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A review by chasingchou
Do You Believe in Magic?: The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine by Paul A. Offit
3.0
I agree with most of what this author says in regards to conventional science vs medicines like homeopathy and appreciated that he clarified that herbal remedies that work are still medicine, and it's not limited to pharmaceuticals and that there are times when vitamins should be used (ex with newborn babies who don't get vitamin D from mother's milk). And I think in the era of the pandemic that debunking vaccine hesitancy is important.
However, my main problem with this book is its lack of critical analysis of race and class. When describing why he believes people don't go to the doctor's office, he states that people think that doctors are cold and it's not convenient for them to go. He fails to acknowledge the medical debt many people go into without insurance, or even with insurance. There incredibly complicated barriers within the medical system that seem insurmountable for those with high school or less education, and these processes are incredibly confusing to many people. For some people, it is easier to spend $100 a month on herbal remedies that have a placebo effect than $200/month for their medications and then more for additional doctors visits.
There is also a lack of racial analysis in this book and he uses people of colour to prop up his argument using lower-income people in "Asian" countries, and shaman only to engage with his proof of western medicine being better. However, he fails to analyze why people of colour would be hesitant of western medicine after years of racism from colonization and white practitioners. He did not mention the deliberate infection of smallpox toward Indigenous people, or even the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment to acknowledge that historically marginalized people have been experimented on and treated badly by settlers and therefore they have a reason to mistrust western medicine.
Overall, the book was interesting and the history of the creation of the FDA was particularly fascinating to me, but you could probably listen to a podcast with most of the same points that the author has made.
However, my main problem with this book is its lack of critical analysis of race and class. When describing why he believes people don't go to the doctor's office, he states that people think that doctors are cold and it's not convenient for them to go. He fails to acknowledge the medical debt many people go into without insurance, or even with insurance. There incredibly complicated barriers within the medical system that seem insurmountable for those with high school or less education, and these processes are incredibly confusing to many people. For some people, it is easier to spend $100 a month on herbal remedies that have a placebo effect than $200/month for their medications and then more for additional doctors visits.
There is also a lack of racial analysis in this book and he uses people of colour to prop up his argument using lower-income people in "Asian" countries, and shaman only to engage with his proof of western medicine being better. However, he fails to analyze why people of colour would be hesitant of western medicine after years of racism from colonization and white practitioners. He did not mention the deliberate infection of smallpox toward Indigenous people, or even the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment to acknowledge that historically marginalized people have been experimented on and treated badly by settlers and therefore they have a reason to mistrust western medicine.
Overall, the book was interesting and the history of the creation of the FDA was particularly fascinating to me, but you could probably listen to a podcast with most of the same points that the author has made.