Disarming critics
Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2001 6:43 am
Hi Charlotte, Soroush
On the contrary, I think Soroush scored a *very* valuable point with this
suggestion. This person was unwilling to meet the challenge because *he
wasn't going to take something that could harm him*, so Soroush pointed out
that he couldn't have it both ways. Indeed!!
I've said this before, but I think a lot of these detractors can be as
effectively disarmed by demonstrating to them the emotional, rather than
rational, basis for their opinions as by any number of pieces of evidence in
homeopathy's favour. Since very little of the evidence is completely
unequivocal, those who have an emotional investment in denying homeopathy's
effectiveness will always focus purely on the aspects of each study that
introduce an element of doubt.
Dear Wendy and Soroush,
I agree that it is much more effective to find the chink in the armor, or at
least to notice and point out the armor, rather than continuing to endlessly
pound on it. Soroush really did well to point out how contradictory his
statements were.
Still, what if one of the critics WERE willing to take him up on his
invitation to participate in a proving, and he didn't notice any difference
during the proving? Besides participating in some provings, I also
supervised one a few months ago, where I had to really probe the prover to
find any new symptoms from the proving remedy (and he had taken about six
doses of the substance!). There was only a little increased irritability
and an unusual dream. There are a number of people who are insensitive like
this.
Charlotte
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
On the contrary, I think Soroush scored a *very* valuable point with this
suggestion. This person was unwilling to meet the challenge because *he
wasn't going to take something that could harm him*, so Soroush pointed out
that he couldn't have it both ways. Indeed!!
I've said this before, but I think a lot of these detractors can be as
effectively disarmed by demonstrating to them the emotional, rather than
rational, basis for their opinions as by any number of pieces of evidence in
homeopathy's favour. Since very little of the evidence is completely
unequivocal, those who have an emotional investment in denying homeopathy's
effectiveness will always focus purely on the aspects of each study that
introduce an element of doubt.
Dear Wendy and Soroush,
I agree that it is much more effective to find the chink in the armor, or at
least to notice and point out the armor, rather than continuing to endlessly
pound on it. Soroush really did well to point out how contradictory his
statements were.
Still, what if one of the critics WERE willing to take him up on his
invitation to participate in a proving, and he didn't notice any difference
during the proving? Besides participating in some provings, I also
supervised one a few months ago, where I had to really probe the prover to
find any new symptoms from the proving remedy (and he had taken about six
doses of the substance!). There was only a little increased irritability
and an unusual dream. There are a number of people who are insensitive like
this.
Charlotte
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]