Woo-woo fest comes to Wits
As funny as conspiracy-theorists, UFOlogists and other quacks can sometimes be, it’s a peculiar choice when universities host their conferences, or when universities award degrees in homeopathy.
John Edward is coming to eat your brain
John Edward, New Age woo-talk, astrology columns in newspapers, The Secret, and the fact that some take Deepak Chopra seriously are all part of the same basic problem, namely that our hopes for life to have some significance beyond the here-and-now lead us to suspend – or at least suppress – critical judgement.
So what if prejudice is ‘natural’?
Making the distinction between ‘us’ and ‘them’ might well have been useful at some point in human evolution, and might well still be now. But while all we had to go on in the past were the arbitrary markers of skin colour or gender, that’s no reason to keep using those crude categories. And besides, the fact that we (and other animals) keep making these distinctions is not evidence that we should do so.
Patrick Holford’s feel-good quackery
Patrick Holford is one of the many nutritionists, doctors or specialists of one form or another who make a living by selling false or misleading promises. Sometimes, they even endorse harmful remedies, or harmful avoidance of effective remedies, as is the case with Holford’s association with HIV denialism (and Scientology). Why does a national chain of pharmacies endorse this quackery?
Patrick Holford supports Malema!
Patrick Holford is touring South Africa, offering his “Feel Good Factor seminar”. Punctuation is optional, as this seminar “will help you transform the way you think and feel right now and give you an action plan to prevent memory decline later in life and stay free from depression”.
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