February 27, 28 J.E.
Being a person of sound mind and reasonably fair judgement, I really hate the phenomenon of the double standard. It just makes NO friggin' sense to me. Why make rules different based on arbitrary and meaningless criteria? To put someone in a different social class because of the color of their skin is flat out stupid. To deny someone voting rights based on the fact they do not have the blessed Y chromosome is moronic. To go and KILL someone because they have different religious beliefs is insane (but then, religious fanatics aren't the sanest bunch).
Which leads me to all of this New Age healing crap that has so imbued the world today. All of these things are supposed to be incredibly simple panaceas that, amazingly, no one has managed to figure out in the several thousands of years of our existence until just this year. Herbs, massages, crystals, all of that crap is supposed to cure everything that ails you by focusing your karmic energy or detoxifying you or similar such drivel. Such people will tell you that modern medicine can't help you because it's unnatural/misguided/run by the devil.
There is a certain irony there. I personally know a lot of people who will gleefully accept even the most outrageous New Age Miracle Cure as fact without a second thought. They'll shell out big bucks for some special herb that grows only next to a stream in northeastern Afghanistan because it will cure them of that persistent toe fungus because some weirdo with bad hair and wild eyes said so.
Meanwhile, if a doctor offers them a prescription, they'll expect that pill to have been thoroughly tested by the FDA to prove that it does what it says it will do without any harmful side effects. They'll also buy the name brand, ignoring the generic alternative, and bitch that drug prices are too high.
Obviously, the double standard is the dismissal of thoroughly tested, professionally concocted medications in favor of embracing the reality of some lunatic who didn't even complete the 3rd grade, can't explain how his stuff works, and smells like sour milk. That second one really kills me. These guys can't even tell you in any reasonably way how this stuff is supposed to work except in the vaguest terms (it aligns you essential energies, draws out "bad" blood, etc.), and yet, people eat this shit up! Meanwhile, a doctor recommends a procedure, and it's all suspicion and demands for a full explanation.
Maybe the attraction is that the stuff CAN'T be explained. Maybe the New Agers of today are the religious sheep of yesterday, blindly following whatever charismatic leader comes along. Maybe they're so bored with their lives they need to invent that something special to inject some excitement into their daily drudgery, as if TV couldn't do that for them! Maybe people just NEED to be deceived, and hence the quack is an essential part of their lives. Maybe it's just their sorry excuse for a religion.
We need another Jim Jones to thin out their ranks.