Forget rituximab! The DWP can cure you at the Job Centre!

[Bob]

If someone is claiming that they are implementing a successful medical 'treatment', and that they have cured people, without medical evidence to support those claims, then they are carrying out a confidence trick. That's a fact. There's no grey area here. We have fairly robust systems in place so that these sorts of unsubstantiated claims cannot be made. Such claims have enormous potential to exploit and harm vulnerable patients. It's simply not permissible to make unsubstantiated claims re medical treatments. If it were permissible, then everyone would be setting up companies and using unsubstantiated promotional material to sell their (superficially feasible-sounding) fake products. It's not ethical and it's not legally permissible to sell a 'treatment' that isn't a treatment. If I were to set myself up as a witch doctor and claim that I could cure cancer, it would be illegal, unethical and dangerous. And it would be a confidence trick and a fraud. No question about it. No one can claim that they have a treatment for an illness without robust medical evidence. And interventions usually have to be tested for safety as well as efficacy, so that patients aren't harmed (although they seem to ignore the safety side of things when it comes to psycho-social interventions.)

 

[TiredSam]

it's not legally permissible to sell a 'treatment' that isn't a treatment.

Whilst I completely agree with you that that is how it should be, I'm afraid it is legally permissible to sell a treatment that isn't a treatment. In fact the list is very long, starting with homeopathy, reiki, reflexology etc and extending to GET, fraudian (pardon the freudian slip) psychotherapy etc, marketed and sold with the blessing and sometimes funding of various authorities who should know better. It's appalling and it shouldn't be legal, but the current situation is that it most certainly is legal.

Sorry to be nitpicky, but I haven't had my lunch yet.

 

[Bob]

Sorry to be nitpicky, but I haven't had my lunch yet.

You're right to be nitpicky about this, before or after lunch.

It's a sorry state of affairs that the PACE trial, for example, is accepted by the authorities as substantial medical evidence.

 

[Valentijn]

Doesn't mean questions shouldn't be asked.

I agree, regarding not attacking the "patient". But if she is giving multiple testimonies of recovery for multiple different courses for multiple different problems, that's relevant from a statistical viewpoint in looking at the apparent effectiveness of the program. She's one patient, and it sounds like she might be looking or acting or being used like multiple patients for publicity purposes.

 

[eafw]

She's one patient, and it sounds like she might be looking or acting or being used like multiple patients for publicity purposes.

It is very common for people who are suffering - eg trauma fom sexual assault - as well as anxiety from physical ill health to get sucked in by these sort of con artists/ "guru" types and I think that's likely what is going on here. She is vunerable and looking for answers and has found a place where she is listened to, supported and believed - even if she is being fed a pile of misinformation along with it.

Her part of the story is actually quite credible, doesn't stop Rahman being a con artist and he will be glad he has someone so starry eyed to wheel out in front of the camera to talk up his practice up like this. It strikes me as being very exploitative.

 

[TiredSam]

It is very common for people who are suffering - eg trauma fom sexual assault - as well as anxiety from physical ill health to get sucked in by these sort of con artists/ "guru" types and I think that's likely what is going on here. She is vunerable and looking for answers and has found a place where she is listened to, supported and believed - even if she is being fed a pile of misinformation along with it.

Her part of the story is actually quite credible, doesn't stop Rahman being a con artist and he will be glad he has someone so starry eyed to wheel out in front of the camera to talk up his practice up like this. It strikes me as being very exploitative.

Certainly puts his "How to Attract Women" book in a different light. Maybe it should be renamed "How to Charm and Exploit Vulnerable Women". Nice of him to write a book boasting about how he does it. This guy gets more nauseating by the minute.

 

[barbc56]

From the article, an example of the wit and wisdom of Start Smiling Again's glorious leader:
Bloody hell.

UMMMM, I would be so kicked off this forum it I expressed what I would like to do to this guy. Let's just say his voice would be much higher than it is now!

I'm 98.5% pacifist but there are just some things that need dealing with! At least in my thoughts.

Peace, love, and keep the baby, Faith*.✌

Barb

*If you dont get that you are waaay too young.

Looks like I thought I was on the last page when I posted this?

Edit. Took @alex3619 advice. Deleted picture.

 

[msf]

Please can someone post something from 'How to attract women'? I'm actually enjoying hating this guy.

 

[msf]

How about 'how to make people feel comfortable hating you?' It takes a special person...

 

[Scarecrow]

Please can someone post something from 'How to attract women'? I'm actually enjoying hating this guy.

Best I can do, can't copy and paste, but I don't find it at all hate-worthy:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...as2&camp=1634&creative=6738#reader_B0048EJY2O

 

[msf]

Thank you so much!

 

[msf]

Haha, three sentences in, three false statements!

 

[msf]

Wow, I learnt so much from the first page, now I will just have to buy the book!

 

[msf]

Best tip - when walking down the street with a 'lady,' always walk on the side nearest the road, so she can push you into traffic when she realises that this is all there is to you.

 

[barbc56]

Impeccable manners are a must if you are to succeed with the opposite sex.

All women love good manners and we live in a society where manners are in short supply. I can't emphasize enough that good manners will distinguish you from the hordes of other men who simply do not care

I'm going to be really nitpicking here. I think this statement, might, emphasis on might, be somewhat condescending. It's almost as if women, the weaker sex, need to be treated with special care since they are so delicate. Kind of like a gentleman draping his coat over a puddle so the woman can still walk daintily.

I would assume men would also appreciate this trait.

@Scarecrow Thank you for the amen. I am not comparing you to Mr. Manners. Not at all. But then again.........?

I don't mind a man opening the door for me as long as I can do the same. It feels good to be nice to others regardless of gender. Believe me, my comment in my above post was showing my best manners. It could have been much worse.

I say, just leap over the damn puddle while whooping in an unladylike manner!

I think I have overdone my caffeine intake for the day. Does it show?

Barb

 

[msf]

Wow, amazon needs to rethink their pricing policy - this piece of dreck costs 5 quid! I bought Ayaan Hirsi Ali's biography for 99 p!

 

[barbc56]

Best tip - when walking down the street with a 'lady,' always walk on the side nearest the road, so she can push you into traffic when she realises that this is all there is to you.

Try to stop staring at his hair plugs. Especially if you are taller than he is.

Oopsie, that would be in the other book, How To Attract Men.

I'm laughing so hard and trying to keep from cross posting, I'm confusing myself and probably everyone else.

 

[barbc56]

Last one.

Pull out the seat for the woman so you can surreptitiously remove the whoopee cushion! Works like a charm.

 

[Scarecrow]

Best tip - when walking down the street with a 'lady,' always walk on the side nearest the road, so she can push you into traffic when she realises that this is all there is to you.

I knew someone who used to do this but I never noticed it until one day when he was walking down the street with me and another woman. I kept wondering why he was behaving like a collie herding sheep until I realised it was because I was making his life extremely difficult by not behaving like a lady who needed his protection!

I actually found it endearing.

You may scoff, all you cynics.

 

[Scarecrow]

I don't mind a man opening the door for me as long as I can do the same. It feels good to be nice to others regardless of gender.

I agree.

In fact, David Rahman made much the same observation in his chapter on manners.