Anti-Med and the Left: The Reasonable and the Unreasonable
There’s been a lot of chatter in anti-quakery circles lately. A lot of it has been backlash against the Huffington Post for recent posts by anti-vaccination folks and general alt-med mongers. And more recently, against Oprah Winfrey for signing a deal with Jenny McCarthy. Most of this has been in the sub-culture of skeptic bloggers. The Huffington Post did notably run an article in opposition to (it’s own) anti-science posts of late. And now Salon has poked it’s head in with an article about Oprah’s general affinity for alternative medicine weirdness.
This morass prompts me to make a few observations about the alt-med culture in general and anti-vaccination in particular. Firstly, as I’ve mentioned, alternative medicine and anti-vaccination seem to be phenomena of the political left. That’s one reason it fascinates me. It pains me to see my side succumb to a lack of reason (our general affinity for reason is what I like about my side).