A Scientific Rant

Maybe I’m just getting old, but lately I am finding more and more that there are two groups of Face Book users who really rile me.

The first is the self-righteous group of do-gooders, whether they are vegans, fur-lovers, tree huggers or adhere to any other cause which seems to turn presumably normal, sane human beings into viragos attempting to digitally beat the rest of us into submission.

Don’t get me wrong. I feel strongly about humane treatment of farm animals, am at the moment looking for an older rescue dog to join our family as a friend for my adored, breeder-bought pom, and can even get quite emotional about trees, especially in fall.

My gripe is with those who, with no knowledge of (or even interest in) the circumstances, have no hesitation in tearing apart a total stranger because they may have a different opinion.  Since when did social media become a dictatorship?

The second group that has me tearing my hair out are the conspiracy theorists.  I’m not talking about the flat earthers, or even those who are convinced that the whole moon landing was faked and that the planes which criss-cross our skies are trailing plumes of toxic gasses – presumably those responsible for the latter are all safely ensconced with their loved ones in air proof bunkers so as not to succumb to the fumes.

These are merely entertaining and do no harm.

No, the group which worries me the most are those who constantly advise their followers to ‘do your research’ while at the same time denigrating any professional or academic studies. Research, apparently, can only safely be done on Google and anyone who is accepted by their peers in any field must obviously be suspect.  Their postings are often preceded by statements like “things your doctor won’t tell you” or things Big Pharma doesn’t want you to know”.  Big Pharma and Big Agri feature often in these rantings, whereas there is no mention of Big Organics, which rakes in millions every year.

Doctors, who spend years studying, and racking up a fortune in student loans doing so, are – according to this section of the Face Book community – only in it to support Big Pharma and have no interest in actually curing their patients.  Either that or these gullible professionals just blindly follow the teachings of their professors who, for some reason or other, are hell bent on disseminating the untruths which apparently plague the medical profession.

Where this group differs from the first is the extraordinary amount of harm they can do.

Natural cancer cures are one example.  Since, it seems, doctors are determined to kill off their patients with chemotherapy and radiation, cancer sufferers are urged instead to eat only organic plant food and use coffee enemas (to name but a couple of alternative ‘cures’). And when, horrors, the patient still dies, the proponents of these treatments blame the patient for the failure[1].

And then, of course, there are the anti-vaxxers.  Just when it seemed we had managed to eliminate many of the diseases which maimed and killed our parents and grandparents, a whole group of vociferous individuals with no scientific background at all has convinced so many people that vaccinating their children is exposing them to dreaded consequences, that diseases like measles, mumps and even diphtheria are making a come back.  This is not entertaining, it is both frightening and appalling.

Science was considered very suspect in the early 17^th century, to the extent that scientists like Galileo were branded heretics and forced to recant. Today, centuries later, many on social media seem determined to reject any scientific evidence in favour of the emotional or the anecdotal.     The only difference today is that, instead of being excommunicated from the church for believing in science, those of us who are inclined to place our confidence in that which is tested and proven are likely to be branded as shills for companies like Montsano.  Nothing much changes.

 

“The duty of the man who investigates the writings of scientists, if learning the truth is his goal, is to make himself an enemy of all that he reads, and … attack it from every side. He should also suspect himself as he performs his critical examination of it, so that he may avoid falling into either prejudice or leniency.”

— Alhazen (965–1039)

 

[1] https://www.naturalnews.com/049722_cancer_treatment_natural_remedies_common_mistakes.html#