# Help me debunk this homeopathic woo that's found its way into my home. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 27, 2012, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-debunk-this-homeopathic-woo-thats-found-its-way-into-my-home/620169 "2012-04-27T19:36:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![scamartistry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@scamartistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scamartistry)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-debunk-this-homeopathic-woo-thats-found-its-way-into-my-home/620169/81 "2012-05-01T14:34:23Z")
This “Kancibird” character is obviously trolling. And is doing a great job, kudos! ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-debunk-this-homeopathic-woo-thats-found-its-way-into-my-home/620169/82 "2012-05-01T16:10:54Z")
> [@ExcitedIdiot](#): > > I’ll just leave this here for you: Thank you for proving my point. So in other words claiming something can’t work, then seeing it work, then claiming that it couldn’t work is… Not Rational A rational thing to do would be to find out why it works or just accept that it does work. The irrational thing to do is claim that it doesn’t work despite it working. It is the disconnect from reality that some have shown that make it not possible to continue with them. ---
**Author:** ![ExcitedIdiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ea5d25/32.png) [@ExcitedIdiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExcitedIdiot)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-debunk-this-homeopathic-woo-thats-found-its-way-into-my-home/620169/83 "2012-05-01T16:27:32Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > A rational thing to do would be to find out why it works or just accept that it does work. I give up. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-debunk-this-homeopathic-woo-thats-found-its-way-into-my-home/620169/84 "2012-05-01T16:38:58Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > I’m going to add another voice to the ones saying “this poor woman is handling a teething baby; let her do what makes HER feel better”. She needs to feel like she’s trying everything. She needs to feel like she has some modicum of control. Get your masculine logic away from there 😉 Also, her critical thinking may not be at its peak, because she’s not getting enough sleep. I know my judgment and critical thinking skills suffer when I don’t get enough sleep. She’s not going to be as rational and logical as she would be at her theoretical best, because she’s sleep-deprived right now. Unless she’s spending money you truly can’t afford on these remedies (and I mean the kind of “truly can’t afford” where you’re not eating for the last few days of the month, or not buying necessary medications), let it go. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-debunk-this-homeopathic-woo-thats-found-its-way-into-my-home/620169/85 "2012-05-01T16:43:41Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > When she’s not looking, empty the bottle and replace with water. Problem solved, no battling required. She’s happy, you rest easy. Worst outcome; it doesn’t work and she begins to suspect that homeopathy is nonsense. Win/win! Ir just start adding plain old pure water as the level in the bottle starts to go down … she probably wouldn’t notice that the bottle never gets empty as fast ass it used to and you don’t have to pay for fancy water at 15 a pop. Win-win situation. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-debunk-this-homeopathic-woo-thats-found-its-way-into-my-home/620169/86 "2012-05-01T17:45:09Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Water is Love!!! (I have trouble though with God is Quackery!!!)I need a new irony meter, the old one just exploded. Holy shit, no kidding! ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-debunk-this-homeopathic-woo-thats-found-its-way-into-my-home/620169/87 "2012-05-01T18:52:10Z")
To me, it isn’t proof that the homeopathic cure is working, but that you don’t need any teething relief at all right now. Your much bigger battle is going to be keeping your wife from trying to smooth over ever little bump do that your kid learns how to deal with falling down, failure, and heartache. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-debunk-this-homeopathic-woo-thats-found-its-way-into-my-home/620169/88 "2012-05-01T21:02:02Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > A rational thing to do would be to find out why it works or just accept that it does work. > > The irrational thing to do is claim that it doesn’t work despite it working. > > It is the disconnect from reality that some have shown that make it not possible to continue with them. The thing is, every rational investigation of homeopathy confirms that it does not work at all, with monotonous predictability. Anyone who is invested in the theory of homeopathy will ignore all the evidence which clearly shows that it is nomore effective than placebo and quickly trot out some variant of ‘a wizard does it’ when trying to articulate how it is supposed to work. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-debunk-this-homeopathic-woo-thats-found-its-way-into-my-home/620169/89 "2012-05-02T00:50:16Z")
A couple folks have suggested replacing the product with just plain water - to be clear, this particular flavor of woo is packaged as sealed ampoules of individual 1ml “doses.” And in further response to the esteemed Kanicbird, I would not be worked up about this at all if it said ‘magic’ on the box. My wife’s family is Catholic. I raise no objections when it comes to lighting a candle as a remedy for family illness or whatever, because (as near as I can be sure,) I’m not a total asshole. But when homeopathic products are sold in drugstores right next to actual medicine, labeled with misleading phrases such as “active ingredients”, and people are buying them thinking that they are “real” in the same sense that drugs (or even herbal remedies) are, it invites protest. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-debunk-this-homeopathic-woo-thats-found-its-way-into-my-home/620169/90 "2012-05-02T15:30:51Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > But when homeopathic products are sold in drugstores right next to actual medicine, labeled with misleading phrases such as “active ingredients”, and people are buying them thinking that they are “real” in the same sense that drugs (or even herbal remedies) are, it invites protest. I quite agree. If the label said “ **Magical Holy Teeth-O-Water: As used on the infant Jesus** ” then I wouldn’t have a problem with it, as the sort of people that would buy it deserve to be ripped off. If people want to believe in fairy tales, fine, but dressing it up as actual medicine is disingenuous. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-debunk-this-homeopathic-woo-thats-found-its-way-into-my-home/620169.md?page=4)