Three examples I encountered in recent weeks of insane medical advice offered (and taken) over social media.
In the top example 27,000 people "liked" the observation that pieces of potato in a string around a child's neck were turning black not because of oxidation, but because they were "drawing the fever out of the child."
In the second example a raw egg in a sock nailed above the door of a child's room provided relief to teething problems.
And finally, potatoes in a child's socks failed to prevent death from influenza.
One has to wonder how many of these bits of advice are not innocent passing of folklore, but malicious disinformation purposely promulgated by sociopaths.
When you deny basic education to your citizens, this is what you get. Ignorant people are easier to control. So are fearful people.
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ReplyDeleteI'm from the other side of the planet. I can assure you, similar degrees of dumbness can be found here. Putting an onion next to your bed to absorb the flu is one that springs to mind.
DeleteI'd add essential oils to that list.
ReplyDeleteMagical thinking is just fine -- until you're about 5 years old. After that, there's no excuse. We're in the 21st century, not the 10th. It's horrifying that some people so lack the ability to think rationally or to demand evidence!
ReplyDeleteIt's not that they lack the ability, it's that they're never taught the ability. As you pointed out, magical thinking is how children start out seeing the world; they believe what they're told by authority they trust. Problem is, when you don't teach those kids critical-thinking skills, and you do teach them that demanding proof or evidence means they're showing disrespect to a deity... well, this is what you end up with. Superstition instead of science, and a decline back into the Dark Ages. The only cure for ignorance is education.
DeleteWhen I was in junior high school on Long Island in the 1960's, I was sick
ReplyDeletewith a high fever for a few days. The fever was persistent and my mother
was desperate to help, so she fell back on a remedy her mother used in the
old country (Lithuania). She cut up slices of potato and place them in a large bowl of ice and water. After the slices were sufficiently cold, she place them on my chest to draw out the fever. It didn't work at all.
Brilliant juxtaposition between this post and the following one.
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