001. at politics.co.uk, Ian Dunt writes in "Belief in Homeopathy is a Moral Test"(2015-07-16):
"everyone enjoys a laugh at homeopathy supporters. It brings us all together. It's a way for smug, intellectual people to be all smug and intellectual. So there was barely-concealed glee this morning when an old tweet revealed Labour leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn believed in it, or rather that he did five years ago [...]":
ok.
"belief in homeopathy serves a higher function than just screening out the gullible or providing a group hug for intellectuals. No matter how trivial it might seem, homeopathy provides a moral test because it functions as a litmus test for belief in objective truth [...] when people say that it works, they are not just expressing a whacky
view about alternative medicine, they are saying something more
profound: that their intuition, or the experiences of someone they met
once, overrule empirical evidence. It is a rebellion against reality [...] there's no point going into the research, there's nothing left to say. Homeopathy is no more effective than a placebo [...]";
hear, hear.
"giving up on objective truth isn't just factually wrong. It is politically and morally wrong. It means we cannot hold the powerful to account, because there is no account upon which to hold them. It lets them off the hook [...] once you completely surrender your reason and an empirical assessment of the world around you [...] that's why homeopathy, although it seems a small and eccentric idiocy, provides a useful function. It's not just a test of reason. It is a test of morality";
I've only excerpted the parts I find interesting, of course.
