Hey, the stupid really DOES burn
So there’s a video of actress Jessica Simpson which is burning up (hahahahahahaha!) the internet right now. Her friend gave her an ear candle for Christmas, and she’s using it in the video:
I love this video, for a lot of reasons. First, as should be obvious to anyone who prefers not to set their head on fire, ear candling is dangerous and ineffective. Unless you’re trying to set your head on fire. Then it’s very effective.
Second, Ms. Simpson clearly thinks this is a bad idea as well. She titled the video "Who gives this kind of candle for a christmas gift?", and her reactions to it in the video is pretty clear. I love how one purported benefit of ear candling is relief of vertigo, but Ms. Simpson complains of nausea constantly in the video.
Third, and related to the second, the video shows how painful and awful this procedure is. It may set antiscience "alternative medicine" back a thousand years. Which is where alt-med is anyway. So I guess that’s a wash.
Fourth, it makes me wonder if anyone has sent Ms. Simpson to this website. I’ll refrain from commenting on any potential video of that.
Fifth and finally, it gives me a chance once again to use this drawing, which has been lonely lately:
A group of clever skeptics could have fun with the alt-marketplace by introducing an ongoing series of phony new alt-med ideas, and do so in the manner of the sport of scambaiting. Why not dual hollow candles, fused together, for effective nasal cleansing? Recently discovered ancient texts reveal nasal candling to be even older than the neti! Plus — it’s not scientifically validated! How alternative is that?
Get out your toolkit of logical fallacies and maudlin fantasies and scam away! I mean, somebody came up with applied kinesiology, didn’t they? Created colleges to teach it. Not very clever. Let’s trump that.
Ear candling is retarded, and the video shows that it can be unpleasant and dangerous, but it doesn’t show that it’s ineffective.
Legitimate medical procedures can also be unpleasant and dangerous.
“I love how one purported benefit of ear candling is relief of vertigo, but Ms. Simpson complains of nausea constantly in the video.”
Yes, well I love how decongestants can exacerbate congestion, antidepressants can increase suicidality, antibiotics can cause a deadly bacterial infection, and cancer screenings can cause cancer.
That sounds like a Tu Quoque fallacy Max.
If I were defending ear candling, it would be, but I’m clearly not. I’m criticizing the argument that unpleasant and potentially dangerous procedures are necessarily bad, and the argument that if a treatment’s side-effect resembles its indication, then the treatment is bad. These arguments can backfire on you because alternative medicine often has less severe side effects than real medicine. The key difference is not the side-effects but the risk-benefit ratio, which is not obvious from the video.
Thanks for the clarification, Max. Of course I realized from the context that you were not defending ear candling, however if the context were read as ” I don’t believe in that nonsense, but these other 3 things have bad side effects, and the are also nonsense” (implied, as alt-med advocates are wont to do) then thats what would make the Tu Quoque fallacy.
I actually didn’t think that you were making the fallacy, thats why I was careful to phrase it as “it sounds like…”
Thanks for letting me clarify. I just don’t like to see skeptics use the same kinds of arguments as the quacks, because the public may see it as a double-standard and think that we side with science just because of bias.
For example, both conventional and alternative medicine can be unpleasant, and sure, we should point out alt-med examples in case anyone thinks otherwise, but stress that the real difference is that conventional medicine is proven to be effective while alt-med is not.
Colonic candling is a lot interesting to watch! ;-)
I explained ear candling to Teh Hubby last night, and after he got his jaw up off the floor, he refused to believe that anyone would actually do that. Apparently, he’s still sane.
Wonder if it sucked the stupid right out of her head? Somehow, I think not….
Colonic candling might help that…
i love the buttcandel site especially the read the referenced medical literature bit, i can’t see any references apart from an endorsement by americas favourite woo practitioner oprah
I could not watch much of the video: I found it distressing. When I saw that you had a link to a site called “buttcandle.com,” I followed it in expectation of some hilarious satire. Alas, it was no satire at all.
I’m pretty sure it’s satire, since it links to the above video, quotes Oprah, and doesn’t provide contact or order info.
Anyway, a guy goes to the doctor and says,
“Doctor, I swallowed all the suppositories you prescribed, but they didn’t help.”
The doctor recoils in disbelief, “You took them by mouth?!”
“Where else would I take them, up my ass?”
I’m surprised she didn’t confuse the ear candle with a firecracker.
Now that’s just classic comedy. Anytime anyone says “this is a bad idea,” but then does it anyway… only to find out that its a REALLY bad idea! That’s some oldschool F-troop shit right there!
Pffft…and they say brain farts aren’t flammable.
Thanks again skepticdead. Your ignorance is astounding. 98% of the population isn’t an argument for anything. The majority of people love Top 40 music and that doesn’t qualify it as anything worth listening to.
Where did you get the figure of 98%? Fortune cookie?
Douche
No matter what your take is on ear candling, you have to check out this video. A parody on jessica simspon’s ear candling video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjCLoaqxIOU