Reflexology Is A Science? So Says “The Citizen” (Auburn, NY)

So I was browsing through “The Citizen,” the online local paper from Auburn, NY and stumbled upon an article about reflexology. You know, the “holistic,” alternative mode of treating basically any disease by rubbing your feet? Yeah, I was caught off guard, too.

According to this article, reflexology is a science. Oooh. Sounds scientific… until you get into what reflexology really is.

Reflexology (zone therapy) is an alternative medicine method involving the practice of massaging or applying pressure to parts of the feet, or sometimes the hands and ears, with the goal of encouraging a beneficial effect on other parts of the body, or to improve general health.

Improve general health? Wait a minute. That sounds pretty vague. I think I’ll need some more information before I buy into something like that.

The article says that…

It is a science because it is based on physiological and neurological studies…

Really? I’d be curious to read about those studies. Where will I find them? The New England Journal Of Medicine? The Journal Of The American Medical Association? A quick search on PubMed doesn’t reveal any studies concerning the efficacy of reflexology, or that even address the claims that reflexology makes. So much for that claim.

What I want to direct your attention to is the following statement from this article…

…but the art of reflexology must not be confused with a basic foot massage. It is a pressure technique which works on precise reflex points of the feet. This is based on the premise that reflex areas on the feet correspond with all body parts.

Put simply, this whole “science” of reflexology is based on a false premise. There are no “reflex points” on the feet which correspond to any other body parts. This is simply New Age, woo woo, nonsense.

Dr. Stephen Barrett, M.D. points on in an article on QuackWatch that…

The pathways postulated by reflexologists have not been anatomically demonstrated; and it is safe to assume that they do not exist. Similar rationales are used employed by iridologists (who imagine that eye markings represent disease throughout the body) and auricular acupuncturists who “map” body organs on the ear (a homunculus in the fetal position). The methodology is similar in both of these; and some commentators consider pressing on “acupuncture points” on the ear or elsewhere to be forms of reflexology, but most people refer to that as acupressure (“acupuncture without needles). The Reflexology Research Web site displays charts for foot and hand reflexology. The fees I have seen advertised have ranged from $35 to $100 per session.

Strange. This supposed “science” has not been anatomically demonstrated. Not much of a science, if you ask me.

Now, the author of this article, Diane DelPiano gives a decent, although short, account of the history of reflexology. But, the article is altogether credulous of the claims made. She goes on to say that…

Reflexologist’s believe that granular accumulations of waste matter called uric acid crystals concentrate around reflex points. With training, you can feel these accumulations. The goal is to break these accumulations down to open the energy pathways and improve the blood flow to the reflex organs. It is also intended to open blocked nerve pathways and helps to flush toxins out of the body.

The good ol’ “toxin” gimmick. Nobody wants toxins in their body. But, what toxins? You’ll never hear a reflexology, or any New Age, alternative medicine practitioner mention specific toxins. Just the general term. Even the term “uric acid crystals” is bunk. Here’s some information about uric acid from a Wikipedia article on the subject.

In humans and higher primates, uric acid is the final oxidation (breakdown) product of purine metabolism and is excreted in urine. In most other mammals, the enzyme uricase further oxidizes uric acid to allantoin.^[2] The loss of uricase in higher primates parallels the similar loss of the ability to synthesize ascorbic acid.^[3] Both uric acid and ascorbic acid are strong reducing agents (electron donors) and potent antioxidants. In humans, over half the antioxidant capacity of blood plasma comes from uric acid.

Don’t alternative medicine practitioners go on and on about how important antioxidants are? This is simply an example of stupid. Or FAIL, if that’s your favorite pejorative term. Not only is uric acid not a toxin, but it’s also necessary for the human body.

The stupid!! It hurts!!

There are no toxins in your feet, or anywhere else in your body. The kidneys, the liver… they’re purpose is to remove those things automatically. And how much more natural can you get than that?

I found an interesting quote from a blogger on the Fighting Spurious Complementary & Alternative Medicine (SCAM) blog that speaks well to the “detox” myth.

Detoxification is a common feature of alternative medicine, but I have yet to find anyone who can name the toxins that need to be removed from the body or explain how each treatment will remove these toxins.

If toxins accumulated in the body as is now suggested by practitioners of “natural medicine” then the human race would have died out centuries ago. There were no detox diets for the knights of the middle ages.

Before this post gets to be too long, I’ll just finish with addressing the final part of this article which deals with the “benefits” of reflexology.

Further benefits of reflexology include: relaxation and stress reduction, improved circulation and oxygenation, improved lymphatic flow and stimulation of the immune system. Additionally, by stimulating the immune system, reflexology helps the body take up more nutrients and helps to revitalize and energize the body.

While these seem to be evidence of an effective modality, a close look reveals something quite different. It’s relaxing. It “improves” circulation and oxygenation, “improved” lymphatic flow, and it “stimulates the immune system.” These claims are so vague and general that you couldn’t even begin to test them. What does “improved lymphatic flow” even mean, in a medical sense? How specifically does it “stimulate” the immune system? Does it inject foreign bodies for it to attack, similar to how immunizations work?

No, there is no mechanism. It’s just New Age, magical energy nonsense. The reason for such vague and non-specific claims is, as I said before, to avoid lawsuits for false medical claims. Reflexology is nothing more than a massage.

But don’t take my word for it. The next time you see your podiatrist, ask him about “energy flow,” “toxins” and “reflex points.” I bet you’ll get a little chuckle before he tells you that alternative medicine is dangerous to your health, simply for the fact that it doesn’t actually do anything.

If you’ve got something seriously wrong with you, and you go see a “naturopath,” or an alternative medicine practitioner before you see a real doctor, you could end up seriously injured, or dead. Just take a look at WhatsTheHarm.net. You can read all about people who have suffered (or died) at the hands of those practicing “alternative medicine.”

It’s not just a “different kind of medicine.” It’s wrong.

Again, here is the link to the article in question.

Hey, Scientologists! Looky Here!!

Recently, The Pirate Bay has featured Scientology on their homepage.

When you click on the image, you get a list of all leaked Scientology documentation, banned videos, indoctrination material, stuff they got taken off YouTube and other sites, as well as books and handwritten notes by L. Ron Hubbard, himself!

Scientologists have been vehement about the public not knowing of the inner workings of the Church. But, as user tomcruise2 says in one of his uploaded torrents…

Since the Church of Scientology keeps pulling this video off of every site it appears on.. TRY TO PULL IT FROM THIS SITE, FUCKERS!!

Another interesting piece of information I found while perusing these torrents…

The complete collection of Scientology’s Operating Thetan levels. It normally costs thousands of dollars to obtain this information.

That’s right folks. Usually it takes someone like Tom Cruise to spend his millions in the Church to get his hands on this type of information. But, for an unlimited time, for $0 down and $0 per month you too can have access to this information.

Just thought I’d let everyone know. If there was any doubt as to whether or not Tom Cruise was a complete nutcase, check this video out. Your eyes shall be opened.

If you’re not familiar with BitTorrent technology and how to download this crap, click here.

Happy viewing!

Read a book. It’s good for you.

P.S.

Scientology is a CULT! (They hate it when you say that.)

Adventures In Christian Radio [Part I]

Introduction

Every once-in-a-while I like to dabble in points of view other than my own. Especially when it comes to religion. I wouldn’t be able to consider myself an Atheist if the only thing I knew was Atheism. Makes sense, right? Can’t say the same thing for most, let’s say, Christians.

Take, for example, the book I’m reading right now: Darwin On Trial by Phillip Johnson. I can’t say that I’m enjoying it, but I’m at least taking a stab at it with an open mind. Do you know of any Christians reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins? Reading books which speak badly about God is a sin. It’s only a step above the original Church position of keeping the common man from reading anything at all… the pre-Martin Luther (The Father Of Protestantism) days. Pre-religious totalitarianism, mental slavery days. You know, the whole burning of and killing of “witches,” people who think the world is round, people who work on Sunday, children who disobey their parents.

