The irrational path to death
Dave Balson
Opinion Editor
I’m amazed how often I hear this laissez-faire defense of irrationality: “If people want to believe in fairy tales, what’s the harm?”
Sometimes, it is a fair argument. On Sunday, my horoscope read: “Your taste in art and appreciation in general are heightened. Perhaps this is a good time to select furnishings, colors, and so on--the finer things of life.”
It is irrational to believe such a statement could apply to one-twelfths of the world’s population, and quite offensive to those Aries living in abject poverty in the Third World . For some of them, a more accurate horoscope might read: “You will travel many miles in search of clean drinking water and hope your sister doesn’t die of cholera while you’re away.” But horoscopes don’t directly endanger lives.
Other irrational beliefs do have quantifiable, fatal consequences. In many cases, such as the Catholic Church’s insistence that god does not want people in AIDS-ridden nations to use condoms, the path to death is direct and easy to understand. Whenever the Vatican
For whatever reason, Americans seem less inclined to condemn irrational beliefs like medical quackery and climate-change denial, despite the lethal consequences those beliefs have on their communities.
Homeopathy is a perfect example of our irrational beliefs, why we hold them and the effect they have on our lives.
Millions of people and several first world governments spend billions of dollars annually on homeopathic medicine. Homeopathy is based on a premise its practitioners swear is not satire: The more you dilute a substance, the more potent it becomes. Therefore, the 2 ounce bottle of belladonna you bought at Whole Foods is potent precisely because it’s been diluted to 10 -60.
If you missed class the day your math teacher taught exponents, let me fill you in on how ridiculous a number that is. If you bought enough of the 10 -60 dilution to fill the world’s oceans, it would be extremely unlikely to contain a single molecule of the original belladonna.
The medical system established in modern first-world countries, while imperfect, works incredibly well. Modern medicine has given us longer, more comfortable, productive lives.
Homeopathy is an “alternative medicine,” which is medicine that has either not been proved to work, or been proved not to work. Otherwise we just call it “medicine.”
Unlike actual medicine, homeopathic remedies are not backed by scientific studies and are completely unregulated by the FDA, which is fair, since they’re only selling tiny bottles of water.
If it’s just water, it can’t hurt people. In fact, some people will enjoy the same benefits they would from a placebo. What’s the harm?
Homeopathy does affect the health of people who come to believe the fairy tale. The money they waste on this hyped-up H2O is money they could and should have spent on real medical advice and treatment from real doctors.
According to Reuters, Americans spend about $34 billion annually on homeopathic remedies. Some of that money comes from people with chronic illnesses. This isn’t harmless, new-age nonsense. It’s a nefarious hustle.
People with terminal cancer are as susceptible mark as a con artist can hope for. Their doctor tells them they are going to die soon, but treatments could give them a bit more time with a bit less pain. Desperate, the patient looks for a third way—a cure.
The homeopath hustles the patient. The cancer worsens. The patient returns to the medically licensed doctor but can no longer afford the treatments that would have given him or her more time and less pain.
The patient’s motives are easy to understand, but the terminal patient’s irrational beliefs aren’t really the problem. The real problem lies in the other part of that $34 billion.
The people who reject medicine in favor of snake oil based on a conviction founded in neither fact nor reason legitimize quackery enough for it to appeal to vulnerable victims like our patient. Their motives truly do the damage.
Why would a person want to believe something that isn’t true, if that belief is bad for them?
It gives them a sense of control.
Science and medicine are confusing. Pills can regulate anything from your bowel movements to your dopamine levels. Surgeons can remove a tumor from your brain and put an artificial heart in your chest. It all seems so unnatural.
It is unnatural, of course. It is the nature of our bodies to fail and die. The whole idea of medicine is fend off that natural process.
But isn’t it nicer to believe that the whole medical industry is a scam? Life is simpler if I can go into my local Whole Foods and pick up a bottle of belladonna dilution, or ragweed or milk thistle, any time I get sick, rather than trusting arrogant doctors and scientists who think they know everything.
Homeopathy provides the delusion that life isn’t as fragile; that our bodies aren’t as complex, and sickness and death aren’t as random as they actually are.
It’s not just homeopathy. Some of our most harmful beliefs are based in the comforting delusion of control.
An ocean of evidence says climate change is real and caused by people. As that vast pool of evidence grows, it becomes ever more apparent that some of the dramatic effects of climate change—smaller ice caps, stronger storms, longer droughts, more acidic oceans—have arrived.
And yet, a large group of loud people believe climate change science is a hoax perpetrated by scientists and politicians who seek absolute control over the world economy. That irrational belief has spread throughout the American public, 67 percent of whom do not believe climate change is a “serious threat,” according to a March 12 Gallup poll.
I wish they were right. We can defend ourselves against the lies of powerful men and women much more easily than rising sea levels. If people really are causing climate change, then I have very little control. Even if I live a green, carbon-free life, I can’t make the guy next door trade in his Hummer for a SmartCar.
If we allow ourselves the delusion that there is no problem, we have an excuse not to address it. As any 12-stepper could tell you, the first step is admitting you have a problem.
Irrationality isn’t about stupidity or ignorance. It’s about refusing to face reality. Schools can teach critical thinking skills (CLC does a wonderful job at this). But at some point there is a larger lesson one must learn on one’s own.
Life can be complicated. Sickness and death can strike without reason. The ecosystem is buckling. But life is also full of wonder, in part because we work together to make it so.
When we refuse to accept how much of life we can’t control, we give up what control we do have. Humanity now faces unprecedented challenges. Unless we are willing to summon up the courage to see the world as it actually is, we cannot hope to make the future what we want it to be.
