Why does Homeopathy seem to irk skeptics the most?

Discussion in 'Health Care' started by suede, Sep 30, 2011.

  1. politicalcenter

    politicalcenter Well-Known Member

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    The problem with Homeopathy is that people rely on it rather than treatment by qualified medical personel.

    And it seems the more educated a person is the quicker they fall for it.

    If a person wants to go back to the Middle Ages for medical treatment it is their own business.
     
  2. Wrathful_Buddha

    Wrathful_Buddha Well-Known Member

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    Some schooling and chiropractic school. I'm not sure how much.
     
  3. webspider

    webspider New Member

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    hello friends,
    I'm just wondering why you skeptics are so obsessed with homeopathy and when you say it's because you "care" about the people who are duped by it (that a lot of you skeptics call them "stupid" which is ironic that you care about them, but call them stupid at the same time) but there are so little people hurt by homeopathy compared to pharmacology which you seem to spend no time warning people about the dangers of that it seems like your priorities are a little jaded.
    thanks
     
  4. cassandrabandra

    cassandrabandra New Member

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    the two don't really compare.
     
  5. suede

    suede Banned

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    And how many people die per year because of that?
     
  6. xsited1

    xsited1 New Member

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    Because it's better to take a $400 pill from a billion dollar drug company than it is to treat yourself using some root from a bush in your backyard. Duh!
     
  7. perdidochas

    perdidochas Well-Known Member

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    You are mistaking herbal medicine for homeopathy. Herbal medicine would be using an extract from the root to treat an illness. Homeopathy is to take a little bit of the extract, dilute it down to nothingness, and use it to treat an illness.
     
  8. xsited1

    xsited1 New Member

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    No, I'm not mistaking it for herbal medicine, but you assume I am. And the dilution is not always "down to nothingness."
     
  9. perdidochas

    perdidochas Well-Known Member

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    Well, from my readings, they claim that the more diluted the solution is, the more powerful it is. Any dilution more than 8x is pretty much water.
     
  10. xsited1

    xsited1 New Member

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    Many homeopaths claim that, but not all. My original post was more of a commentary on the power of drug companies to force their drugs on the public. And with the amount of crony capitalism that is going on in the world today, one should be wary.
     
  11. suede

    suede Banned

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    Moron skeptic wants Big Brother government to regulate Homeopathy:

    [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJEYaVPdTK0]Skepchick: Homeopathy and the FDA[/ame]

    This chick is so dumb. And I love all the misinformation she includes in her stupid little video (aren't you skeptics supposed to be against misinformation?).

    @:05 - Claims Homeopathy is a "scam." OK, where's the proof of that? As expected, she offers no proof of her claim.

    @:07 - Tries to minimize the efficacy of Herbs by claiming Herbs can sometimes have a "small" effect. Herbs have been proven over and over again to have more of an effect than some FDA approved drugs. Either she's a whore for big pharma, or just plain stupid.

    @:25 - Says according to Homeopathy, if you unintentionally consume fecal matter and get E. Coli, the "Homeopathic cure" would be to consume more fecal matter. No stupid, one Homeopathic cure option would be to take homeopathically prepared E. Coli. What a dumb broad.

    @:40 - Her description of how Homeopathic remedies are made is wrong (surprise!). She says the dilution process is by taking one part of a substance and drop in the amount of a glass of water then shake it, then take a drop of that and drop it into the amount of a swimming pool and mix it, then take a drop of that and drop it into the amount of the ocean and mix it. Homeopaths don't add a "mixed" drop to an amount larger than the base amount of water, but to the exact same amount. So if you start by adding a drop of a substance to 10 drops of water, after shaking it (called "successioning"), they take one drop of that and add it to a new 10 drops of water. Then so on and so on to the desired potency. Surprised she wasn't smart enough to get that right? </sarcasm>

    @1:15 - Says according to Homeopathy, water has a memory. Where does Homeopathy ever say that? Some Homeopaths speculate that's how Homeopathy might work. Funny she didn't make that disclaimer.

