Dobbsworld
18-10-2005, 04:42
This would be the "magnetic therapy" seminar I talked about late on Saturday night past, (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=449820)where I hoped to dissuade my friend from getting involved with outright quackery. I think I didn't fail in that regard so much as give up on her halfway through this dog-and-pony show.
First off, it wasn't a seminar so much as it was a presentation - held in the sumptious rumpus room of a very upscale family in a very upscale neck of the woods. It was a small affair - apart from my friend and I there were no more than eight or nine others there, along with the small gaggle of presenters. A folding table heaped with products (the name of this outfit is 'Nikken', I found out - haven't delved deeper online yet, but will now - well, sometime this week, anyway... when I get around to it. If I've got time. You're probably guessing I didn't swallow the bait. Well, you're right, I didn't.)loomed at one end of the room. All manner of - well - useless crap designed, manufactured and marketed for discerning, wealthy hypochondriacs as well as genuinely desperate people. Rounding it all out was the dual function of the presentation, the appeal to join this organization and sell expensive useless crap to others. Roughly half the attendees were there to buy in, and did so even after the presentation.
I squawked when the chief presenter started telling us how their water purifier made the molecules of water 'stop clumping together' and reduced the size of the molecules as well, therefore making it somehow more readily absorbable by the body. "There's three atoms in a molecule of water," I said. "Two oxygen and one hydrogen. Molecules of water are all the same size, and they don't 'clump'." I was quickly told, flat-out, that they do clump - and they also reiterated the 'size' mantra, embellishing their claim by maintaining that the atoms re-align the water molecules on an atomic level to deliver 'full nutritive wellness' to your 'atomic self'.
I couldn't stop myself from laughing. The snake-oil pitch went on another hour and a half, with fewer and fewer interjections from this quarter. It was unmitigated quackery of the worst sort, and I was flummoxed - I knew this woman, this friend of mine reasonably well, I thought - some peculiar ideas, not always in accord with my own offbeat ways, but so much the better, I've always thought - and yet, here these people were, spewing pseudo-science, pseudo-preventitive and palliative medecine, with a hard-sell franchising scheme underscoring the whole deal - and there was my friend, lapping it up and helping the bastards out by chiming in on the effectiveness of their products.
Me: Wow, you seem really manic these days. What's up?
Friend: I haven't been sleeping for a couple of months.
Me: Holy shit! That's seriously not good.
Friend: Well, I mean I've been getting maybe two hours or so of sleep per night.
Me: That doesn't sound good at all. What're you doing about it?
Friend: Nothing seems to work.
Me: Wow. (offers numerous suggestions, lastly, having a toke in the late evening)
Friend: Mah, that'll never work, and anyway I don't want an addiction.
Me: Okay whatever. Try some of this weed, though. (and I let her smoke - like, three puffs - out of my old trusty pipe. And this was getting on into the late evening, btw)
Net result: she laughed her ass off to the point of spasming her diaphragm somewhat (this was not a bad thing) ,ate some food (something she's not been doing enough of lately, as well), and went home and slept like a rock for seven-odd hours. Contrast this experience on Friday (which she later thanked me for) with this statement on Sunday afternoon:
Presenter: ...and the magnetic neckbrace is good for purifying your neck and the base of your skull, but for those suffering from sleep disorders we usually recommend the magnetic pillow (which also contains scraps of ceramic tiles to reflect infra-red energies back towards your head, btw), the magnetic duvet or the magnetic mattress.
Friend: I haven't been getting more than two hours sleep a night, but I have been since I bought the magnetic pillow.
Me: What?
It was at this point I basically gave up on her, though I did point out that the 'strength tests' they'd conduct were pure hucksterism. I kept my eye on how the presenter was distributing their weight and how they were amending their stance while they'd test for 'pure' or 'impure' energy, and if you knew what to look for, it was terribly sham-o-riffic.
I wanted to be able to report that I'd successfully steered my friend clear of a crummy scheme... but I've more-or-less decided to let her sink or swim on her own where this nonsense is concerned. I feel a little guilty about it, though - I'm planning on getting together with her soon and I'll be as frank as I can without hurting her feelings.
