Here’s a good example of the miracle cures. I have many friends, yoga teachers and massage therapist who lean left politically, who would go for foot treatments. The idea behind these foot treatments is that you soak your feet in the mineral water and it leaches toxins out of your feet. You can see how it gets all the toxins out because the water is all gross when you are done. If you think about this critically, if you are leaching goo out your feet, you probably need to get to a hospital soon because leaky feet is not normal. But if you are following the simple logic of feet go into clear water that turns into gunky water, then that’s proof positive that the stuff works. I could go on and on about the cures my friends have told me to take for colds and pains that have absolutely no medical proof of being useful.
Here’s another example, I have restless legs syndrome and if you read up about it, there are studies linking RLS to deficiencies in iron. So, naturally, lots of well meaning friends have suggest iron supplements. When I asked a doctor about this, he explained that the mechanisms for absorbing minerals are more complicated that iron in/iron absorbed. He explained that there could be another thing I am eating that is blocking the absorption of iron, or there could be some physical reason my body cannot absorb iron so even if I eat plenty I still don’t have it where I need it.
I definitely understand the desire to find relief to pain and to stay healthy, so I do get what drives this behavior, but I think there is a problem with people needing simple explanations and not being able to accept ones that involve following some logical complexity. I feel like overall, whether people are coming from a religious background or interested in alternative medicine, there is a desire for simple answers and a rejection of ones that involve understanding science.
