(An article that appeared in Herald on March 5, 2009)
It is sad to see people still becoming suckers for flapdoodle like astrology
and quack medicine, says SANTOSH A HELEKAR
It has been rather disappointing to watch the growth of irrationality and
anti-intellectualism in India and the world in recent years, seemingly in
defiance of all the remarkable scientific and technological progress that has
occurred. Two examples of flapdoodle show the most disturbing trends in this
regard.
The first is the resurgence of the belief in astrology. There is not a single
prominent newspaper or magazine in any country in the world today that does not
carry an astrological or sun signs column in its pages. People continue to buy
this scam. What is even more depressing is that many of life's critical
decisions are being made based on it. A glaring instance of the fact that this
malaise has risen to the alarming heights of being granted an official stamp of
approval in India was the University Grants Commission's decision in 2001 to
include Vedic Astrology as a valid academic discipline in the nation's
universities. The prospect of having a whole new generation of eager people
indoctrinated in this delusional practice in their daily lives, that too in the
hallowed halls of our academic institutions, still looms as large as ever.
How could this happen despite the fact that astrology in all its forms has been
debunked by bucket loads of scientific studies? One recent large-scale study
involved what are known as time-twins. These are unrelated individuals who were
born at the same time. If the time of birth determines the life or destiny of
any human being then two such beings born at the same time must share many
features or events in their lives in common. This prediction has been directly
tested by the said study. And, lo and behold, it has found that there are
absolutely no similarities between time-twins on over 100 different parameters,
including occupation, longevity, marital status, love of music, health status,
level of anxiety, tendency for aggression, etc.
To those who rest their convictions on the poignancy of anecdotes, I would like
to provide the following prophecies unfurled by one of world's renowned `Vedic
astrologers' on 31 August 2001 for the upcoming month of September 2001:
"Monthly Global Predictions for September 2001 (Date posted: August 31, 2001)
Compared to August the month of September is likely to be relatively a lot less
stressful for most of the world, especially from natural and man-made
accidents, terrorism, and violence standpoints. Also, after the first week of
September, expect some relief to the volatile region of Israel and Palestine."
As we all know by now, these predictions were not exactly on target. You might
think therefore that this `eminent' astrologer might have suffered a major
public embarrassment from this. Heck no! You could not be more wrong. This guy
managed to insure himself from such a setback by also "predicting" the exact
opposite of the above predictions. He concluded his 31st August statement by
making the following `counter-predictions':
"Except for the first 10 days of the month, pretty much the entire month is
going to be filled with events that have to deal with both man-made and natural
calamities, especially for the United States, and to some extent both the
continents of America."
If you go through his other monthly predictions, you will find that there is no
way he can ever be wrong because every single month he predicts everything that
can possibly happen in this world, in the most general terms possible. This is
one of the many techniques successful astrologers use to fool the public. Those
who tend to stick their neck out by being a little bolder and more selective in
their predictions provide disclaimers in small print at the end of their
columns, like the one below taken from another highly prominent Vedic
astrological column.
"Disclaimer: The author and publishers of this column do not claim that any of
these astrological predictions will come true. Readers are advised to use their
own discretion in their personal and financial matters. The author and
publishers of this column are not liable for any consequences of readers
believing in this work."
The second example of the newfangled devotion to kookiness is the uncritical
acceptance of all manner of quack remedies under the cover of alternative
medicine. Over the last two decades, untested and unregulated treatments with
no grounding whatsoever, except in the fantasies of fakirs, have proliferated
like wild herbs and mushrooms, catapulting them into a multi-billion dollar
international industry. Many have been shown to be outright frauds.
>From the standpoint of public health and safety it is therefore important to
>recognize indicators which, if present in advertisements, news reports and
>promotional materials, should arouse strong suspicions of public deception.
>Here is a short list of these signs:
- Use of statements such as, "This medicine is completely natural and does not
contain any chemicals." (The latter statement betrays a profound lack of
understanding of chemistry and biology. Everything in this universe is made up
of chemicals. Poison ivy is completely natural.)
- Use of words such as `force', `energy', `power', `psychical', `spiritual',
`transcendental', `spirit', `soul' while describing some form of treatment.
(Force, energy and power have very precise meaning in science. They are not
used indiscriminately by people who have basic understanding of human biology.
Psychical, spiritual, transcendental, spirit and soul do not have a meaning
from the human biological perspective.)
- Excessive use of unrecognizable scientific-sounding jargon in a statement
meant for the lay public. (Please ask a good high school or college science
student whether the words used in such statements mean anything.)
-Announcement indicating a "new discovery" in a newspaper advertisement or a TV
commercial.
- A categorical claim of a cure, especially for diseases generally known to be
incurable, such as cancer and AIDS.
- Overenthusiastic promotion of an alternative treatment accompanied by
vehement denouncement of standard or mainstream medical treatment.
- Claim of a large-scale conspiracy of any kind related to standard medical
treatment.
- Claim of lack of side effects, except in the case of homeopathic treatments.
(Homeopathic treatments do not have side effects because they do not involve
the use of a significant amount of any active drug.)
- Appeal to ancient wisdom or religious tradition.
- Excessive citation of endorsements from eminent personalities.
- Excessive self-promotion involving the use of unrecognized sequences of
letters after a name, often containing London or USA in parentheses.
- Self-promotion involving the selling of self-published books or booklets.
- Claim of several years of independent research into finding the treatment.
- Any medical claims made by anybody who has not undergone any form of medical
or genuine alternative medical education and training.
- Use of astrology, palmistry and other soothsaying methods to diagnose
diseases.
- Use of supernatural practices such as witchcraft, exorcism, Shamanism and
faith healing.
- Use of paranormal powers, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition,
hypnosis and channeling.
One also needs to be wary about the limits of self-medication and misuse of
generally accepted practices under the rubric of alternative medicine such as
Ayurveda, Homeopathy, herbal medicine, Chinese medicine and Acupuncture. While
these practices have treatments that may be effective in certain chronic
diseases for various reasons, they should be used only after proper
consultations with both conventional and complementary medical practitioners.
Meditation is a great relaxation technique, and Yoga and martial arts are
excellent forms of physical exercise, unless contraindicated for some medical
reason. With regard to direct advertising by pharmaceutical companies, one
should always consult a well-qualified and certified physician before taking
any treatment. Self-medication should be avoided.
We are now more than 5000 years old as a civilization – fairly grown up by any
reasonable standard. It is time we acted our age.
