Has anyone done an analysis of the prevalence of these "alternative medicines" in countries with free healthcare vs no free healthcare? I keep seeing this stuff coming out of America, but not from somewhere like Scandinavia (possibly because of the language barrier). I do see it a decent amount in the UK, but our healthcare isn't amazing, even if it is free
Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers
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Re: Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers
#12Someone choosing an alternative cancer treatment than their doctor's recommended treatment and dying is very common, and the most likely culprit isn't social media but someone doing their own research (i.e. google / chatGPT), and going down alternative medicine rabbit holes.
True - but once you start engaging with any of this stuff on social media, you just get pushed more and more.
Re: Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers
#13Most conspiracy theories at least could be true (ex. vaccines cause autism, wifi/5G is dangerous, 9/11 was an inside job), but how do people make the jump to "Royal Family were shape-shifting lizards"?
Re: Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers
#14I'm seeing this with my cousin currently. Her husband as well as her brother are peddling vitamin injections, physiotherapy, keto diets, for what is essentially late-stage lung cancer. She needs sugar - energy - to build up her stores so that she can walk into a chemotherapy clinic, but they're (perhaps rightfully) scared that they'd just be feeding the tumor instead of her. Doctors orders should be questioned, of co…
I don't know, if the doctor can only provide treatments that extend life for a limited time and may cause significant side effects. I might prefer to forego all treatments and focus on living the remainder of my life to the fullest.
Re: Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers
#15My brother passed away from AML (acute myeloid leukemia) almost two years ago. His quality of life was dismal on treatment, he was constantly vomiting, mouth sores, unable to sleep but very tired, couldn't see his two young children and locked away in a hospital ward. His wife had to make a huge effort to see him consistently because she couldn't bring the kids and had to find babysitters. He made the decision to stop treatment because of that. His chances were low anyways and he pursued 'alternatives' because it was better than nothing. Even if the main benefit was to make him and his family feel like he wasn't completely giving up.
Re: Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers
#16It is interesting we now call this stuff “conspiracy theories.” We used to talk of “snake oil” or people would make jokes about yoga and health food in the 70s. Currently it’s taken on a newspeaky sort of political flavor with the phrase “conspiracy theory.” In the 90s it was “alternative health” or “eastern medicine.” Interesting how views changed on ways of knowing/cultural relativism in such a short period of time.
Re: Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers
#17Steve Jobs is probably the most famous victim of his own superstitions.
He had a pancreatic cancer. It was detected early and it was one of the rare cases that had a good prognosis. He changed his mind only after it was too later and regretted his bad decision.
Re: Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers
#18> The children absorbed outlandish ideas, including that the Royal Family were shape-shifting lizards, says Gabriel. "As a young child, you trust your parents. So you see that as a truth," he says.
At what point does someone step in and call this child abuse, at the very least these parents are not capable of raising their children in a safe manner.
> Kate Shemirani styles herself as "the Natural Nurse" on social media
And therein lies our main issue. People on social media who are amplified and given confirmation biases from the algorithm with basically zero moderation now.
Maybe it's callous to say but seems like Darwins law should settle these things.
Re: Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers
#19Most conspiracy theories at least could be true (ex. vaccines cause autism, wifi/5G is dangerous, 9/11 was an inside job), but how do people make the jump to "Royal Family were shape-shifting lizards"?
Jungian symbolism. Royalty is an institution composed of humans (faces change over time, shape shifter) that think, act, and are treated differently than anyone else; generally making decisions that can severely change the trajectory of human lives around them (reptiloid, cold blooded).
It's only hard to make the leap if you're too biased toward rational faculties. Your irrational faculties can make the leap fairly trivially.
Re: Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers
#20Is it premature to blame RFK?
> Is it premature to blame RFK?
Nobody was blaming RFK for this particular case, reading it you can see the reason RFK was called out is because he's the main health 'professional' representative who, himself, spout debunked lies. Again giving confirming biases to other people who believe this nonsense.
Where he should know better with the access to the best professionals in the world, he still spreads misinformation, of course people will call him out.