[Maybe it Just Means Hopelessly and Willfully Ignorant? *OR* Why Stephen Barret M.D.'s Opinion on Acupuncture is Worthless
In the course of my various adventures on the high seas of data, I was fortunate enough to come across this page. Fortunate because I love to rip into idiots and I especially love to rip into the idiots who think they are smart based on the fact that they weathered the intellectual doldrums of university (think of how pretentious the word 'university' even is).
I posit that, in fact, having weathered said doldrums is an indicator of how low ones intelligence really is. But I have digressed, let us sail bravely forth to acuwatch.org and maketh fun of the idiocy found thereupon (or therein but I thought thereupon was more nautical...).
It's difficult to tell where to start. This page is so shockingly inept as to be, well, shocking. Okay well let's just start at the top: the logo shows a duck, or quack, with a magnifying glass and a Sherlock Holmes type double brimmed cap, implying that the the duck, or quack, is investigating or watching something. given the fact that the title of the page is "Acupucnture Watch" I'm assuming that the quack, in this case, is the watcher. Does it not seem absolutely farcical that the sites own logo is implying that the sites 'watchers' are in fact quacks? I laughed so hard it hurt. They tell you right before you even read the first symbol of text that they're the quacks!!!
The jokes continue: Stephen Barret, M.D. (the quack by the admission of the sites own logo) goes on to criticize the academic acupuncture literature because it provides an inconsistent framework for evaluating patients. I wonder if Mr. Barret has read any of his own professions academic literature? It is so fraught with inconsistencies as to be almost entirely without merit. Why do you think there is the old saying, that when given a grim prognosis: "get a second opinion". I can't count on all of my fingers and toes the stories I have heard from my friends a relatives alone of wanton medical misdiagnosis, often resulting in personal injury no less. This also covers his statement that the TCM practitioners frequently diagnose the same problem in one patient as different maladies.
Next he goes on to further cram his foot in his mouth by saying the laughable: "TCM postulates cannot be measured by scientific instruments". Ignorance of the law is not an excuse Mr. Barret. The meridians Mr. Barret puts in brackets have certainly been found by scientific measurement apparatus (1. Becker RO, et al. Electrophysiological correlates of acupuncture points and meridians. Psychoenergetic Syst. 1976;1:105-112. 2. Reichmanis M, Marino AA, Becker RO. Laplace plane analysis of transient impedance between acupuncture points Li-4 and Li-12. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 1977;24:402–405).
He goes on to relay a personal anecdote about how at a local college, an acupuncturist diagnosed him with "stress and "congestion of the blood". This, in Mr. Barret's opinion was untrue based on the facts that, in his words: "I do not suffer from stress, and my blood circulates normally". I am confused did the accupuncturist say that there was a circulation problem? It seems that the author is woefully ignorant of the fact that TCM uses archaic language, "congestion of the blood" could, in western allopathic terms, indicate some degree of platelet aggregation or something else that wouldn't show up as a circulatory issue yet still be a blood issue and could, in archaic terms be called "congestion of the blood". I guess some people are so stupid as to not realize that they are, in fact, stupid. I should point out that this mans colleagues told an aquiantance of mine with type II diabetes that, as long as she ate brown bread, she could eat as much bread as she wanted. Words like stupid or idiot are not strong enough for medical professionals, how about 'dutifully derelict' or 'hazard to the public'.
Anyhow back to the personal anecdote, he (Barret) "does not suffer from stress". Stress as defined by whom? Dr. Hans Selye's definition of stress is ANY stressor, he posits that stress is needed for an organism to survive and that all living organisms, by nature, are inherently stressed to some degree. The issue here is that when Mr. Barret hears the word stress he automatically equates this to the medical definition of stress, again, woefully ignorant of the difference in terminology. Being willing to just write the whole experience off as quackery instead of investigating the claims posited by the acupuncturist can be called nothing other than willful ignorance.
I should go on to say that "stress", "congestion of the blood" and the later ventricular arrhythmia are NOT TCM disease patterns. Perhaps this accupuncturist was insane or a quack him or herself. How many medical doctors are considered quacks or insane by their colleagues? I can think of at least two: Dr. Simoncini who has found a cure for cancer and been consequently blacklisted and Dr. Aajonus Vonderplanitz who is a proponent of raw milk and fermented foods who also has been blacklisted for his contributions.
He goes on to mention a study in which a woman with low back pain was sent to a several different acupuncturists and diagnosed with a variety of TCM patterns. Because Stephen Barret is, as we established, willfully of ignorant of anything that challenges his small view of the world, he believes that this is evidence of the lack of standardization in the TCM community. I would say, as an amateur, that all of the diagnoses were interrelated and that basically none of the practitioners were wrong.
I would really like to point out the following statistics: 195 000 people are killed yearly by medical malpractice in the US with over 800 000 deaths per year from properly prescribed medicines and as well totally unnecessary medical interventions.
Hmmm, well since acupuncture needs to be watched it must be stuffing the morgues! So how many bodies can we lay at the feet of acupuncture? One. Apparently someone had a four inch acupuncture needle pierce their heart and short circuit it, resulting in heart failure. This isn't even a yearly statistic, it's an all time figure.
Well acupuncture may have some issues, namely it can't be understood by those who have massive cognitive dysfunctions, but at least when I go to get needled I don't run the risk of being killed maimed or traumatized by my practitioner. I should mention that no activity is ever going to be safe, safety is the illusion of the ignorant. And I should mention that the western allopathic approach is awesome if you've been shot, stabbed, poisoned or run over by a car.
The bottom line is this: acupuncture is safe and effective, if you don't believe me then, well then, more for me. Western Doctors are arrogant small minded retards, oh wait no, we call those skeptics now, or was it hopelessly and willfully ignorant... whatever you want to call them, most suck balls. Now, as with any group, painting them with too broad a brush would be quite unfair, I'm sure there are some awesome and helpful western doctors; I just have never met any and I believe them to be exceedingly rare. If you have any chronic type complaints, go to your acupuncturist, better to lose sixty bucks than have unnecessary surgery.
Also watch out for the quacks at quackwatch, they try to warn you with their logo but as many of you are symbol illiterate I have taken the liberty of doing it for you.
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| The logo designer probably had a good laugh, I know I did. |
