Homeopathic Quackbusters Quack Quackery
Saturday, December 23, 2006
by Marilyn Freedman
There is a video posted on YouTube in which “quackbuster”, James Randi, takes aim at homeopathy. Although there are a number of these people out there who try to make claims that homeopathy has little, or no merit, I found this video to be most disturbing to me. This is because James Randi is a very entertaining speaker. To those of us professional Homeopaths, the homeopathic patients, the domestic homeopaths, and the MDs who incorporate homeopathy, almost all of what Randi has to say speaks to his comedic performance, rather than any sign of critical thinking. However, to the layperson Randi assumes an air of authority. Typically, as most of these quackbusters do, he misconstrues and conjectures about a medical science which he is ignorant about. He didn’t even take the trouble to learn how to pronounce the proper words, or learn about the actual concepts he is making fun of.
The fundamental principles of homeopathy that Randi has totally misrepresented are:
A: Homeopathy follows the natural world’s law of similars, not a law of the same, which Randi refers to. Like homeopathic medicine, vaccinations are also minute substances, diseases to be exact, which are usually injected subcutaneously. These substances are the same as the disease they are protecting a person from. Homeopathic medicine does not treat by identical substance, but the idea is similar. As a matter of fact, conventional medicine borrows from homeopathy in its treatment of ADD or ADHD in that the use of amphetamines (speed) is used to help someone who cannot focus on task, and/or is hyper. The most common and well known of these medicines is Ritalin. The law of similars comes to us from Hippocrates: “Disease is born of like things, and by the attack of like things people are healed.” The concept of the law of similars is also found in such writings as the Bible (Exodus).
B: Minimum dose to effect a healing response. Minimum dose to prevent illness. This is a concept which comes to us from Peracelsus: “Poison is in everything, and no thing is without poison. The dosage makes it either a poison or a remedy.” The minimum dose is highly diluted. The homeopathic dilution has the unique property of being non-toxic. The fact that these highly diluted homeopathic medicines, called remedies, are so effective is that they stimulate the immune system to fight off illness. Homeopathic remedies are used as prophylaxis as well. This concept, although in a crude and sometimes harmful way, is copied in the process of vaccinations.
C: One remedy only – unlike conventional medicine where people are on a multitude of medicines for each “dis-ease” their different spet announces that they have, homeopathic practitioners only dispense one at a time. That way the patient, and the practitioner, both know if the medicine is working.
D: Provings are homeopathic studies in which substances are not tested on animals, but on healthy people, being homeopaths, their friends, families, and other lovers of this art & science of homeopathy. All the symptoms which are caused by the substance are written down and compiled in our materia medica giving us a total symptom picture.
No side effects – laughable, yes? Well, millions of people around the world who are treated by conventional western medicine are not laughing at all the horrific side effects that conventional medicine produces, death being one of them. Unlike conventional medicine, homeopathic medicine has no side effects and is non toxic. Therefore educated, and certified, homeopathic practitioners don’t harm, or kill you. Why is it that homeopathic medicines are non toxic? Because they are so highly diluted. That they are so highly diluted makes them capable of cure.
Throughout its history Homeopathy has always had its most ardent followers among the affluent, the literary, and the royalty: The British Royal Family, Paul McCartney, Tina Turner, Mark Twain, Yehudi Menuhin, Mahatma Ghandi, to drop a few names.
Randi could be either a great comedian, or a total idiot, but I am of the definite opinion that he is quacko himself. Unfortunately, it is people like him who sound knowledgeable enough, that are able convince people of his ideas viz. the comments to his video. For a comedian, he’s a lousy homeopath.