Thursday, July 24, 2008

Rose Shapiro on how to spot quacks

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Rose Shapiro on how to spot quacks | Life and style | The Guardian:
 "Radovan Karadzic"

Rose Shapiro
Just because Karadic was a war criminal, it doesn't follow that all alternative practitioners are genocidal maniacs, and indeed many practitioners sincerely believe in what they are doing and want to help their clients. But there have surely been enough cases now of blatant recklessness if not outright deceit to confirm that practising alternative medicine is very often the last refuge of the scoundrel.


My email to the Guardian:

I had a feeling when I first heard this story that someone blame this on complementary therapies.Thankfully Ms. Shapiro comes to the rescue. It is a relief that all practitioners are not genocidal maniacs in Ms. Shapiro's eyes.

Ms. Shapiro's point that complementary therapies are a great refuge for former tyrants may miss a fundamental point of logic. The complete makeover that Radovan Karadzic had undergone may have been more of a reason he wasn't discovered. He could have hidden out as a butcher. Then I imagine Ms. Shapiro would go after the butchers in their laxity of credentials. Or would that not achieve the aim of this diatribe which is quite simply to sell her book?

I can't believe the editors of the Guardian published this twisted rant.

Kevin Kunz

Reflexology Research Project

1 comment:

wyndham said...

a butcher is trained in real anatomy and cannot do the job otherwise. Rose Shapiro's point was that here was someone able to set up a whole"practice" without any demontrated skill or training. As a butcher of animals this would soon have closed down his buisiness and he would have needed to move onto another profession.