Is it better to dissuade someone from making an obvious blunder, or to let them make that mistake so they'll hopefully gain from the experience? This is the question I'm now wrestling with. Would you have it out, and give air to grave misgivings, or keep your own counsel while a friend crashes and burns?
First off, it wasn't a seminar so much as it was a presentation - held in the sumptious rumpus room of a very upscale family in a very upscale neck of the woods. It was a small affair - apart from my friend and I there were no more than eight or nine others there, along with the small gaggle of presenters. A folding table heaped with products (the name of this outfit is 'Nikken', I found out - haven't delved deeper online yet, but will now - well, sometime this week, anyway... when I get around to it. If I've got time. You're probably guessing I didn't swallow the bait. Well, you're right, I didn't.)loomed at one end of the room. All manner of - well - useless crap designed, manufactured and marketed for discerning, wealthy hypochondriacs as well as genuinely desperate people. Rounding it all out was the dual function of the presentation, the appeal to join this organization and sell expensive useless crap to others. Roughly half the attendees were there to buy in, and did so even after the presentation.
I squawked when the chief presenter started telling us how their water purifier made the molecules of water 'stop clumping together' and reduced the size of the molecules as well, therefore making it somehow more readily absorbable by the body. "There's three atoms in a molecule of water," I said. "Two oxygen and one hydrogen. Molecules of water are all the same size, and they don't 'clump'." I was quickly told, flat-out, that they do clump - and they also reiterated the 'size' mantra, embellishing their claim by maintaining that the atoms re-align the water molecules on an atomic level to deliver 'full nutritive wellness' to your 'atomic self'.
I couldn't stop myself from laughing. The snake-oil pitch went on another hour and a half, with fewer and fewer interjections from this quarter. It was unmitigated quackery of the worst sort, and I was flummoxed - I knew this woman, this friend of mine reasonably well, I thought - some peculiar ideas, not always in accord with my own offbeat ways, but so much the better, I've always thought - and yet, here these people were, spewing pseudo-science, pseudo-preventitive and palliative medecine, with a hard-sell franchising scheme underscoring the whole deal - and there was my friend, lapping it up and helping the bastards out by chiming in on the effectiveness of their products.
Me: Wow, you seem really manic these days. What's up?
Friend: I haven't been sleeping for a couple of months.
Me: Holy shit! That's seriously not good.
Friend: Well, I mean I've been getting maybe two hours or so of sleep per night.
Me: That doesn't sound good at all. What're you doing about it?
Friend: Nothing seems to work.
Me: Wow. (offers numerous suggestions, lastly, having a toke in the late evening)
Friend: Mah, that'll never work, and anyway I don't want an addiction.
Me: Okay whatever. Try some of this weed, though. (and I let her smoke - like, three puffs - out of my old trusty pipe. And this was getting on into the late evening, btw)
Net result: she laughed her ass off to the point of spasming her diaphragm somewhat (this was not a bad thing) ,ate some food (something she's not been doing enough of lately, as well), and went home and slept like a rock for seven-odd hours. Contrast this experience on Friday (which she later thanked me for) with this statement on Sunday afternoon:
Presenter: ...and the magnetic neckbrace is good for purifying your neck and the base of your skull, but for those suffering from sleep disorders we usually recommend the magnetic pillow (which also contains scraps of ceramic tiles to reflect infra-red energies back towards your head, btw), the magnetic duvet or the magnetic mattress.
Friend: I haven't been getting more than two hours sleep a night, but I have been since I bought the magnetic pillow.
Me: What?
It was at this point I basically gave up on her, though I did point out that the 'strength tests' they'd conduct were pure hucksterism. I kept my eye on how the presenter was distributing their weight and how they were amending their stance while they'd test for 'pure' or 'impure' energy, and if you knew what to look for, it was terribly sham-o-riffic.
I wanted to be able to report that I'd successfully steered my friend clear of a crummy scheme... but I've more-or-less decided to let her sink or swim on her own where this nonsense is concerned. I feel a little guilty about it, though - I'm planning on getting together with her soon and I'll be as frank as I can without hurting her feelings.
Is it better to dissuade someone from making an obvious blunder, or to let them make that mistake so they'll hopefully gain from the experience? This is the question I'm now wrestling with. Would you have it out, and give air to grave misgivings, or keep your own counsel while a friend crashes and burns?