Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion

Just read an article Antroposofie (in Dutch) with so many facepalm moments that my face is starting to hurt, so I decided to vent here and share the frustration.

Now for those of you who don't read Dutch, my main problem with this article are the numerous references to pseudoscience, which as i'm a scientist never fails to evoke facepalm (I try to minimize *headdesk* to avoid brain damage and plastic surgery). It seems that pretty much every science has a pseudoscientific flea: Astronomy (science)/astrology (utter nonsense), biology (science)/ intelligent design(make believe), medicine (science)/ homeopathy(complete lunacy).

Everytime I read something about people taking this pseudoscientific nonsense seriously my faith in the human species drops another notch. My guess would be that this forum has readers with very diverse professional backgrounds. When you read an article which claims that astrology, intelligent design, homeopathy or some other pseudoscience are true do you facepalm or do you believe it?

For those of you that do believe it may be a good thing to realise that buying into these things is far from harmless. Astrology is a con, and people throw away money everytime they consult an astrologer.

Intelligent design is not only not science, it represents a dangerous antiscientific ideology that can have far reaching negative effects on society.

The most directly harmful pseudoscience is homeopathy and other alternative "medicine" because some people are so convinced that it works that they reject real medical treatment in favour of something that doesn't work at all.
Homeopathy for instance claims that the properties of compounds can be transferred to a solvent, by extensively diluting the compound. The medicinal properties of a drug are based on its molecular structure and the effectiveness is dependend on the dosage. There is absolutely no way that a homeopathic dilution which may not even contain a single molecule of the drug can have any effect. The solvent be it water or alcohol cannot have the same properties as the drug, because it doesn't have the same molecular structure.

To sum it up, this is a good response to pseudoscience:


Star Trek despite being science fiction probably contains more actual science than most of the self help books. It definitely contains more science than alternative medicine, ID and astrology.

LOL! Good vent Betelgeuze!

I don't try to believe what I read - I just apply whatever the belief is to the character I am reading about. Given most of my books are paranormal or sci-fi, mixed with fantasy and urban-fantasy, there is no requirement for me to believe anything that I read. Something I look for in my books 'cos I hate nightmares!!! ;)

So to summarise - I don't facepalm over any science aspects in my books as virtually none of my books are contemporary or non-fiction/biographical.

...However I will facepalm over some H/h who is too stupid to live (TSTL) :)

BTW - I agree that some alternative medicines and beliefs can be dangerous - one of the most dangerous being those people who don't vaccinate their children and endanger all the small babies out there who have to wait until they are 6 months old before they can get their 'jab'... This is becoming a significant issue in parts of Australia where 'vaccination' is a dirty word in 'hippie' communities. The number of babies dying in hospital from whooping cough and other preventable diseases is significantly rising.

I partially disagree with your statements about homeopathy - but that being said, I don't negate normal medical treatment for homeopathy, but use in conjunction. the same is said often for alternative to traditional treatments in medicine - including chiropractor, massage and acupucture

for example, my senior year of college when I was doing crew, I was having problems with my shoulder - 3 visits to the doctor and their continual solution was to give me ibuprofen/motrin for the pain and that's it...a trip to the chiropractor and he was able to look at my should/neck/back and find some that I was slightly out of alignment...4 weeks later and I was back on the crew team fully fit. the last year, knee injury - took traditional medicine 6 months of return visits before they would send me for a MRI - to this day they still haven't diagnosed the issue - I regularly go into the chiropractor to this day and mentioned this to her - she did an adjustment on my knee, and while its not completely pain free, its much better than it has been and i can run relatively easy

I haven't been to a chiropractor Dee, but I have been to an osteopath - they relaxed my muscles into position around my hip and buttocks - this in turn realigned my knees which give me huge problems on extended pack-walks. Basically, my buttock muscles don't work hard enough and I don't push my hips out in front far enough - if I concentrate on this two issues while I walk - my knees don't break down... The orthopeadic surgeon I visited told me to build up the muscles around my knee - that didn't help - hence the more altnative approach. :)

Betelgeuze wrote: "Just read an article Antroposofie (in Dutch) with so many facepalm moments that my face is starting to hurt, so I decided to vent here and share the frustration.

Now for those of you who don't re..."

I very much appreciate your comments, venting or no, it is frustrating to see a world which benefits from the products of scientific endeavour turn its back on the best evidence possible. In my field of work (public health) choices people make which exclude good science cost them in their very lives. See above note re immunizations (It is the same in some areas of Canada as well).

Let's be frank and recognize all science is not credible just because it claims the label "science". That said, many individuals who choose to reject science, often seem to do so out of fear not because they have wisely reviewed the credence of the issue.

I have been intrigued with the notion that we are operating in a fear based culture. Dan Gardner in his book The Science of Fear discusses the function "intuition" or gut feel and the role it plays in our becoming victims of our own fears. A compelling example he uses is related to 9/11. As almost the entire world knows, over 3000 people died on Sept 11th, a tragedy and travesty. Little known though, is the fact that in the year following (almost to the date), over 1600 people more than any other year before or after died in car accidents because they were AFRAID to fly because of a bias rule if it happened once, it is always a risk. The assumption then is that the risk will always be the same -VERY VERY BAD. This is the interesting issue: why do we trust our gut, which is not always correct, and put ourselves at risk? Now ask yourself when was the last time you heard a positive, "good" news story? Context is everything.(????)

Mr. Gardner postulates there is a very important tool that we all have and that is the ability to pause, and ask ourselves "is this true?". In my experience, we need to promote this pause, the question, and then engagement in a rational process to examine our choices.

Very interesting discussion! As to the novels that I read, I have to say that the *facepalm* happens when the characters do not engage their brains and employ the TSTL bias....*grins*
SW