A small breakdown.
" (see the totally biased websites that others commonly quote from)."
"Totally biased websites" serve to point out that there is disagreement on the validity of this medicine between experts.
Certainly if even one of them was not "totally biased",you would have to reconsider when in fact there is plenty of non-biased material shown and points raised that should be considered by any rational person.
"claim it's "psuedo-science" at best"
This is pseudoscience,unless argued otherwise.Your argument has a lot to do with physiology,one could sarcastically ask whether you think your gallbladder influences your reasoning? (physiology of TCM)
""Bioelectrical properties- Niboyet, a French researcher"
Picking this one as an example,could you show me some reference and also tell me something about the researcher(s) you are referring to (their possible expertise or lack of it and so on)
When I try to search on this subject,I can mostly come up with a TCM sites that like to rely on very similar testimonies,I have little knowledge on the exact subject,however,if my memory serves there are also contradicting "proofs".
"Acupuncture/TCM/qi gong is REAL, it WORKS"
If you´re basing this on what you said above,I believe you´re buying the fallacy of hasty generalization.
You will have to understand that despite what you consider to be convincing evidence for tcm´s efficiency,you must remember that there is also a great deal of evidence to contrary.
As my own note,I´d add that if we assume that skeptical stance of referring to placebo effect etc. be true,we would find at least some evidence for it´s validity from this above fact (was the method described as watertight&scientifical as one might hope,one could also expect the expected positive effect to be repeatable,which is does not seem to be)
To refute this evidence,requires one to subscribe to the fallacy of suppressed evidence.
"Modern science is trying to figure out what the ancients somehow knew thousands of years ago"
What makes you think so?
" and we proved that it was correct, why not listen to the other "truths" that they discovered (or at least recorded) as well? In my mind, one cannot separate acupuncture from qi gong or TCM. The core is the same"
What truths? Acupuncture is a part of TCM.Qi-gong is not related (in this context)
"I also found much research on "current resistance", "potential differences", "endogenous opiods" and many other interesting effects/mechanisms of acupuncture action."
On endogenous opioids I can comment on.It has been shown that acupuncture can trigger their release as it has been shown that you can cause the very same response yourself,ask someone to make you do it or stick a regular needle into your body which would be unpleasant of course.
Considering these facts,I would not consider this to be an argument for acupuncture (of course "other interesting mechanisms" like psychological arousal are worth mentioning)
"As it stands now, Western Medicine (as an institution) views acupuncture/TCM as a threat. So what do they initially do with all threats? Attack it and claim it's "psuedo-science" at best, fraud at worse (see the totally biased websites that others commonly quote from). Once this tactic is exhausted and it doesn't work, the next step is to control it and take it over so they get the revenue. Mark my words, once Western Medicine does determine the exact mechanisms of action, all of the sudden, acupuncture will indeed be "valid" and you can bet your rear-end that the MD's will take it over and all the sudden what was once ridiculed and frowned upon as "unscientific" and equal to "snake oil salesmen" will all of the sudden be "so technical and complex that I as your MD am the only one qualified to perform this amazing and complex medical procedure (I'm inducing analgesia via endogenous opioids, you know). Do you have insurance? No? Then I can't help you unless you pay cash up front"!!!!!!"
We have enough material for a strawman around here.
(If you were going for "appeal to emotion",then you probably chose the right target audience of course)
In total,we´ve been over this to a great degree.
Last edited by Former castleva; 07-03-2003 at 04:43 PM.
The sunset´s setting down.Lay me on the forest floor.
______________________________
I do not necessarily stand behind all of the statements I have made in the past, in this forum. Some of the statements may have appeared to support a biased view of reality, and may have been offensive. If you are a moral person and were hurt by comments that I made, you can PM me about it and I will apologize if I find your cause reasonable.
-FC, summer of 2006-