191: 3.4 Fake (Medical) News

"These breathing exercises - it kills cancer cells, and practically cures you!"

She was demonstrating how this miraculous exercises works by breathing in deeply through your nose and waving your arms straight in front of you. There I was in the corner of the room, brows furrowed, a look of confusion plastered on my face, trying my best to hold my tongue. If breathing exercises did cure cancer, what are wasting all this time and money on cancer research for?

Coming back home, this particular problem has really gotten under my skin. The reliance on supplements, religious healing, belief in supernatural forces and fake medical news is so widespread that I can safely estimate that 1 in 2 people that I know will rely on one or more of the above mentioned. And it physically pains me to think that the people who believe in such things are not uneducated people - they are professionals with tertiary or postgraduate education. Even their scholarly background couldn't prevent them from believing and spreading "medicines" that are not based on any fact. It pains me even more that the capitalisation of people's desperation for cures has become such a booming business venture. These religious figures in the form of multiple ustaz who use religious texts or "seeing eyes" to knowingly or ignorantly mislead the vulnerable sick and their families through hocus pocus is just plain wrong. And they are profiting handsomely for it too! Ugh, this just makes my blood boil!

For instance, there was once an aunt who said to me that an ustaz could still detect 10 spots of cancer in her body just by looking at her. What is this nonsense? Does he have XRay vision like XMen?! And the sad things was, that she believed in him. These beliefs are so widespread that it made me question my own tendencies. I was asking myself whether being trained in the West, maybe I was too narrow minded? Yes, I have no faith in faith healing - I am adamant that one does not need someone to pray on your behalf, everyone can ask God for protection on one's own - we have a direct line to Him all the time. But maybe some traditional remedies have some merit that has yet to be discovered?

However, every time I try to understand these things - for instance, a certain leaf from a certain plant cures dengue - my rational brain ends up throwing a hissy fit. None of this makes any sense. End of, full stop.

No, religious "ustaz" figures cant shield you more from "dangerous spells" than your own prayers can.
No, leaves do not cure dengue.
No, there is no evidence for pantang.
No, supplements do not work - you just pee them out anyway.
No, breathing exercises do not cure cancer.
No, your epileptic fits are not caused by you being possessed by jin.
No, vaccines are not a Jewish tool to control Muslims.
No, seeking help from witch doctors is not "Islamic".

Just, no.