In fact, our love and affection for quackery is a relatively recent development. As I’ve pointed out before Franz Mesmer, thoroughly discredited in the eighteenth century for his magnetic energy woo, might be on faculty at a medical school in today’s climate. Snake oil salesman John R. Brinkley, virtually run out of the country in 1930, would be making millions doing infomercials today.
As recently as 1959, as illustrated in this video from the Internet Archive (hat tip to the Health Fraud List) we were not afraid to use the Q word.
No comments:
Post a Comment