If you have any questions about these things, read the book of Deuteronomy. You can get the gory details for yourself. In fact, here’s a quote from EvilBible.com:

The act of murder is rampant in the Bible.  In much of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, there are laws that command that people be killed for absurd reasons such as working on the Sabbath, being gay, cursing your parents, or not being a virgin on your wedding night.  In addition to these crazy and immoral laws, there are plenty of examples of God’s irrationality by his direct killing of many people for reasons that defy any rational explanation such as killing children who make fun of bald people, and the killing of a man who tried to keep the ark of God from falling during transport.  There are also countless examples of mass murders commanded by God, including the murder of women, infants, and children.

And if you’re one who says that “that’s in the Old Testament. Jesus made it so we don’t have to do that anylonger,” then you haven’t really read the Bible. In particular, Matthew 5:17-19:

17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

That’s right… even the least of commandments. Killing your kid when he or she talks back to you.

Anyway, back on topic. Any other worship than Jesus and reading the Bible is considered “Devil Worship.” If you don’t believe what they believe, you’ve already been classified and shelved away – your opinion summarily blocked out. And how can they possibly do that? Not being well versed in any other opinion other than their own? They can’t. And that’s what makes a good portion of the Christian community ignorant. It’s also arrogant to assume knowledge of absolute truth.

Anyway, the point of this entry is to talk about some things I heard on my local Christian radio station last night: WZXV – “The Word Radio.” So let’s get to it…

Humans Cannot Reason For Themselves

This first particular segment contained a whole bunch of psychological woo-woo nonsense. Not that the second segment didn’t. But this particular brand of woo-woo seems, to me, to be very detrimental to mental development.

A woman called in asking for some advice. She wasn’t sure about where God wanted her to go in life. She wasn’t sure which path in life was “in His Will.”

This seems incredibly weak-minded, to me. And, while this isn’t the main point of this subsection, I will say that it seems people use Christianity as a way to avoid dealing with problems or issues in their life. Christ will shoulder your burden; you don’t have to.

Where should you be going in life? I don’t know. No one does. Go where you want to go. That’s part of being a human. Making your own choices. Not leaving it up to some invisible man in the sky. I think that’s what an intelligent, loving God would want for you. Toughen up and deal with your problems.

I understand that people desire to feel stable, in control, safe. But, when you go to lengths of creating false mental constructs to support your instability, only bad things can result. Where does “God” want you to go in life? It’s a recipe for destruction.

The host went on to tell a story about a recent event between her and her child. This is the part that really disturbed me. The following was her method for determining “what God wants” in your life.

She talked about how her child, one night before bed, said, “Mommy, I don’t think I’ve ever heard the Lord speak to me before.” She responded that certainly, her child had heard him. The child responded with, “No, I don’t think so.”

Skip forward to the next day.

The child apparently grabbed a golf club from the garage and proceeded to hit bark (tree bark?) in the back yard, knocking a big piece through a window.

When sitting down with her child, she asked if he heard a voice inside saying, “You shouldn’t be doing that?” When her child responded back in the affirmative, she stated that that voice was, in fact, “the Lord.”

Now, what’s wrong with that? A lot of things. First of all, it establishes in the child’s mind that sense of shirking responsibility, of developing false mental constructs.

Instead of telling her child the TRUTH, that the voice he was “hearing” was himself… that he already knew that he shouldn’t be doing what he was doing, she decided to let “the Lord” take credit for that tendency to do right.

This is a turn for the worse in this child’s life. Instead of realizing that he knew the right choice to make all on his own… instead of cultivating that; his mother is telling him, essentially, that he has no idea what the right thing to do is, and he has to depend on “the Lord” for making right decisions. He can’t rely on himself any longer. He has to wait for signs from “the Lord” to do anything. Essentially rendering him mentally impotent.

