Criticism of the alternative is poorly received

1. Home
2. In the media

09/10/2017 

'Appallingly unnuanced', 'new mouthpiece of the Association against Quackery'

Above are some comments we found on the Facebook page of the TV program Zondag met Lubach, following last night's broadcast in which Lubach ridicules alternative healing methods as 'unproven ideas'. The unfounded manner in which he does this is, even for a satirical program, indeed appalling. It also overlooks what his actual message seems to be: introduce a separation between alternative and regular care within health insurance so that no one is forced to pay for treatments that do not work (i.e., alternative healing methods).

Now we advocate for a critical view on healing methods and we like to see the wheat separated from the chaff. However, this must be done on sound and well-argued grounds. What often causes a lot of misunderstanding is the way Lubach lumps everything from the alternative field together; from reincarnation therapy to acupuncture, he dismisses everything as unproven ideas. Clearly, he is not well-informed because there is now a lot of scientific evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture. Take a look at the Dutch Knowledge Centre for Acupuncture.

But also his suggestion that alternative healers are without exception poorly trained quacks is poorly received. The fact that acupuncturists affiliated with the NVA are trained in Western medicine at least at HBO level seems to have escaped the attention of the program's editors.

To make it clear that such an approach to alternative healing methods is no longer acceptable, we want to harness the power of social media and ask you, if you have had positive experiences with acupuncture and hold this complementary healing method dear, to respond on the program's Facebook page. There has already been a massive critical response. The public seems to be fed up with the one-dimensional criticism of alternative healing methods.

To help grow this wave of dissent, we ask you to join in and post your reaction on the Facebook page of Zondag met Lubach.