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Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine

Me and Sue Young Homeopathy on the same list? I need a beer to drown my sorrows…

Earlier today I was perusing incoming links. (Yes, most bloggers do that because we like to know who’s linking to us; any blogger who doesn’t do this from time to time is atypical or lying about it.) What to my wondering (and I do mean wondering) eyes should appear, but Respectful Insolence appearing on a most unusual list, so much so that I didn’t know whether to be proud or embarrassed.

That’s right, this blog is listed as one of the Top 50 Alternative Medicine Blogs on Live Smarter. Now, I’m as vain as the next blogger, possibly even more so, but even my vanity did not protect me from the visceral reaction upon seeing what other blogs were on the list. (No, it wasn’t because Terra Sigillata was also on the list; Abel’s a bud of mine.) Rather, it was being listed alongside all sorts of serious woo–serious, serious woo. True, I’m in the “Doctors” section of the list, but all the other doctors in that section are clearly true believers, doctors such as Dr. Brad (who, based on his credulity, really, really needs a dose of skepticism), Dr. Melissa Clouthier (who thinks Feng Shui “makes a lot of sense“), two naturopaths, and “integrative” pediatricians. Moving further afield, there are a bunch of acupuncture blogs, Ayruvedic blogs, traditional Chinese medicine blogs, and–ack!–the blog of arguably the most brain dead homeopath ever, Sue Young Homepathy. Even Julie Deardorff, woo-friendly antivaccination columnist for the Chicago Tribune, is there!

Abel and I are clearly the token skeptics on the list. This is almost as bad as having to admit that a creationist as clueless as Dr. Michael Egnor is a member of the surgical profession. Where’s that Doctor Doom mask again?

On the other hand, maybe I should be happy that there are two skeptics in a list of 50. For a list of alternative medicine blogs, a 4% skeptic rate is much, much higher than I usually see.

By Orac

Orac is the nom de blog of a humble surgeon/scientist who has an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his copious verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few probably will. That surgeon is otherwise known as David Gorski.

That this particular surgeon has chosen his nom de blog based on a rather cranky and arrogant computer shaped like a clear box of blinking lights that he originally encountered when he became a fan of a 35 year old British SF television show whose special effects were renowned for their BBC/Doctor Who-style low budget look, but whose stories nonetheless resulted in some of the best, most innovative science fiction ever televised, should tell you nearly all that you need to know about Orac. (That, and the length of the preceding sentence.)

DISCLAIMER:: The various written meanderings here are the opinions of Orac and Orac alone, written on his own time. They should never be construed as representing the opinions of any other person or entity, especially Orac's cancer center, department of surgery, medical school, or university. Also note that Orac is nonpartisan; he is more than willing to criticize the statements of anyone, regardless of of political leanings, if that anyone advocates pseudoscience or quackery. Finally, medical commentary is not to be construed in any way as medical advice.

To contact Orac: [email protected]

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