Posted by
Michael Babbitt on Tuesday, November 18, 2008 10:37:12 AM
I have been reading a lot lately on medical quackery, which has exploded in western countries in the past 20 years. Everything from Reiki to Reflexology to Neurolinguistic Programming and other psychobabble quackeries are omnipresent in most urban areas and even now entering hospitals. Just add to this list the immense vitamin and food fads and you get the picture. These modalities are thriving even though there has never been any objective and independent evidence supporting their efficacy. A lot of money is being funneled into these therapies and fads and they have been mainstreamed already in an alarming way. Just go to your local college campus or the local YMCA and see this for yourself.
This stream of thought got me thinking about the past election season. Barack Obama also had no objective evidence showing support that he had the skills to be a good executive besides his being a savant of oratory. His snake oil was “Change you can believe in” and he sold it as any good quack doctor could. He was going to heal this country and this planet and I understand more fully now how he could be so successful in this country. Medical quackery has become accepted by an alarming amount of people; it’s the in thing today amongst an Oprahfied and gullible population. Barack Obama just rode the wave into the Whitehouse.
When you just want to feel better, quackery can really do the job as it involves human interaction, support, and strong belief – the placebo effect will be optimized. The only problem is that when you are seriously ill, you need a real doctor who will deal with reality, not a charlatan full of promises. Obama now finds himself with a quite ill patient: the US economy in a world filled with cunning foes and he will need a lot more than oratory to heal this mess. He is stuck with it. There’s no turning back for him now. Let’s see if he can muster those qualities that are really needed at this time: Decisiveness, courage, honesty, wisdom, and persistence. He showed some of these qualities in the campaign but running the most powerful nation in the world is a lot different that running a campaign. He has to become the real leader he has claimed to be or be exposed as just another political quack selling his wares to the gullible.