This is the second drawing in our comical response series…
Some of the arguments put forward by skeptics against magnetic therapy are so hilarious, we’ve come up with a few comical responses of our own. How many times do you hear people say magnets are too weak or they don’t penetrate deep enough to do anything. It’s like someone saying why would you want to carry a brick mobile phone with you, they’re too heavy and all you can do is make a call.
(Drawing by our 16 year old daughter Melissa)
Arguments against magnetic therapy by skeptics invariably follow a common pattern,
- They focus on the dubious and deceitful claims, like how they cure cancer or attract iron in the blood (which we debunk at the end of this article) as if they are indicative of the entire field.
- They are either not aware of or simply ignore the more credible scientific evidence.
- The proponents are usually from skeptic societies and are also very anti-religion. Not that we hold that against them, but for the way they prosecute arguments against magnetic therapy with all the dogmatic fervour they criticize religious people for. A great example is the sillybeliefs website in New Zealand. Check out the comments section, 171 and counting. This chap spends days arguing his silly beliefs position with a passion that would make any Jehovah Witness proud. We wonder if he even goes door-to-door trying to “spread the word” on the evils of magnets.
- In almost 100% of cases, they have never even tried what they are so against and thus speak purely from theory. As a wise person once said, a person with a theory is never at the mercy of a person with an experience.
The RACQ’s The Road Ahead Magazine is no light weight with a circulation of almost 900,000. Its Oct, 2014 issue featured a whole page by a prominent skeptic that ticked all of the points above. Have a read of the article and our response here.
How often do we see a single study that shows no benefit from magnets, quoted as if it represents all variety of magnets and their applications? A more scientific response would be that the type of magnet used in that way, for the specific condition was not effective. Like the study by Collacott that used a very week flexible rubber magnet for back pain or the one by Cepeda that placed the magnets around the surgical wound and not over it – see article for explanation.
