Try Not to Slip on the Snake Oil

Like everybody, I'm fully convinced that I'm the center of the universe and, furthermore, that the universe can't possible be done with me yet. Death is for everybody else. I'm supposed to be immortal. 

But there's nothing like a bunch of people in lab coats telling you that, no, you are actually going to die -- and probably soon -- to screw with one's confidence in those beliefs. 

So I'll admit it. I’m starting to get a little desperate. But that's not necessarily a bad thing as desperation has some interesting effects. If nothing else, it's a very useful tool for opening one’s mind. All sorts of ideas that under normal circumstances would be dismissed out of hand suddenly start to seem quite plausible.

For example, who knew that so many common household items could cure cancer? Hydrogen peroxide, apple seeds, apricot pits, tumeric, baking soda, distilled water, juiced ginger root, flax seed, grapes, walnuts, mushrooms and coffee (not drunk, but used as an enema) are all cancer cures.

And vitamins! Both vitamin B17 and vitamin D (well, D3 not D2) will cure cancer, though B17 has, of course, been "banned" by the FDA, American Cancer Society and American Medical Association. 

Then there's the machines and energy manipulations: bioresonance, electrohomeopathy, the Quantum Xrroid, orgone accumulators, magnets, light boxes, rife frequency generators, and zoetrons, among others. 

All this too pedestrian for you? How about cat poop? Apparently there's a parasite in cat poop that cures cancer. 

(And then, of course, there's cannabis. But weed deserves it's own post, so we'll come back to that later.)

Perhaps it's just me, but eventually you start to realize that an open mind and an internet connection can be a dangerous combination, and that, to borrow a phrase, it's possible to be so open-minded that your brain leaks out. Snake oil is still snake oil, even when it's supported by a ninety minute YouTube video.

But I do sort of wish everyone could hawk their self-discovered anecdotal cures without slagging on the offerings of traditional medicine. I have zero faith that swigging hydrogen peroxide or chewing apple seeds will cure my cancer, but there's only so many times you can hear that "cancer doesn't kill people, cancer 'treatments' do" before your lizard brain starts telling you to run.