[lbo-talk] Doug Henwood's Critique of Gary Null

andie nachgeborenen andie_nachgeborenen at yahoo.com
Thu Mar 18 08:54:20 PST 2004


Actually, acupuncture does work for some things, especially as an anaesthetic, as established by rigorous clinic trials. No one knows why. The Chinese medical theory that it is based on is false, of course.

As far as I can tell, most medicine is by guess and by golly. It's an art, not a science. There has been a lot of progress in the last 100 or so years, but even so it is pretty much a matter of seeing what works. Medical doctors are also incredibly arrogant given how little they know.

There is nothing wrong with leaving a space for "alternative" medicine; au contraire, it is a good potential resource for ideas and techniques that one might not otherwise come across or develop. It's probably a bad idea to overregulate this stuff as well, and I think we do. What's wrong with testing and requiring disclosure, then letting people do what they they like?

I am not sure that there is a particular association of "alternative medicine" and "the left." Maybe with the "counterculture," if that still exists, but maybe it does more than the left does.

jks

--- Michael Dawson -PSU <mdawson at pdx.edu> wrote:
> Amen, Doug, on all fronts. The only interesting
> question in all this is
> which is worse: the deception and exploitation of
> sick people or the
> immense damage done to the left by these kooks. One
> half expects to someday
> discover that "alternative medicine" was an FBI
> project launched to
> embarrass us and drive away droves of potential
> comrades who flip on WBAI
> (or KBOO here in Portland, OR), expecting to gain
> some new insights, only to
> find psychopathic megalomaniacs peddling snake oil
> and UFO theories.
>
> If acupuncture worked by anything other than its
> ritualized
> exoticism/placebo effect, the be a corporate
> "Needles 'R Us" on every street
> corner. Same goes for all the weed dusts that pass
> as alternative
> medicines.
>
> It'll be a great day when the left is strong enough
> to kick these yahoos off
> our radio stations.
>
> ___________________________________
>
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