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Antivaccine nonsense Computers and social media Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience Skepticism/critical thinking

Dr. Vinay Prasad whines about the “misinformation police.” Hilarity ensues.

COVID-19 contrarian Dr. Vinay Prasad attacks the pandemic “misinformation police.” He needs new material, having recycled the same tropes he used to attack skeptics before the pandemic.

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Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking Television

the goop lab on Netflix: Selling quackery under the guise of female “empowerment”

“the goop lab” will premiere on Netflix on January 24. It’s just the latest goop vehicle to sell quackery to women under the guise of “empowerment.”

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Bad science Complementary and alternative medicine Integrative medicine Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop: Allergic to fact-checking

Earlier this week, the New York Times ran a fascinating feature about Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop. In it, we learn—surprise! surprise!—that Gwyneth Paltrow does not like fact-checking. We also learn that the criticism of Goop’s selling of pseudoscience and quackery has reached the point where Paltrow has given in and plans to hire a fact checker. Unfortunately, I strongly suspect that it will do no good and that skeptics will have as much work to do refuting Goop’s quackery after the fact-checker is hired as we do now.

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Homeopathy Medicine Naturopathy Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

An unholy combination of methodolatry and quackery apologia—with jade eggs

Meet Dr. Jason Fung. Dr. Fung is unhappy with skeptics and thinks they’re hypocrites behaving like religious fanatics. Unfortunately for him, his arguments are a combination of the worst methodolatry of evidence-based medicine combined with rants against conventional medicine and a defense of quackery.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Quackery Television

Stephen Colbert sells out to Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop

Almost alone among celebrities, Stephen Colbert used to ruthlessly (and justifiably) mock Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle brand Goop on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. So eyebrows were raised (at least mine were) when it was learned that Paltrow would be a guest on The Late Show. During a bout of insomnia last night I saw the episode and had time to write about it. Her appearance was worse than I expected, a veritable puff piece promoting her her quackiest In Goop Health, where a featured speaker is a rabidly antivaccine doctor named Kelly Brogan.