"And even at their worst, the hucksters of mumbo-jumbo are only minor-league con artists.

"And even at their worst, the hucksters of mumbo-jumbo are only minor-league con artists. Their crimes pale next to those of our financial institutions, and all the others who convince the public to throw their life savings at the stock market, take out mortgages they can't afford, buy junk they don't need with money they don't have, and pay for the fuck-ups of bankers and the greed of speculators. But which skeptic is going to debunk these swindlers?

Cheating people out of their money is one thing, but cheating them out of their lives is quite another. To read some skeptic takes on alternative medicine, you'd think only heart disease rivalled it as a killer. It's true that alternative medicine is not going to cure anyone of serious illness, but it's also generally true that the terminally ill only turn to it when real medicine has given up hope on them. And the value of hope in one's final days is not to be dismissed so easily. The relaxed swagger of a charlatan can be far more comforting than the stress of an overworked hospital registrar, and the charlatan typically receives his patients in more comforting surroundings than a hospital. If I'm going to die anyway, I'll take aromatherapy over chemotherapy every time."

Ekstremt langt skriv fra ganske intelligent, forum-trænet herre. Jeg forstår og sympatiserer med hans grundtanke, men er højst 10% så passioneret som ham.

Tak til Claus Dahl for at bringe den nær mine øjne et helt andet sted.

http://laurencetennant.com/bonds/nolongeraskeptic.html