What do you think about the explosion of healing crystals? Should society be worried about the rise of pseudoscientific alternative medicine?

[Conkersbadfurday]

We now are starting to see alternative medicine like chiropractors and acupuncture being covered by health plans which I think is some dangerous shit. It's especially egregious because in some cases it's becoming cheaper to go to these options rather than going to see actual preventive and acute care professionals. I fully expect if the popularity of this bullshit psuedoscience health stuff continues to rise we will reach a point where your employer provided healthcare covers essential oils and crystals but you are stuck paying out of pocket for yearly checkups and labs.

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Every time it's a new insurance year and we have to renew at work, I got a ton of cowworkers who badger HR with questions about their chiropractic coverage.

Cheaper to see one of those than a real doctor, and they won't give you physical therapy to do either.

 

[Morrigan]

Idk, on the one hand I think it's dumb bullshit, on the other hand crystal healing is primarily popular with women and LBGTQ people and thus shitting on it too hard seems wrong considering why some people may be turning to it given their experiences in society at large and with the medical community in particular.

It's kind of like astrology in that way, like it's definitely BS but as long as it's not harming anyone it's fine and it's fun for people. If you are choosing crystal healing over going to a doctor that's bad, but if you are just doing it for peace of kind who cares.

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Oh, hell no. Sorry but this is so wrong it actually makes me angry.

Pseudo-science, especially the medical quackery kind, is not harmless. It is not only incredibly dangerous medically, and perpetuates irrational beliefs and undermines critical thinking, and but it's a predatory industry rife with scams, too.

Surprised nobody pointed out to where these stones often come from.

The New Republic: Do You Know Where Your Healing Crystals Come From?









The Guardian: Dark crystals: the brutal reality behind a booming wellness craze









A lot more in both articles. A major problem with the crystals seems to be that there's no regulation whatsoever. So besides the psychological harm of embracing total bullshit, it also encourages terrible working practices.

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I didn't even know/consider that. "Harmless", my ass.

Ummm, how bout we stop shitting on people for this? They aren't harming anyone and the vast majority of people who are into crystal healing and essential oils are completely sane and more use it as complimentary tools and not as a substitute for modern medicine. It's comparable to shitting on people for believing in their religion. It's fine if you don't believe in it but you don't have to be an ass an insult them. And wtf with comparing this to flat earthers and anti-vaxers. Good grief.

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See above.
Essential oils are full of woo, as well. And there's significant overlap between medical woo and anti-vaxxers.

Thinking about it, I don't know anyone who has like stopped doing traditional medicine because of these things. I might think differently if someone did.

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This happens all the time. Steve Jobs being one of the most famous examples. It's precisely why it's so dangerous. And that's not going into how exploitative the industry is and how it promotes anti-science/lack of critical thinking.

 

[CamberGreber]

We live in a vapid soulless late capitalist society so people are looking for meaning in anything we can

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This. And where through here.

 

[SubvertedTrope]

Some tv channel in Germany is selling that shit along with 100€ tarot sessions, "removing bad karma" for 200€, talking to angels, selling some energy paper cards for 600€ etc.
Those crystals are clearly linked to esotericism.

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What channel? Asking for someone else of course.

 

[louiedog]

If you're spending hard-earned money on these rocks for anything other than the aesthetic, I'll assume you're not all that smart. Like holy shit, imagine living paycheck to paycheck and finding space in your budget for this crap.

Pseudo-science isn't harmless. It's harmful to the people who get swindled into buying these sorts of things for the supposed medical benefits, and left unabated, it eventually manifests itself as a public health concern (see anti-vaxxers and people who forgo traditional medicine for themselves or their children in favor of this bullshit).

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Agreed.

I know someone who was bouncing from one shitty apartment and roommate situation to another for years and driving around in their falling apart old car that they couldn't afford to maintain well. In the trunk of that car was roughly $800 worth of empty homeopathic tincture bottles they were getting around to returning for recycling any day (it took about a year). That was only a small part of the money they spent on fake medicine, crystals, etc.

Were they hurting themselves health wise by taking them? No, and fortunately they still saw real doctors for real problems. Were they deferring other expenses by spending money on it? Yes. Were they duped into believing this stuff works by people who either had a monetary interest in it or were financially sound and could afford to throw away money on nonsense? Yes.

