The diversity of medical practices and theoretical frameworks currently thriving across the world
Alex Davenport went to the Science Museum (the one in South Kensington, you know), and found the 5th floor devoted to quackery.
It matters because the SM is supposed to promote science and understanding, not fuel an ever increasingly tiresome debate between those that painstakingly research and collect data and those that appear to pick any old idea then try to convince people it works.
That’s what I would have thought.
The homeopathy stand tells the case study of a girl who had allergies from the age of 3-5 (what are these allergies?) and they say that she was cured by homeopaths. That’s right, they categorically state that homeopathy helped her.
Yikes.
A museum staffer did a blog post in response, with an official statement from the museum.
In our ‘Living Medical Traditions’ section of the Science and Art of Medicine Gallery we take an anthropological and sociological perspective on medical practices. We reflect patient experience in a global setting. We do not evaluate different medical systems, but demonstrate the diversity of medical practices and theoretical frameworks currently thriving across the world.
Our message in this display is that these traditions are not ‘alternative’ systems in most parts of the world. Instead they currently offer the majority of the global population their predominant, sometimes only, choice of medical care. We do not make any claims for the validity of the traditions we present.
Well not in the sense of having banners saying “This stuff really works!” – but what about that stand that says homeopathy cured a child of allergies? That looks like a claim for validity to my untutored eye. David Colquhoun was entirely unconvinced. So was Simon Singh. So were lots of other people.
That would be “theoretical framework” in the sense of “shit some guy made up 200 years ago, before they discovered germ theory, or most of chemistry, when standard medicine still thought bleeding was a great idea”. Not as in “explains and ties together a whacking great fuckton of observations and, you know, lets you do something useful with that knowledge”.
Apparently the Science Museum need more scientists on its staff.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by John FitzGerald, Ophelia Benson. Ophelia Benson said: The diversity of medical practices and theoretical frameworks currently thriving across the world http://dlvr.it/GH6q4 […]
Even if they had made no “claims” per se in regards to the homeopathy display, this nonsense about “traditions [that] are not ‘alternative’ systems in most parts of the world….[but] currently offer the majority of the global population their predominant, sometimes only, choice of medical care,” well, that just doesn’t ring true, does it? A display on herbal medicine or even shamanism, okay, I’ll swallow that argument. But homeopathy??? Homeopathy was invented by a German kook at the dawn of the 19th century, and currently does most of its business amongst the “worried well” of affluent Western societies.
Playing the “It’s just anthropology!” card in regards to homeopathy, of all things, would be like if I wrote a blog post praising the philosophies of Andrew Dice Clay, and when challenged on his blatant misogyny, I replied, “Hey, it was a different time back then…” Come on….
If it was the Anthropology Museum, maybe.
It’s not the same as the fact that the Dan Dare exhibition didn’t explain that we now know the surface of Venus isn’t ruled by the Mekon.
I like the way you start your post :-)
Makes me feel like Paddington Bear!
On a serious note though, thank-you for republishing this. It is nice to know that there are more people out there who agree with us and would like to stop the good name of the Science museum pandering to Quacks.
Hey, thanks for writing it, Alex. It’s a brilliant, detailed, illustrated post.
I don’t know… I think science museums the world over should have exhibits for the various structures of notable quackery currently espoused worldwide. I think they should cover them in depth; really in depth.
I would love to see them have exhibits explaning exactly how homeopathy (doesn’t) work, and the kind of test results it brings. Show that there is no cause between vaccines and autism while they’re at it. Maybe a big board with one horoscope on it full of astrology’s blind vagaries with a caption “doesn’t matter what sign you are, this is your horoscope.” Have a hall full of various recounted tales of NDE’s (while highlighting the differences between them for a change) leading up to a booth that explains what hallucinations are and how the brain reacts to oxygen deprivation.
Then maybe a connected (much larger) panel to explain how people can fall for such blatant lies. I’d go to that museum, and take people with me to boot!
Did they include mention of how that’s a fucking crime against humanity?
A, no, not that they mention in their official statement at least. I think I’ll do it for them.