the various supplement (and "alternative" medicine) industries.

Because the citizens of this country (and others) are so ignorant of the rank quackery laid before them, under the guise of "health freedom," these influential individuals and the cult groups they belong to are allowed to promote "graft and unrighteousness," posing as "their champions in the high places and the low."

One of these corrupt loons is even headed to the White House.

I spotted the quote, which is actually from the year 1912, as the lead-in to a Steve Novella blog post on the longevity of quackery. Afterwards, he ends with his own words which, to me, are just as troubling:

Our perspective tends to exist in a temporal bubble – we think that the conflicts of today are unique to us, and that we innovated the ideas we use to defend our causes. History, however, tells a different story.

And why is this? Because, as I've been saying as long as I've been online engaging with doctors, they refuse to try a different tactic. They keep repeating what does not work, year after year, expecting a different result. Little wonder the medical profession has lost some credibility.

I am sure Dr. Novella is aware of the NewAge Movement. I'm not so sure he's aware many of the most vocal anti-vaccinationists, such as Jim Carrey, are a part of it.

I am sure Dr. Novella is aware of the supplement industry and DSHEA (He mentions both in his blog post on quackery). I'm not so sure he's aware the Mormon "church," and it's cult followers, such as Mitt Romney and Orrin Hatch, are responsible for them.

And I am sure Dr. Novella is aware of homeopathy. I'm not so sure he's aware it, too, is a cult, and not just a water-based preparation that some people seem to behave bizarrely over - for some reason few in medicine seem willing or able to put their finger on - even to the extent of ending their own lives and the lives of their loved ones.

But armed with his ignorance, like almost every other medical professional I've discussed these matters with, Dr. Novella writes as though there are few answers to quackery when, clearly, identifying cultism as a culprit is one answer left on the table - despite the overwhelming evidence of it's ubiquity in his field.

The late Jef Raskin, cognitive psychology researcher, creator and leader of the Macintosh project at Apple Computer Inc., identified cultism in Nursing Theory as far back as the year 2000 with little-to-no response from the medical community, though a nine-year old girl did get into JAMA for debunking the cult's theories.

But what of the various cults themselves? They carry on in the hospitals, reciting the Hitler Youth phrase "Mind, Body, and Spirit" right under the good doctor's noses, without a care in the world, because - when it comes to cults, cultish thinking, and the long-standing issue of cultism - the medical profession is filled with more "shruggies" than can be found anywhere, since - in this instance - they are thinking of anything but the welfare of their patients, who have been turned into hand-waving, water-drinking, nonsense-spouting mental slaves.

Long ago, a cultist warned me that "We're in the hospitals - we're getting legit - you'd better 'get' it before it's too late!" and those words could not have been more prophetic over the ensuing years. But, I'm sad to say, the doctors and nurses these cultists are attacking are as much to blame, for the cultist's success, as the cultist's themselves - because the doctors are wearing cultural blinders just as restricting to their view.

Stop repeatedly identifying quackery, and explaining how it works until we're dying of boredom, and start identifying who these groups are - not just the individuals within them. Abandon the softly-softly, non-judgmental, "respectful insolence" approach and pick up a rhetorical baseball bat, as such true leaders as Panda Bear, M.D. and Dr. Graham Sharpe have, and start swinging for your own survival.

Or - if I understand your profession correctly - finally start doing it for mine,….