Today, April 10, is the first day of World Homeopathy Awareness Week (WHAW), or, as I like to call it, World Sympathetic Magic Awareness Week. Now, given my dim view of homeopathy, in which I view it as nothing more than, well, sympathetic magic, you'd think I wouldn't want people to pay attention to WHAW. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is because I view homeopathy as nothing more than quackery based on magical thinking that I actually want people to be aware of it, starting with some of the more hilarious bits that homeopaths have published over the last year. Like this bit:
Which I had some fun with here.
Or this bit:
Which I also had some fun with here.
All of which is why this is the best homeopathy poster ever:
In fact, these two videos probably demonstrate the utter ridiculousness of homeopathy better than almost anything else, which is why I present them again in honor of WHAW. First, there's the already classic Mitchell and Webb sketch, even though it's maybe a year old:
Here's an oldie but goodie, Homeopathic E.R.:
Finally, stand up comedy can be perfect for deconstructing nonsense like homeopathy:
David Mitchell and Dara O'Briain even talk about O'Briain's bit:
There. I trust I've done my part to spread awareness of homeopathy in honor of World Homeopathy Awareness Week. However, there are still six days to go. Here's hoping we find some more fun to have with homeopaths before next Friday rolls around.
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How about a pool on when Nancy Malik spams this post? My money is on comment #12.
I think there should be a "Scientific" Homeopathy Awareness Month.
Let's not forget the great Tim Minchin...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujUQn0HhGEk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBUc_kATGgg
Real is Homeopathy. Homeopathy for Everyone. Let's spread the message of health by homeopathy medicine
Militant Agnostic, she was too quick with her botnet spam!
Isn't promoting "homeopathy awareness" contrary to the principles of homeopathy? Shouldn't less public knowledge of it make it more effective? Shouldn't Nancy Malik be saying "Let's dilute the message..."?
Fly! Fly my pretties!
The Shit and Sugar poster is fairly high resolution on my blog. Get them onto campus bulletin boards in every hall of Quackademic Medicine. If anyone wants high res PDFs for really big prints let me know in the comment section and I'll email 'em to you.
Now fly (cackles whilst being melted with a 30C dilution of witch hazel and vodka)!
Awesome Yoda channeling Dr. M.
Picture the scene: A swampy cave on Dagoba . . .
Dr. Nancy Malik: Hmmmm. Afraid of your skepticism I am not.
Yoda: You will be. You will be.
Thanks for ROFL, Orac! I thought it couldn't get any better than the homeopathic ER, then I saw Dara O'Brian! That is some funny stuff. I agree with ebohlman, though, they better dilute that stuff down some more, I'm feeling better already LOL. You know, at the risk of sounding all woo-ful, laughter is the best medicine, and now we understanding how homeopathy really works.
Homeopathic Medicine (Futurama):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swDpWNKB5Co&playnext_from=TL&videos=SynR…
"WHAW" looks to me like a sound you'd make when puzzled or incredulous: whaw?!?!
But it's water, and sugar pills. . .
how hard is it for people to grasp ?
Homeopathy, there's Nothing to it!
Or perhaps "Scientific" Homeopathy Awareness Month - Worldwide aka SHAM-Wow.
Or perhaps "Scientific" Homeopathy Awareness Month - Worldwide aka SHAM-Wow.
You people obviously just don't get it! Nanocrystalloids, clathrate hydrates, flux-capacitors, string-theory, Albert Einstein, multiple anecdotes, Big Pharma, electro-magnetic radiation, sunspots, Nazi-conspiracists, E=MC(squared), but not M, dilutions, potentization, Unobtanium, blah blah blah....
"Get in the fookin' sack"
Love that line. We should all use it from this point forward when confronted by a woo-meister.
MA @1: Alas, you were off by eight comments.
Wondering when Stone Deaf Sid will appear, myself.
@ Matthew Cline:
Agreed, WHAWW?! Sounds to my mind just like the noise Moe makes in the Simpsons when he's surprised.
I would have thought that homeopaths would be more inclined to have less "awareness" of homeopathy, not more.
After all, if people really were "aware" and didn't just follow whatever nonsense Oprah or Dr. Oz were pushing this week, they'd see through homeopathy in a New York minute. As Dara O'Briain puts it, "It's just water!"
If water truly had "memory", why wouldn't it "remember" fish and algae (not to mention the feces, urine, PCB's and heavy metals)? Does anyone who is "aware" actually think that thumping a vial of water against a bible resets water's "memory"?
No, only unaware people are likely to be fooled by homeopathy. Awareness is the last thing homeopaths should want to promote.
Prometheus
i have a NEW school of homeopathy the REALLY WORKS!!! 100%% healing GARANTYED.*
i call it "moneyopathy."
here's how it works:
you send me money, and you heal! it's that simple!!!
if you aren't improving as quickly as you would like SEND MORE MONEY!!! your healing will IMPROVE!!!
(in rare cases it may be required to send EVEN MORE MONEY to ensure your recovery.)
if you happen to die from your ailment, i am sorry. but you didn't send enough MONEY FAST ENOUGH. if you had sent MORE MONEY even SOONER you would no doubt have been healed. in this case your REMAINING RELATIVES should continue sending MONEY to ME to prevent your body rising from the dead and spreading a ZOMBIE PLAGUE which could, quite possibly, exerminate the human species.
*unless you don't send enough MONEY!!!!!
Dr. Boli has also been commemorating Homeopathy Awareness Week (including the homeopathic remedy for thirst --- a 13C dilution of sodium chloride).
Studies in support of Homeopathy published in reputed journals
1. Scientific World Journal
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17982565
2. Lancet
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9310601
3. Neuro Psycho Pharmacology
http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v27/n2/abs/1395862a.html // Bacopa Monnieri for memory