    @1:30 - Tries to be funny by bringing up the thought of "sewage water" for the theory some Homeopaths have that water can retain a memory after successioning. Regardless of the obvious flaw in her comparison, she shoots herself in her own foot. According to the way she thinks Homeopaths think Homeopathy works, since drinking sewage water would obviously cause a lot of illness in people, using water with the "memory" of sewage water and potencizing it would make an effective homeopathic remedy!

    @1:59 - Brings up how she thinks Homeopathy can harm be avoiding "real doctors" and "real medicine" for dangerous diseases. Funny she doesn't say how many people per year are "harmed" by Homeopathy in this way (or how that more people get injured or die from "real doctors" using "real medicine" than all of Alt medicine COMBINED!).

    @2:42 - Mentions that obsessed skeptic group "CFI On Campus" will be holding protests at campuses "across the country" to petition the FDA to crack down on the "purveyors of homeopathy." Again, fails to give a number of how many people in the U.S. are actually harmed by Homeopathy per year. What if it was only 10 people per year? Multiple campus protests for only 10 people per year?! How about the 100,000's of people who get injured or die from needless medications or surgeries by those "real doctors" who practice "real medicine"? No, apparently Homeopathy is the bigger scourge.

    @3:45 - Says for Halloween she's thinking of going as "Little Mermaid." I think she should go wearing a Dunce Cap, or a horse's ass. That would be more appropriate.
     
  12. perdidochas

    perdidochas Well-Known Member

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    Nice strawman. Bet she works for the homeopathic industry....
     
  13. Colonel K

    Colonel K Well-Known Member

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    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMGIbOGu8q0"]That Mitchell and Webb Look: Homeopathic A&amp;E - YouTube[/ame]
     
  14. suede

    suede Banned

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    Do you say that because I royally pwned her and you can refute my rebuttal?
     
  15. suede

    suede Banned

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  16. Uncle Meat

    Uncle Meat Banned

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  17. perdidochas

    perdidochas Well-Known Member

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    Do you understand what a strawman is? It's a weak version of the real argument that you beat up. It's a very poor form of argumentation, and beyond that, I'm not going to address it. You easily beat the strawman. I will grant that. You still don't answer the real question. How does homeopathy work?

    Oh, and anybody that uses pwned automatically loses any argument :)
     
  18. Uncle Meat

    Uncle Meat Banned

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    Yes. Agreed.
     
  19. suede

    suede Banned

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    So you agree Stupchick, I mean Skepchick's little Homeophobia video rant was mostly terrible?

    Apparently from the memory of sewage water, right?

    Sorry, I meant to type owned. :-D
     
  20. axialturban

    axialturban Well-Known Member

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    Its quantum magic, no seriously, didnt someone prove water has a memory already? Just because something is unknown doesnt mean it mustn't work.
     
  21. DarkDaimon

    DarkDaimon Well-Known Member

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    If you are talking about Jacques Benveniste, his research was disproved.

    True, but the burden of proof is on the one making the claims.
     
  22. Daggdag

    Daggdag Well-Known Member

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    It was not so long ago that the catholic church arrested people as heretics for the practice of medicine.

    You do not need a drug company to come up with some pill to treat sickness.

    There have always been herbs and other natural medicines that have been used for centuries. All drug companies do is take these natural medicines, put them in a pill and claim they own them.
     
  23. Herby

    Herby Active Member Past Donor

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    That's true. What we do need, however, is careful testing of remedies.

    I don't care where medicine comes from (unless it's gathered in an ethically questionable way, of course). All that counts is whether a remedy actually works or not. When it comes to something as important as our health, we shouldn't rely on hearsay alone, but do our best to test the efficacy of medicine. That's where medical science comes in.

    If you have 35 minutes to spare, I recommend listening to this story about the endeavors of an amateur cancer researcher.
    http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/450/so-crazy-it-just-might-work?act=1
     
  24. PatrickT

    PatrickT Well-Known Member

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    There's just something about snakeoil salesmen that irk me, whether they're at the county fair or in Washington D.C.
     
  25. Bowerbird

    Bowerbird Well-Known Member

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    Yep! and we will even let you rub them on your bum when you lie in bed in ICU - that is unless you are using something like St John's wart which has been shown to have quite significant side effects

    Some time google up digitalis, foxglove and history http://ownyourhealth.wordpress.com/2008/07/08/foxglove-history-and-medicinal-uses/
     

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