So I question the motivations of some of these people, including one Mike Adams, about whom I wrote a couple of days ago. When called out for what is apparently voter fraud for a Twitter Shorty Award, he threw an epic tantrum<\/a> that displays a decided lack of grip on reality (assuming he honestly believes what he’s selling). After that fact-free diatribe he followed up with a rant about skeptics<\/a> that’s so far off the mark that it’s hard to believe anyone could post something like that honestly. Steve Novella takes him down on that one<\/a>.<\/p> And as if these word spasms from Adams weren’t enough, he posted a third<\/em> article<\/a> where he completely gets science wrong, claiming water and quantum mechanics are magic, and then a fourth<\/em><\/a> about the Shorty Awards where he once again ramps up the paranoid conspiracy theories.<\/p> Sigh. The irony is that he makes my job easy since he’s self-debunking, but also makes it harder because so many people swallow what he says whole without even giving it a moment of critical thought. <\/p> Joe Mercola, the other \"victim\" professing to have the vapors over this Shorty Award nonsense, decided to jump into the fray as well<\/a>. Instead of using facts — because why start now? — he thought it was a good idea to say that Rachael Dunlop is fat:<\/p> An arrogant group of science bloggers that have vilified me for the past few years have started a campaign to have an Australian shill to win a health award on Twitter. This overweight non-physician has arrogantly bashed nearly every alternative therapy and encourages reliance on drugs. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote> Rachael is a woman who has tirelessly fought quackery<\/a> and the dangerous wares of many alt-med purveyors, and of course Adams and Mercola are squarely in her crosshairs. She has called out many an antivaxxer, and was a key player in the travesty<\/a> involving Dana McCaffery (an infant who died of pertussis) and Meryl Dorey, an antivaxxer who claims no one dies from pertussis anymore. <\/p> So when faced with someone like Rachael who has years of experience and who wields science, evidence, and reality, Mercola decided to stick out his tongue and call her fat. <\/p> Wow, folks. There’s your alt-med hero.<\/p> And yes, I am engaging in an ad hominem<\/em>, an attack directed at someone instead of their arguments. But it’s not always wrong to do so; in this case Steve Novella, Orac<\/a>, Rachael, and many others, including me, have already shown that people like Mercola and Adams are full of it. But sometimes that’s not enough. I think it does a lot of good to see how vile these people can be, and something like this is not only warranted, but needed<\/em>, especially when these alt-medders set themselves up to be victims, claiming to be sympathetic and only wanting to help. They don’t help; they hurt.<\/p> Happily, some of Mercola’s followers are starting to see through him<\/a>. <\/p> Look. We’re not talking about goofy nonsense like ghost-hunting or UFOs here. We’re talking about people’s lives.<\/strong> Alt-medders like Adams and Mercola reject treatments that we know<\/em> to work, that we know<\/em> can cure illnesses, that we know<\/em> can relieve pain and suffering on a massive scale, and that we know<\/em> can save lives. That’s what you’re turning your back on when you listen to them. <\/p> And I still endorse Rachael for the Shorty Award in health<\/a>. Keep fighting the good fight.<\/p> At some level, I understand the motivations of people who promote \"alternative medicine\". They may very well be altrustic, seeing what they perceive as a massive failing of so-called Western medicine, and feeling strongly that they know how to fix … Continue reading <\/a>
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