Found a little late (dated August) but it looks like James Allan is practically inspired by Tim Minchin’s ‘Storm’ with this one! He’s talking on this very topic at the forthcoming Australian Skeptics conference - “Why Skeptics are Dinner Party Nightmares”. Here’s his article in the Australian newspaper:
HOW many readers have gone to dinner parties and listened to otherwise intelligent people assert that alternative medicine can be just as effective as mainstream, scientific medicine? Generally, the argument is that alternative medicine, in all its many forms, is just another complementary and legitimate form of healing.
So homeopathy, acupuncture, echinacea – even aromatherapy, magnetic resonance zones or anything with the word holistic in front of it – gets elevated to the same plane as chemotherapy, antibiotics or vaccines for mumps or measles. And this goes hand in hand with rather disdainful comments about sceptics of such alternative treatments not being open-minded and not being tolerant of competing world views.
…No one likes to be rude at a fun dinner party or to risk social isolation by calling someone an idiot. But next time you find yourself seated beside a smart, well-paid enthusiast for the benefits of alternative medicine, you may just gently point out to him that if he gets cancer, he’d be better off opting for chemotherapy than for some equally valid, equally legitimate, non-traditional, world-view treatment.
As I mentioned, James Allan of the University of Queensland will be presenting at the Australian Skeptics Conference, held in Brisbane from 28-29th November.
James Allan is a law professor at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. He is a native born Canadian who worked first as a lawyer then as a legal academic in the UK, Hong Kong, Canada and New Zealand before moving to Australia nearly five years ago. During his 11 years in New Zealand he was on the operating committee of the New Zealand Skeptics. He has presented talks at two previous Australian Skeptics’ conferences.
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