Damian Thompson
 [back] Experts

[Aspiring Elite and Pharma boy. Damian Thompson is the editor-in-chief of the Catholic Herald, and author of Counterknowledge a defence of Corporate medicine and science.  He reviewed the book Suckers by Rose Shapiro (see) for the Telegraph, so I think we can safely deduce what the Telegraph (like all the other papers) wanted him to say, and he didn't disappoint (Thompson and Shapiro are the fingers in the dyke Corporate/Elite effort to keep the internet truth at bay).  His website has links to all the usual suspects (Corporate shills) such as Quackwatch, CSICOP, Sense about Science, & Ben Goldacre (Bad Science), who, as you would expect, also love to indulge in Homeopathy bashing (a Randi speciality).  Being a religious man he would know it is all hands on deck when the sacrament (vaccination) is under threat (see) requiring the burning of vaccine martyrs such as Dr. Andy Wakefield, and I wonder what Jesus would make of his cheerleading for Corporate Fascist medicine, that abuses and then kills 300 million animals every year for fraudulent medical research?]

Website: http://counterknowledge.com/

[Feb 2008] How royalty and junk science made quackery credible

Lies, damn lies and 'counterknowledge' By Damian Thompson 12/01/2008

Holy Smoke by Damian Thompson

See: Cultural Dwarfs and Junk Journalism Ben Goldacre, Quackbusting and Corporate Science by Martin J Walker


Damian Thompson, British journalist, editor-in-chief of the Catholic Herald, writer for The Daily Telegraph"Creationism in all it's forms does incalculable damage; no other form of pseudoscience undermines so many scientific discoveries. If you refuse to acknowledge the awesome explanatory power of the theory of evolution, you can never understand astronomy, anthropology, biology, geology, palaeontology, physics or zoology." The Papacy pt. 2

Book
'Counterknowledge: How We Surrendered to Conspiracy Theories, Quack Medicine, Bogus Science and False History' by Damian Thompson

Some quotes by Thompson
This is counterknowledge: misinformation packaged to look like fact.

That sums up Thompson and Allopathy.  Aka PROPAGANDA  Also it is basic propaganda to make up your own words to confuse.

"The beginning of wisdom is to call things by the right names."  Chinese Proverb

"In the section of his website devoted to the causes of autism, Holford writes: “As with many conditions, there is debate as to whether autism is inherited or caused by something like diet or environment.” This is grossly misleading. The scientific literature shows clearly that, in over 90 per cent of cases, autism is genetic. Holy Smoke by Damian Thompson

Clearly shows?  The exact opposite is true. See: Autism and genetics  So that was complete bollocks.

Quackometer reports the case of “Dr” Robert Delgado, of Optimal Health, Finchley, who has just been just slapped down by the Advertising Standards Authority for claiming: “There are many scientific studies that show that spinal adjustments can actually improve your immune system by up to 200%, naturally and without drugs.”  You can read the details of “Dr” Delgado’s humiliation here. As Quackometer notes, alternative medicine certainly keeps the ASA busy. Why do you think that is? http://counterknowledge.com/

See: Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) FDA to find out why that is.

Holford does not tell parents this [that's because it's bollocks] , either on his website or on that of Food for the Brain. The latter provides an “action plan” for parents of autistic children that involves giving them enormous quantities of vitamins and other diet supplements. For more help in “overcoming autism” – a dubious choice of words, given that autism is incurable and does not go into remission – parents are recommended to visit the Brain Bio Centre (Director: P. Holford), whose promotional literature says that “over several months, most patients spend between £600 and £1,100 on consultations and tests, plus between £2 to £3 per day for supplements.”

Autism incurable?  Not by Allopathy.  See: Therapies for vaccine damage (eg autism)  and Dr Rimland Ph.D. who spent decades treating autism with nutrients.

Third, and most disturbingly, Holford is sceptical not only about MMR but also about the value of vaccination in general. He writes: “The alternatives to vaccination are to ensure that you or your child has a fighting fit immune system. There is no better way to confer immunity to an infant than breast feeding and, once weaned, ensuring an optimal intake of immune-boosting nutrients. Vitamin A, for example, offers protection against measles and probably polio.”  Holy Smoke by Damian Thompson

Typical pharma boy, like Goldacre, they hate vaccine skeptics.  What does that tell you? See: Measles and measles vaccination to easily shred measles vaccination. And Infection & nutrition for the real immune boosters like Vitamin A.  Also quoting Goldacre is an indication of a similar pharma bent.

See: Vitamin C  to blow his anti-Holford Pharma drivel clean out of the water.  Eg: Vitamin C, Infectious Diseases, and Toxins: Curing the Incurable---Thomas E. Levy, M.D., J.D.

