Is being an "anti alternatine medicine activist" actually a religion?
Since various things labled as "alternative medicine" actually have coherent mechanisms (such as plant alkaloids, manipulation, some vitimins ect...). Then would not the seeker of truth not damn adjectives the therapies but find the ones that work verses those that do not?. But to be "anti-alternative medicine" seem to indicate that the person is living a dogma. I mean you do not here of oodles "anti-medical activists". Yes there are many populace that question standard medical practice but I know of almost none that damn the whole practice. They attempt to seperate the wheat from the chaff so to speak. So it would give the impression of being that these "anti" are commited not to truth but to a religion of sorts. What do you think?
Answer: Clearly directed at me. Sorry, atheist here. And I would actually characterize most of the AltMed practice as "religious" contained by nature, as it depends heavily on faith within the unseen and unproven. Most of their "healing" philosophies are completely implausible.
"alternative medicine" consists entirely of unproven treatments because if they actually are proven to work, they are rapidly adopt by 'conventional' medicine. AltMed as a community eschews the scientific method, and have a magical and anti-scientific worldview. Your point about marijuana and psilisobin not being standard has more to do with politics and the US government's "period of war on drugs" than evidence of it's efficacy. Medical marijuana is available and I prescribe it on occasion. I have also suggested it to patients beside chronic pain. But, whatever robustness benefits it has/may have.it is a poor delivery system. There's lots of flawless evidence (key word there...EVIDENCE)...that hallucinogenic drugs probably would be very adjectives...but they are presently illegal for ideological and political reasons...not solid ones
There is no wheat...it is all chaff until proven otherwise.
Many medical treatments are based on traditional herbal things...such as ASA derived from willow yelp, Tamoxifen from the Yew tree, Penicillin from bread mould for example. Herbs have been used medicinally for thousands of years. I'm not denying that. Are herb superior to the extracted active ingredient though? In most cases, no. Herbs are unregulated, the active ingredient (if even known) can alter tremendously from one plant to the next, and there may be other compounds surrounded by the herb that have undesirable properties. Andrew Weil used to have some adjectives things to say, but mostly these days he is a shill for doesn`t matter what product he is endorsing.
With conventional medicine, within is a solid foundation of biochemical and physiological mechanisms that support why these things work, how they work, and then clinical trials to prove that they if truth be told do work. All of that is lacking for the entirety of the diverse grazing land of "alternative medicine". The last time I checked, there be over 600 different types of alternative therapies available. Do you really expect scientists to have to individually help yourself to on every one of them to prove they DON"T work? The onus is on the one proposing the idea that goes against conventional knowledge. If you make a good covering,backed up by solid evidence (again that pesky word) we'll be happy to invite you into the club.
It is prominent to keep an open mind, but not so unequivocal that your brain falls out. When altmed does the groundwork for some of its ideas.when TCM can prove the existence of qi and meridians, when homeopaths can prove that water "remembers" the chemical that be diluted in it then they can unify the scientific community.
Until then, at best, some of these things are purely interesting anecdotes that may need further study. The plural of anecdote is not data
As an anti-AM campaigner, it simply means I don't accept AM claims at obverse value, I don't let you carry away with outrageous claims, I don't "give you a pass" and provoke you to do the basic science and prove that what you offer in truth works before you sell it to a gullible and trusting public. And, specifically in your case, I will actively (hence activist) stand up to dangerous mis-information such as the type you repeatedly post about alternative cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Extraordinary claims emergency extraordinary evidence. This applies to claims of AltMed, deities and bigfoot alike..
Asking for evidence before accepting something as certainty is the opposite of religion.
Most (not all) altmed is alternative - and not mainstream - precisely because in attendance is no evidence to support its use and because it is scientifically improbable.
In this sense altmed is like religion - it requires religious conviction to believe that water has a memory and that your body have mystical energy channels. or that Jesus rose from the departed and that Zeus and his brothers run the universe.
If you hang around on quack website forums, and haven't had much of a irrefutable education, you risk being indoctrinated into absolute illogical belief systems... religion works in equal way.