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Charlatanism and skepticism
Thursday, 11 January 2024 13:35While I was still Covid positive, I guess I was more susceptible to some marketing games, so I "registered" (after gaining clarity I'd like to use the word "buy") in a course, Animal Naturopathy. It says it's a certification course but even so I was skeptical on the get-go. Now that I've got a clear head and I've been reading through the materials, I can only call bullshit on the stuff being taught.
I mean, I guess it's good to read up and see what's going on in the world, and a lot of the materials I've read so far seem to make sense, but then again, on second thought, not really much sense. Besides, the writing usually cancels each other out.
And then, the "tests" and "exams" are shams. It's just a pdf document with the questions, and in the same document, if you scroll further down, are the answers. There's no answer submission, answer checking. The whole course (so far) looks to be just some pyramid-scheme disguised as a course.
There are a few parts where they give standard "answers" for "when a patient asks you this-and-this." I don't have the vocabulary to explain it, but it feels like it's some sort of franchise manual and the materials are like standard answers. It's all a sham.
And they don't cross reference or quote their sources. There was one particular line that said something like "...numerous clinical studies have proven its effectiveness." I'm sitting here reading that and like... "so... where are the clinical studies? What's the statistics on that? Where's the reference????"
But I will still read through it, in hopes that there will actually be some nuggets of useful information. So far there's a part on the essential oils that seems informative enough. At least, I can now cross check those oil names with the list I learnt from the soap making class, but where everything was in Chinese, so now I get to cross check and reference back to see what is what.
In conclusion: it's a sham, and try to use common sense to filter through the information. If nothing else, I get to learn what the whole sham is and if someone tries to persuade me on that kind of treatment then I already know what a sham that is.
I mean, I guess it's good to read up and see what's going on in the world, and a lot of the materials I've read so far seem to make sense, but then again, on second thought, not really much sense. Besides, the writing usually cancels each other out.
And then, the "tests" and "exams" are shams. It's just a pdf document with the questions, and in the same document, if you scroll further down, are the answers. There's no answer submission, answer checking. The whole course (so far) looks to be just some pyramid-scheme disguised as a course.
There are a few parts where they give standard "answers" for "when a patient asks you this-and-this." I don't have the vocabulary to explain it, but it feels like it's some sort of franchise manual and the materials are like standard answers. It's all a sham.
And they don't cross reference or quote their sources. There was one particular line that said something like "...numerous clinical studies have proven its effectiveness." I'm sitting here reading that and like... "so... where are the clinical studies? What's the statistics on that? Where's the reference????"
But I will still read through it, in hopes that there will actually be some nuggets of useful information. So far there's a part on the essential oils that seems informative enough. At least, I can now cross check those oil names with the list I learnt from the soap making class, but where everything was in Chinese, so now I get to cross check and reference back to see what is what.
In conclusion: it's a sham, and try to use common sense to filter through the information. If nothing else, I get to learn what the whole sham is and if someone tries to persuade me on that kind of treatment then I already know what a sham that is.