The suggestion that breast-feeding and vitamins are an alternative to immunisation is dangerous nonsense.

Typical use of the magic phrase dangerous nonsense beloved of Pharma boys and Allopaths when attacking Alternative medicine.  Lets see the references--there aren't any.

The NHS website for Great Ormond Street Hospital says that no measure, such as breast-feeding or an organic diet, provides better protection against serious illnesses than orthodox vaccination. UNICEF estimated in 2003 that vaccines against measles and influenza could save half a million lives in Africa every year.

They would say that wouldn't they?  Quoting Allopathic Authorities is meaningless, let's see the evidence--there isn't any, but plenty to prove vaccination is a hoax and breastfeeding is the real protection.  See: Breastfeeding  & Bottle-feeding

Unqualified nutritionists make claims for vitamin supplements and "superfoods" that are unsupported by scientific literature; conveniently, these people often have a commercial interest in selling the supplements in question. Lies, damn lies and 'counterknowledge' By Damian Thompson 12/01/2008

See: Vitamin C  and Nutritional Medicine the real fear of Pharma boys.  Oh, and Alternative doctors can't charge for their services, while we are meant to forget the average wage of a GP is £100,000, for selling vaccines and other drugs.  See: Money incentive  Breathtaking isn't it.

Also see: Dr Richard Shulze for the use of superfoods.  He has cured AIDS and Alzheimer's, and all the rest.

The fingerprints of the alternative medicine lobby are all over the worst British health scare of recent years, in which thousands of parents denied their children the MMR triple vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella following the dissemination of flawed data linking it to autism. In that case, distrust of orthodox medicine increased the danger of a measles epidemic. Lies, damn lies and 'counterknowledge' By Damian Thompson 12/01/2008

Alternative medicine lobby is anything not Allopathy, hence his opposition. Lobby?  Just the truth, and the fingerprints of Pharma is all over Thompson.  See: Vaccine autism quotes for the truth and Government/industry for the continuing suppression of that fact, supported by Thompson.

But hasn't he said there is no such thing as alternative medicine?

Believers and unbelievers alike make fools of themselves just by using the phrase "alternative medicine". There is no such thing. Nor is there "complementary" medicine, or "conventional", for that matter [Feb 2008] How royalty and junk science made quackery credible

The snake-oil merchants had been forced to pack their suitcases by medical authorities, who pointed to the results of double-blind randomised clinical tests. In 1900, there were 10,000 practising homeopaths in America; by 1975, the number had fallen to fewer than 100[Feb 2008] How royalty and junk science made quackery credible

Yes, the Allopaths allied to government managed to suppress Homeopathy--here it is being dressed up as a case of bad medicine gets it just desserts.  Isn't that a good example of counterknowledge?!!  See: Eustace Mullins and Harris Coulter for that story of Rockefeller intrigue.

The central doctrine of homeopathy - that substances become more powerful the more they are diluted -remains no more or less credible than the science of reading tea leaves.

That is Appeal to incredulity.  See: Water and Masaru Emoto's Website for proof of how water can hold information.

The youth culture of the 1960s, with its questioning of every authority, weakened society's intellectual immune system. The hippy generation rejected conventional religion in favour of its own quasi-religious teaching that matter and reality are made up of organic or unified wholes greater than the simple sum of their parts. [Feb 2008] How royalty and junk science made quackery credible

Allopathic and Church authority.  The hippy culture wanted direct contact with spirit, which is what old church dinosaurs like Thompson hate as it rejects their authority and control of thinking and behaviour.  No followers, no power.

 that matter and reality are made up of organic or unified wholes greater than the simple sum of their parts. [Feb 2008] How royalty and junk science made quackery credible

Sound like gibberish. 

No one is greedier than a hippy-turned-entrepreneur, and the narcissism of 1970s idealists has turned into plain old capitalist greed. [Feb 2008] How royalty and junk science made quackery credible

Can't stand the competition, obviously, especially one based on truth that actually works.

The new snake-oil salesmen have erected a vast umbrella of "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM) under which they shelter from the deluge of data disproving their claims. And they still enjoy the patronage of British royalty.

Pharma boy talk, and the Royals have more sense than to take the Corporations poisons. 

If there is a single villain to emerge from this marvellous book - the most effective demolition of quackery for years - it is the Prince of Wales. His Foundation for Integrated Health recently received £900,000 of taxpayers' money to initiate the "voluntary self-regulation" of alternative practitioners. Yet such a project is worse than useless, since the foundation does not require evidence of clinical effectiveness.

LOL.  Lets apply that to Allopathy shall we!  You have to admire the breathtaking arrogance of these pharma boys, but that is one way to stop people asking the wrong questions, attack the opposition.

"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers."---Thomas Pynchon