Magic in 21st Century

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12060507

This BBC report is about children killed by their gullible and rather stupid parents using Alternative Medicines instead of proven and efficacious treatments from a proper doctor.  These parents, while probably not criminal in the usual sense, are though criminally responsible for the deaths of their children.  In today's world, in the first world, with universal education and good health care in most places, except the US, for even the poorest there is no excuse for this level of idiocy.

So why do people choose to believe in 'natural' therapies or alternative treatments?  Why are these felt to be more effective than drugs with years of testing and proof behind them?

Part of it is certainly because people  - ordinary people not scientifically trained - find anecdotal evidence more compelling than the statistics behind a full scale regulated double blind test in a laboratory.  You can't talk to the testers but you can talk to Aunt Mary about her friend who made the mircaculous recovery from terminal cancer by eschewing the very unpleasant high tech treatments her doctor offered in favour of a nice herbal tea and a homeopathic flower remedy.  Aunt Mary never mentions how her friend later died horribly and in pain after a brief period of remission...

And this dangerous farce gets government support too.  Of course it does it is cheaper than proper medical treatment and people seem happier with the results even when patients die unnecessarily.

I despair.

So I'm off for a session with my Shaman to see if he can bring my spirit back to health.