Why oh why can't we have a better press corps?
The Atlantic Monthly has no quality control filter. It is not that they try to publish accurate stuff and occasionally fail. It is that they don't try.
Newage sewage flushed into the Atlantic: The Atlantic published a rather contemptible apologetic for alternative quackery titled "The Triumph of New-Age Medicine, which basically declared victory for the altie wackaloons. The way it did this was devious, and reminded me so much of creationist tactics. First, it declares that "mainstream medicine itself is failing"; it doesn't really have any evidence of this, it just declares that modern medicine is built around the infectious disease model, and that it hasn't solved all health problems. Familiar stuff, hey? If a science can't explain every jot & tittle of every detail of every phenomenon, if there are still open questions and problems, why, it must be wrong!
Secondly, it portrays the altie quacks as nice, caring, sweet people who really, really care about their patients, and their 'treatments' as, at worst, totally harmless. Referring to one peddler of holistic care, the author says "Concerns of outright malpractice or naked hucksterism seem grossly misplaced when applied to a clinic like Berman's." Why? Because Berman is "gentle" and "upbeat" and has a pleasant demeanor....
And then, thirdly, is the sly substitution. We're finding that the best way to manage chronic illnesses like heart disease is with life-style changes that improve nutrition, physical condition, and overall well-being, and reduce the underlying causes. So what does this article do? It credits all that good common sense to the quacks who promote reiki and acupuncture and exotic herbs. You know what my traditional, mainstream, hidebound doctor of real world medicine first prescribed for me at those early signs of heart disease? Changes in diet and more exercise. She didn't seem to think I needed homeopathic placebos in order to do something that would make a difference.
It was an infuriatingly dishonest article...
