*Evil under the Sun*: Richard Dawkins: The Enemies of Reason Teil 2.

22 August 2007

Richard Dawkins: The Enemies of Reason Teil 2.

Die zweite Episode von Richard Dawkins: The Enemies of Reason ist online auf Google Video (Teil 1 gibt's hier).

Ich habe es natürlich noch nicht sehen können, aber Orac von Respectful Insolence liefert eine umfassende Review. Nachdem ich die gelesen habe, freue ich mich schon darauf, mir das anzuschauen. Offensichtlich dreht sich der zweite Teil um "alternative" Medizin, also Hokuspokus von Homöopathie bis Wunderheiler und nimmt sich auch des Unsinns an, MMR*-Impfungen verursachten Autismus.

Ein paar Ausschnitte aus Oracs Review:

After an opening montage showing microbes and lauding the accomplishments of scientific medicine and lamenting the proliferation of "superstitious" health practices that either haven't been tested or don't work. As Dawkins puts it, "If any remedy is tested under controlled scientific conditions and and proved to be effective, it will cease to be 'alternative' and simply become medicine. So-called 'alternative' medicine either hasn't been tested or has failed its tests."
[...]

Dawkins also takes on the MMR scare, pulling no punches in describing how thin the "evidence" upon which it was based was. I'm only sorry that he didn't mention Andrew Wakefield by name and use some of Brian Deer's work describing how Wakefield had serious conflicts of interest or point out the testimony at the Autism Omnibus hearings that showed just how shoddy and sloppy the science and laboratory techniques used by Wakefield were.
[...]
Overall, this documentary is well worth watching. There are always a few nits to pick, but it's hard to imagine how Dawkins could have done much better in the 1 hour documentary format. Both parts are well worth watching, but the second part is the stronger of the two. The sad thing is, I can't imagine any American producer doing a documentary like this, and I'm guessing that The Enemies of Reason, if it ever makes it to the U.S. at all, will be shown at late night on PBS stations scattered throughout the U.S. when in reality this nation could use its being shown on prime time on a major network.