I hate the argument that this stuff is harmless fun just because it's not directly causing people damage. Spreading and normalizing it as being helpful is alone enough to create problems for people who think they're doing the right thing. And that doesn't even get in to how a lot of these communities then start to give a way in for more extreme aspects like anti-vaccination propaganda.

 

[AliceAmber]

I don't shame how people spend their money especially in this society but I have a friend who does this. And these crystals cost upwards of $30-40. Its a mess.

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Sometimes they are that expensive but a lot of them are something like $10.

I have a small crystal collection. No they are not a replacement for medicine but they bring me joy. And sometimes something tangible and physical to hold helps me on bad mental health days.

 

[Syder]

it's always been around in various forms, some more harmful than others. Before the rise of Anti-Vaxxers, there was homeopathy, etc. etc.

 

[Fudgepuppy]

Crystals are stupid and people should be mocked and questioned when defending them.

Jack-off crystals rule though

 

[GYODX]

It might have been hypocritical of me to judge. Now that I think about it, I *did* spend money on fidget spinners back when those were in vogue and thought they helped me relax, so I suppose buying crystals for the same reason isn't all that different.

I still maintain that we should inform people that they don't have any spiritual or medical benefit beyond that, though.

 

[Feep]

Sometimes they are that expensive but a lot of them are something like $10.

I have a small crystal collection. No they are not a replacement for medicine but they bring me joy. And sometimes something tangible and physical to hold helps me on bad mental health days.

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I mean, I used to collect minerals and I have a pretty cool crystal collection. I admire them for their physical beauty and they're super cool. I have a rare raw opal that looks incredible.

But I know they don't have any inherent power over my health.

 

[the_wart]

The rhetoric around this sort of thing is frustrating because it supposes there is some clear dividing line between scientific, rational thought versus superstition and pseudoscience. The institutions of science are themselves full of pseudoscientific practices, in the sense of going through certain motions of appearing to be rigorous while really completely failing at it. Unreliable, low-quality research is commonplace and the process of weeding it out can be very, very slow. The sad reality is that the difference between crystal woo-woo nonsense and your average TED talk is one of degree, not type.

The world is full of snake-oil salesmen, some wearing lab coats, others wearing crystal pendants and ponchos or whatever. Many of both type genuinely believe in their snake-oil, and every once in a while one of them is right.

I guess this is a long way of saying that, since become a "scientist" myself and seeing how the sausage is made, I find it much harder to condemn new agey nonsense.

 

[Deleted member 11413]

Oh, hell no. Sorry but this is so wrong it actually makes me angry.

Pseudo-science, especially the medical quackery kind, is not harmless. It is not only incredibly dangerous medically, and perpetuates irrational beliefs and undermines critical thinking, and but it's a predatory industry rife with scams, too.


I didn't even know/consider that. "Harmless", my ass.


See above.
Essential oils are full of woo, as well. And there's significant overlap between medical woo and anti-vaxxers.


This happens all the time. Steve Jobs being one of the most famous examples. It's precisely why it's so dangerous. And that's not going into how exploitative the industry is and how it promotes anti-science/lack of critical thinking.

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I don't really disagree but I don't see the point in shitting on it heavily if people are just using it for peace of mind and aren't replacing actual medical care with it. I think religion is complete bunk too but I'm not gonna berate people about that either.

The industry being predatory is very true though, didn't consider that when I made that post and other people already pointed that out. Plus the environmental cost of actually mining the 'crystals' and the way labor is treated, etc.

 

[Master Alucard]

I only need Phosphophyllite

 

[Benzychenz]

I've had so so many female coworkers that have crystals, and take their horoscopes seriously, and have paid for fortune tellers and palm readings etc.
It's insane, I just can't understand it.

 

[NHarmonic.]

We live in a vapid soulless late capitalist society so people are looking for meaning in anything we can

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This is it.

 

[Aureon]

It absolutely should, that's why we got novaxxers around.

 

[Penny Royal]

If you're dumb enough to eschew modern medicine for a crystal if you're ill, go right on ahead and do so.

Going around telling other people to do the same thing, especially if you're making a buck or two in the process? Yeah, stop that.