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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
 Posted - 12/14/2009 : 17:07:59
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I just stumbled across this rather ridiculous article at, of all places, Huffington post. I'm rather shocked to see a mainstream "new" media source like HuffPo give space to this sort of rubbish, but who knows. I haven't had time to read through it yet and perhaps I'm behind the times on all of this.
One thing struck me as dubious off the bat, however. At one point, the author writes:| Dr. Martin Chaplin, a respected British professor who is one of the world's experts on water, has verified that "homeopathic water" and "regular water" are not the same, and his review of almost 2,000 references to the scientific literature on water (!) confirm this fact (Chaplin, 2009). |
Leaving aside the argument made, the reference itself is curious. For in her citation, we find:Uh, updated regularly? Ideally, when you cite something like this, you're doing do because it's been peer-reviewed, is able to be reviewed by the reader, and serves as a sort of chronological marker for where the data were, and what people were thinking about said data at a certain point in time.
You can't say "so-and-so has verified X" and link to some dude's website. Especially one that is updated and changed at the whim of said dude. It's not good scholarship, period.
I'll have a look later at the rest of it, but this whole thing isn't off to a good start at all.
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 12/14/2009 : 17:31:04 [Permalink]
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Saw that. Pz links to it in amongst other quackery, much of it even sillier.
He also has a post showing that the Huff Post almost runs parallel with FOXnoise on the topic of woo. The stupider the nostrum, the better it must be. 
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 12/14/2009 : 17:54:25 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Cuneiformist
I just stumbled across this rather ridiculous article at, of all places, Huffington post. I'm rather shocked to see a mainstream "new" media source like HuffPo give space to this sort of rubbish, but who knows. I haven't had time to read through it yet and perhaps I'm behind the times on all of this.
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The Huffington Post regularly runs articles by Deepak Chopra and other heavy hitters of woo. They have endorsed detoxification (colon cleansing and, you know, the usual crap) and they have run articles that are anti-vax pretty regularly.
More woo on--where else?--The Huffington Post
They have been under fire for a long time now by the evidence based medical community and by skeptics, because of their endorsements, by way of the articles they run, of quack ideas and therapies.
I'm shocked that you're shocked. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 12/14/2009 : 18:36:44 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Kil
I'm shocked that you're shocked. |
To be honest, I don't much follow those blogs and "new media" outlets much. At least, not much beyond checking here and there when there's a big political story. But I was bored today and looked around more. I guess I should stay more in touch with the ever-growing mainstream acceptance of medical woo.... |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 12/14/2009 : 20:59:58 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Cuneiformist
I guess I should stay more in touch with the ever-growing mainstream acceptance of medical woo....
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Encouragingly, if you read the comments, most of the public doesn't seem to be accepting of this type of woo. Arianna Huffington herself is another matter. It's her blog and she stocks it with con artists that have duped her. I don't know if that's a reflection of the "mainstream" so much as it is a reflection of over-the-hill upper class socialites with too much money and too little self esteem.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
| Edited by - H. Humbert on 12/14/2009 21:03:21 |
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Nanopharmacology
