Rant: "Dr" Phucking Phil and the Onan-Master Dr. "Oz":
Lemme tell you this:
when I was a young dentist and had just opened my practice I was approached by a young lady who was the first on-air psychologist clinician in Philly who until recently had graduated to Fox News in her later years. But that's not the point...I rented space to her in my office and she would see clients who were eating-disordered and also a lot of adjustment-disordered individuals, some of whom were Philadelphia "Celebrities", which, in a dopey town like this (compared with NY and LA), are limited to a group of restaurateurs and on-air personalities, mostly news-folk and the like. Periodically she would appear on Teevee and discuss a specific individual who had agreed to appear and discuss her or his psychological issues.
She was, in my humblest of humble opinions, quite possibly the biggest bullshit artist I'd ever seen on the air, and I grew up watching those preachers and carnival barkers who masqueraded as game show hosts in the early days of the medium. Her generalizations were simply lists of the conditions described in the most recent DSM, and because she was reasonably attractive, and would give a half-smile while she was spouting this nonsense, she became a hit locally. She wasn't the shallowest person i'd ever met, but she was so frigging limited in her outlook and approach that even I, as a lay person with respect to psychology and therapy, was appalled. Eventually she moved on and I was rid of her and her holier-than-thou, sanctimonious personality.
When I watch these inadequate assholes on the air, I cannot help but say to myself, "Self: these self-aggrandizing assholes found a way to make real money without having to take the responsibility for having the sequelae of their bad advice resonate throughout their lives because they're not acting "professionally" and they really don't care what happens: it's like a stockbroker who tells half his clients to buy and the other half to sell: he is considered a genius by half his customers by definition. These two assholes have tried to be like Cher, Oprah, Prince, Usher, Bono, Sting, or Pink inasmuch as they want to be known by a single name implying not only celebrity status but also giftedness.
Giftedness my ass: "Dr." Phil McGraw is not licensed anywhere because he's..well...a creep. He spouts feel-good platitudes and is like most clinical professionals: covering up for his or her inadequacies - yes, we all do it, except he ain't no Dr. Joyce Brothers who at least was extremely intelligent and well-read and an ethical professional (an an expert in the field of boxing!) McGraw's sentences come out of one of three self-help books, none of which he wrote. It's a "one size fits all" approach - you're better off watching Jerry Springer who at least has an IQ in three digits.
Dr. Oz, chose that appellation because it is his name, but also is one syllable (see: Cher), implies that he's a Wizard, and in print looks like Dr. No, the first and in a way, the most iconic of the Bond films. He's a big proponent of alternative medicine and homeopathy and if you think that drinking your own urine diluted like a hundred billion times is going to prevent you from having cancer, gout, and quinsy, then be my guest. He's a liar and a charlatan, starting with conventional medicine and then going tangentially off into unproven, to say the least, treatment methodologies. Another ridiculous human being whose credentials are unfortunately Harvard and Penn, which lends I'm an air of intellectual and clinical respectability. He's the Liberace of physicians, laughing all the way to the bank.
How dare these two assholes get this much attention when competent, science-based, clinically excellent individuals are relegated to 45 second moments on little-watched cable tv, and spend most of their time explaining why the assholes like McGraw and Oz are dead wrong. and of course the moderator never assents, they just say: "we'll have to leave it there" as though telling the truth is some subterranean-level sin which should be lightly regarded.
In a society wherein the titular President says things like the "Virus is smart" to not be affected by antibiotics, what can you expect? Shit, I knew in third grade that antibiotics can cause replication problems in bacteria, but there was not effect on viruses because THERE WAS NO CURE FOR THE COMMON COLD, which of course, is...wait for it...a coronavirus.
Stupidity and benightedness reigns!
Serenity Now!!!!!!!!
= new reply since forum marked as read
I've been posting about pseudoscience and alt-med woo at DU for probably 15 years. It's infuriating to see these Oprah spawn getting attention and airplay that should be going to credible infectious disease doctors and epidemiologists.
Thanks for posting.
Sid