Dave, your argument is very clear and supported. However, do you not believe that when all hope has run out and you have no where else to turn, the small bottles of water give those dying enough hope to keep fighting?
just a thought
also you smell really bad
So let's say, for example, that some guy is diagnosed with a terminal illness and, for whatever reason, he has all lost hope that his doctors at the hospital can do anything to help him. So he turns to the little bottles of water and, though they aren't actually treating him, they provide him the hope and strength (through placebo or by enhancing his mental confidence, etc.) to keep fighting. Eventually (and this happens to some people, Alt. Med or no Alt. Med.), his body overcomes the illness. Am I happy he lived? Of course, just like I'm happy for all the people who show up at Lourdes and claim to have been cured by the Virgin Mary. I like when people don't die. Call me a Bleeding Heart if you must.
The fact is, this "alternative medicine gave him the hope to live" idea, if it happens, is probably extremely rare. But there are plenty of documented cases where alternative medicine has harmed or killed sick people:
Like this 9-month-old baby girl, whose parents chose to treat her eczema with homeopathic medicine. Eczema is treatable, but not with sugar pills and water. She died.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/28/2698762.htm
Or this guy, whose homeopath treated his fatigue with bovine adrenal fluid. He died. (To be fair, that is a rather effective way to treat fatigue.)
http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2005/10/homeopath-patients-death-debated.html
Or this lady. Her story is a pretty good answer to, "But what about the hope it provides?" She was going to die of cancer, so she turned to homeopathic medicine, believing it would cure her. It didn't. Her cancer raged on and she died. Meanwhile, a homeopath bilked the couple out of $41k and, according to her husband, "robbed [him] of precious time to console her, to come to closure, to prepare for her departure."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/105581
Or this lady with breast cancer, who refused conventional treatments like chemo in favor of alternative medicine. Her family urged her to get the same conventional treatments that had kept her mother alive for more than 22 years. She didn't, and died 2 1/2 years later:
http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/19990409davis4.asp
I've read dozens of these and could read thousands more. The reality is, this is not some harmless hoodoo-voodoo. We're dealing with people's lives. We're dealing with people's last moments with their loved ones. I think it's hard to make the argument that all of this harm is worth some degree of false hope.
As to my offensive odor, my homeopath has assured me that it is a medical condition and that showering would negatively effect my treatment. I hope he's right.
Drinking cow adreniline is serious addiction in lawrence, i would advise you stay away from it.
However, even many medical procedures result in harm or death. For example, many people are misdiagnosed and/or prescribed a medicine that has very nasty effects. Every year through simple mistakes such as conflicting medications that react together and impose harm on the patient. Even doctor's prescriptions are misread at the pharmacy and the person could receive wrong dosage or even wrong medication. (amazing how bad drs are at the easy stuff, like writing legibly) Malpractice suits are not uncommon, and there is a reason that drs have high malpractice insurance in the case that something goes wrong. From things as simple as reading prescriptions to surgeries and anesthetics, whenever someone decides to get medical care there is a risk. Though the risk for taking flu medication and getting open heart surgary is very different, the risk is there.
Homeopathy is not a viable form a treatment, i completely agree, however there is no fool-proof way to overcome illness.
Sometimes a little hope is all someone needs, i am not saying this should come from homeopathy, it could come from your barber, for all it matters. However in the case of the terminally ill, normally i would say what is the hurt in trying, but it seems there is a risk associated with those small super drinks from your local homeopath. I am saying though, on the less extreme end, if medical treatments are NOT going to work, and its past the point of trying, and if all you want is someone to lie and tell you something is going to work, to install some type of hope, then i suppose religion is the next best solution
(Still Dave, I'm using the Chronicle account so I can immediately post the comments.)
And the big religions are all pretty affordable, too. That said, the idea of seeing a dying loved one blowing their cash on L. Ron Hubbard books and an "E-meter" to measure their "thetans" makes tiny bottles of water seem downright sensible.
To your first point. (Not the cow-adrenaline junkies in Lawrence. By the way, you guys have plenty of farm supply stores out there, why not try crystal meth?) What you said is absolutely true. Conventional medicine causes harm and death every day. But the argument is a straw man.
It is a straw man I invited to the party (who's a blast, by the way. Great stories.) when I glossed, "The medical system established in modern first-world countries, while imperfect, works incredibly well."
I concede that "imperfect" is an inadequate description. And for people who have lost loved ones to the carelessness of doctors, any description I could muster would not do justice to their pain, anger and grief. Too often, people die because someone for got to double check something. There is no acceptable excuse for that.
I thought your words, "whenever someone decides to get medical care there is a risk," were much better than my, "imperfect." Medical care has risks, even when doctors are at their best. Sometimes chemo works, sometimes it doesn't, and so on.
But we know chemo sometimes works. We know why it does. We know that vaccines are incredibly effective and incredibly safe, and we know why they are. How do we know? We have a system in place to help minimize risk and maximize efficiency. A system of exhaustive, double-blind studies and government regulation. Our generation is too quick to dismiss the fact that this system has given the vast majority of us the opportunity of a full, healthy life.
Homeopathy, and alt. med. in general, exists outside of this system because it must. Worse, and here's the kicker, alt. med. uses the inherent and relatively rare failures of conventional medicine as its central selling point:
"Tired of doctors and scientists letting you down? With their big words and fancy degrees, you'd think they could cure everything, every time. But anyone who knows anyone who died knows all that testing ain't worth a penny to a poodle. Buy alternative medicine. We don't have a thing to prove to anybody." (I should've been an ad man...)
To your second point: Hope is great. I voted for it. Still would. But this is no white lie or well-packaged optimism. It's a scam, and people get hurt. I'm sure people who gave their bank account numbers to Nigerian princes that randomly emailed them for a place to stash their millions had a great few days of hope. Then they saw their savings disappear.
Maybe they could find work as a homeopath. I hear there's good money in it.