What’s the harm?
Paltrow and Goop are funny, but they’re not just funny – they’re also dangerous.
Why is the third a box of ashes? Because he died of flu at age 2. He’d been vaccinated but not all the herd had been.
It’s a weird thing about celebrity and “wellness” advice. Celebrity doesn’t usually make people think they can be pilots or engineers with no training…so why does it make some people think they can be medical experts with no training?
With the exception of celebrities who play doctors, I don’t think it’s their high status as celebrities which makes them seem credible, but their “folk” status as people who have come into their living rooms and seemed like friends or personal heroes — the coolest kid in their crowd. It’s a kind of Affinity Con. So-Called Alternative Medicine appeals to people who trust individual experience over scientific experiment. A story from a relative, neighbor, friend, or cool kid is considered reliable if the person is considered reliable. Good Gwyneth is on your side. You loved her in “Emma.” Trust her.
That’s one reason why alternative testimonies, such as this one by a Mom, can be powerful. Stories over statistics, if you’re trying to be heard.
I think Sastra is right about the affinity fraud angle. And also the way that alt-med gurus subtly butter up consumers by telling them to “trust your gut,” “go with your Momma Bear instinct,” etc. — the theme is always that regular ol’ you actually knows better than all those fancy-pants doctors with their book-learning, and I as your guru am merely encouraging you to listen to your gut. And isn’t your gut really telling you that my jade vagina steaming eggs are a really good idea, and a bargain at just $49.99 each plus shipping and handling? Yeah, I thought so!
The one thing that surprises me is how alt-med consumers, who are positively rabid about sniffing out any potential profit motive of the medical industry, never turn that focus onto alt-med peddlers. Like, the anti-vaccine crowd is obsessed with the fantasy that individual doctors are supposedly making scads of money off of vaccinations, but they never bat an eye at how Andrew Wakefield had a profit motive from day one.
For the same reason that transwomen (and their allies; mustn’t forget the allies), for example, overlook things like penises; to do otherwise would destroy the illusion and begin to raise doubts.
I suspect the insanely high cost of health care in the US is contributing to the appeal of the alt-med industry there. A health care system that punishes regular contact with doctors and drug prices that are extortionate make alt-med rip-offs seem attractive.
Would Medicare for All also provide the additional benefit of ridding the US of this scourge or at least put some of them out of business?
Not unless they allowed price negotiation or limits.
Seriously, though, I dread the idea of Medicare for all. My husband just went on Medicare, and his out of pocket jumped seriously over what we were paying on my insurance. When I was on Medicare because of a disability, it seemed like it was much better, and the premium was way lower – this was in the 1990s.
I cringe when I hear they talking of Medicare for all. No, I would like to see a good single payer plan that doesn’t leave people in desperate situations once they buy their medications. I dread the day I retire, because it is almost certain there are some of my essential meds we won’t be able to afford on Medicare.