[FRIAM] the cancellation arc

[uǝlƃ ☤>$]

Well, I love Rebecca (and the rest of the hard-nosed skeptics) who regularly trashes things like homeopathy (https://skepchick.org/2021/09/us-politicians-want-less-regulations-on-snake-oil-medicine-during-a-pandemic/). But there's some confusion around "placebo" versus "non-specific" effects. This is especially true when the application of something like an "essential oil" or other tincture is _ritualized_. Trying to channel Dave, I would say that even if the tincture is diluted to nothing, its role as a ceremonial talisman might be critical to the non-specific effect induced, much like the white lab coat effect.

And even though this is tangential to cancel culture and hammering down the nails that stick out, tangential doesn't mean inappropriate or ill-fit-to-purpose. When some aliberal lefty shuts me down at the pub for saying something off-the-cuff-misogynist to Renee', both my misstatement and the lefty's shutdown are *real* things, to be respected, not to be ignored. It's part of the contextual milieu we swim around in.

What I find funny is the reaction I get from such people when they see that I do take them seriously. It's amazing how an ordinary person reacts when someone, like a clinician, actually sits down, listens to the patient's in-context narrative, and engages ... something a Hopi friend of mine once called "good medicine".

On 9/14/21 4:39 PM, Steve Smith wrote:
> Regarding your /muscaria/fly agaric/ aspirations, I'm hearing something more like homeopathy or law-of-similars since the "fly" in /fly agaric/ comes from etymologically the habit of using it to poison flies by infusing it in milk to attract flies.    Maybe this is entirely a tangent (most of my observations here *are* tangents?).


-- 
"Better to be slapped with the truth than kissed with a lie."
☤>$ uǝlƃ