And what form does “the Lord” take? In the Christian community, it could be a pastor telling you to give money to the church. It could be a “Christian Academic” telling you that evolution has no evidence to support it, and to ignore any other points of view – declaring them “the Devil’s work.” There are endless other forms of mental slavery that this leads to.

Christians Still Resort To Bronze-Age Superstitions

This second segment was of particular interest to me. It was about a group of people who were planning an outdoor viewing of The Jesus Movie for a large group of teenagers.

Now, I’d never heard of the Jesus Movie before, but apparently it’s a pretty significant film. The site has this to say about it:

Every four seconds, somewhere in the world, another person indicates a decision to follow Christ after viewing the “JESUS” film.

Every four seconds… that’s 21,600 people per day, 648,000 per month and more than 7.8 million per year!  That’s like the population of the entire city of Seattle, WA, coming to Christ every 27.5 days.  And yet, if you are like most people, you may have never even heard of it.

Called by some “one of the best-kept secrets in Christian missions,” a number of mission experts have acclaimed the film as one of the greatest evangelistic tools of all time.  Since 1979 the “JESUS” film has been viewed by several billion people all across the globe, and has resulted in more than 225 million men, women and children indicating decisions to follow Jesus.

Those are some pretty mind-blowing stats. I wonder where they came up with them? I’m sure they aren’t lying for Jesus, or anything like that. That would be dishonest. I bet they don’t lie for Jesus in that movie, either.

Anyway, let’s get to the real meat of this story. This radio segment was presented as one of those “Breaking News” type of things. Like a “FOX News Alert” or something. And you won’t believe what they had to say.

Allegedly, where they were showing this film, there was a witch doctor who didn’t want the film to be shown in the community. And, also allegedly, this witch doctor made it rain every time they tried to have this gathering.

A witch doctor? Are you kidding me? Absolutely incredible. Magic spells and everything. I bet if they turned on the Weather Channel, they would have known about the witch doctor’s “magic spells” ahead of time.

Upon further research, I’ve found this witch doctor mentioned several times on the Jesus Film website. Here and here.

I must say, the story about the witch doctor “turning to Jesus” is priceless. After probably a lifetime of doing magic spells, he all of a sudden believes in Jesus after watching some movie? My “lying for Jesus” sense is tingling.

Conclusion

What nonsense. Absolute nonsense. And people ask what the harm is in believing in the “supernatural.” What harm can it do for people to believe in, and take literally, a book written 2,000 years ago, deeply rooted in magical thinking?

This is the harm it can do.

People believing in utter lunacy (witch doctors changing the weather), and disillusioning themselves. Teaching their children that their own conscience, their own sense of reasoning, of right and wrong, is actually “the Lord” speaking to them.

Lying. Deceiving. Anything to get a few new converts to Christianity. And for what? Does it boost our ego? To have another join the flock. Does it make people feel better when they rope in another convert?

I almost wonder why I even bother listening to Christian radio. It honestly makes me angry hearing these types of stories. It’s almost as though these people have such utter disregard for actual truth, that they’re willing to say or do anything in the name of Jesus; regardless of the negative impact it has on those around them… especially their children.

If it were up to me, religion wouldn’t even be allowed to be taught to children until they were 18. And it’d be a different world if that were the case. If they were actually allowed to understand what they were having shoved down their throats.

Try telling someone of sound mind and body, and of legal age that their sense of right and wrong is “the Lord” speaking to them, or that witch doctors change the weather because they don’t  like a Jesus movie. Good luck with that one, buddy.

You’re better off taking advantage of little children who don’t have the capability of understanding. Get them while their heads are still soft enough to shove that crap in there.

Ok, so that’s enough of my rant. And yes, I do get a little upset about this type of garbage. Probably because I used to be a Fundamentalist Christian; it upsets me to see how deceived and duped I was. This is how I release some of that anger.

So anyway, read a book. It’s good for you.