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Old 10th December 2017, 05:04 PM   #1
wasapi
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This is a good example of what's-the-harm, and it really bothers me.

There are a few Facebook pages devoted to "psychics and mediums". To check one out, thinking it would be good for some smiles, I made up some story and was allowed to join. It was pretty much what I had expected, which was a lot of silliness. Smudging, spirit guides, tarot reading - the usual. I even made up a story about thinking my house was haunted, and received advise that ranged from calling a priest to setting up an alter to do a ritual that would free me from "negative energy". One person insisted I had to put a bible under the bed and chant some type of garbage.

It became more boring then humorous after a couple of days, but it still shows up when I scroll the page. Yesterday, someone posted about their child, and the post and responses were horrifying (to me).

The woman had a 2yr old daughter. The baby would cry and scream every night around the same time, (between 2am and 3am), uncontrollable hysteria. The baby could not comforted, wasn't hungry, didn't need a diaper change, and was being held, but "seemed to be in pain". So, does the mother call a doctor? No. She turns to this psychic/medium website.

It doesn't just irritate me because of the sheer absurdity, it infuriates me because the ignorance is dangerous. The mother will take the child to a holistic - doctor(?).It strikes a nerve for me. My granddaughter had the same issues, and was taken to a real doctor. It turned out she had a cyst on her brain, causing severe headaches that she was too young to verbalize.

I posted to the mother that she needed to get the child to a doctor, and the members basically told me to take a hike. But really, can anything be done about situation like this? Does anyone monitor these sites? To me, it is akin to child abuse.
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Old 10th December 2017, 05:30 PM   #2
theprestige
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Monitor these sites for what?
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Old 10th December 2017, 08:37 PM   #3
wasapi
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Originally Posted by theprestige View Post
Monitor these sites for what?
Yep, of course it is an appropriate question. I posted during a knee-jerk emotional response, and should have waited a moment before posting. Sorry!
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Old 11th December 2017, 07:55 AM   #4
P.J. Denyer
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Originally Posted by theprestige View Post
Monitor these sites for what?
Presumably, advice which is dangerous to the child and/or might (if followed) open the parent to charges of abuse, neglect, or withholding medical care.

To which the answer sadly is 'not so far as I know' although it may be worth reporting the group or individual posters to Facebook with an explanation as to why as they are under a lot of pressure on the subject of child welfare at the moment and may act.
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Old 11th December 2017, 11:23 AM   #5
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Did you specifically mention that your grand-daughter had exhibited the same symptoms and that it had turned out to be due to a cyst on her brain?

I hope she's OK now ...
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Old 11th December 2017, 11:39 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by wasapi View Post
But really, can anything be done about situation like this? Does anyone monitor these sites? To me, it is akin to child abuse.
Well you imply the answer right there. You can, depending on the details, call Child Protective Services. They will hopefully check it out and that might be enough to get the mom to take action. It's not a perfect solution, as there are lots of reasons it may result in nothing at all. Not all calls are looked into, not all case workers are competent enough to understand the difference between woo and medicine, not all parents are intimidated by a CPS visit, etc. But it's the thing you can choose to do. There's not a lot else.
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Old 11th December 2017, 02:17 PM   #7
wasapi
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Originally Posted by SOdhner View Post
Well you imply the answer right there. You can, depending on the details, call Child Protective Services. They will hopefully check it out and that might be enough to get the mom to take action. It's not a perfect solution, as there are lots of reasons it may result in nothing at all. Not all calls are looked into, not all case workers are competent enough to understand the difference between woo and medicine, not all parents are intimidated by a CPS visit, etc. But it's the thing you can choose to do. There's not a lot else.
Thank you. While I've read adults who claim to have chest pain that they "just know" is caused by "karma" from a past life, and can be cured by "past life regression healers", and I think nothing more then how absurd it is. But the ones that involve children just really get to me.
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Old 11th December 2017, 03:31 PM   #8
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I think you did the correct thing by telling them to see a real Doctor, they can take it or leave it. The the problem is probably nothing at all though. Night terrors and colic both spring to mind. My daughter had colic at the same time every evening, though 2 years of age is a bit old for that.

TBH though, if the parents are that dumb, then there will be other stuff they do/don't do that we will not be communicated on a website. As I said on another thread, we can be totally dumb-ass apes sometimes, and sometimes quite brilliant. It's going to take a while for Darwin to do his weeding.

I listened to the latest podcast of the Atheist Experience yesterday and a lady called in who was very "new-age" and self identified as s pagan, though it came across that she just didn't like organized religion which in the UK can be stuffy and conservative (I think she was English). But you could tell that the ideas around rational thought and critical thinking just hadn't quite made an impact. She just didn't get it, the penny still hadn't dropped even though she must have listened to the show before. She kept going on about how science hadn't proved there wasn't some kind of god, and a load of other silly stuff. She really just couldn't see the mistake she was making in her reasoning and had no idea where the burden of proof was. And at that moment I thought it's all about education. People need to be taught how to think rationally at an early age and at school. There should be a mandatory separate subject just for that.

I'd have said do you want to take a chance on your daughters health and, whats the harm taking her to a Doctor as well.
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Old 13th December 2017, 07:29 PM   #9
mgidm86
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Originally Posted by BadBoy View Post
I think you did the correct thing by telling them to see a real Doctor, they can take it or leave it. The the problem is probably nothing at all though. Night terrors and colic both spring to mind. My daughter had colic at the same time every evening, though 2 years of age is a bit old for that.

TBH though, if the parents are that dumb, then there will be other stuff they do/don't do that we will not be communicated on a website. As I said on another thread, we can be totally dumb-ass apes sometimes, and sometimes quite brilliant. It's going to take a while for Darwin to do his weeding.

I listened to the latest podcast of the Atheist Experience yesterday and a lady called in who was very "new-age" and self identified as s pagan, though it came across that she just didn't like organized religion which in the UK can be stuffy and conservative (I think she was English). But you could tell that the ideas around rational thought and critical thinking just hadn't quite made an impact. She just didn't get it, the penny still hadn't dropped even though she must have listened to the show before. She kept going on about how science hadn't proved there wasn't some kind of god, and a load of other silly stuff. She really just couldn't see the mistake she was making in her reasoning and had no idea where the burden of proof was. And at that moment I thought it's all about education. People need to be taught how to think rationally at an early age and at school. There should be a mandatory separate subject just for that.

I'd have said do you want to take a chance on your daughters health and, whats the harm taking her to a Doctor as well.
1000 times yes.

As for the OP, you can't change the world. Change your corner if you can and hope others will clean theirs as well. Maybe some friend will slap her silly.
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