Galileo suggested that the sun was the center of our solar system and that the earth rotated around the sun, that the earth was not flat but round and was part of a system of planets and not the center of the Universe. For this he was charged with heresy and threatened with death by the church who 'knew' that the world was flat and that the earth was the center of the universe. He was forced to recant his statement to save his life and was then placed under house arrest for the rest of his life.
We know today that Galileo was correct. Why then was he threatened? What was so awful about his statement that the earth rotated around the sun? The answer is simple, politics and power. What Galileo said though true threatened the very basis of power wielded by the church who needed the world to know that the earth was the center of all creation and that their position as Gods hand on earth was never to be questioned...on pain of death. In suppressing Galileo and his revelation the Church consolidated their power over the world for the next three hundred years.
So how is this medieval comparison relevant today? Why bother revisiting something that has long since been resolved and Galileo vindicated? It is relevant today because Medicine as an institution has in effect become the modern day equivalent of the Medieval Church. To question their efficacy is to incur their wrath which is to face ridicule, political attacks and possible loss of license and financial ruin. Luckily todays heretics will not face public evisceration's or being burned at the stake however are no less silenced and suppressed.
However, it isn't medicine itself that is the problem, no, it is the political power behind medicine that is. It is Big Pharma that is the directing force behind the politics of the 'Church of Medicine'. Politics in its raw state equates simply to money. Money then translates to power and influence which is the basis for corruption.
To question the efficacy and safety of vaccines for instance draws the most explosive and vicious reaction from Big Pharmas influence base, usually on the request of Big Pharma itself. I truly believe with all my heart that if hanging were an available response Big Pharma would no doubt use it to silence their critics, hence my comparing them to the Medieval Church.
It took nearly a millennium to emerge from the influence of the Church so that knowledge, science and freedom of thought and expression were not threatened by death. Yet today freedom of thought and expression in the field of health care is not tolerated, very much like the medieval church did not tolerate enlightened thought which was demonized as blasphemy or Satanism.
Interestingly, however, the attacks on alternative medicine doesn't come very often from the professional side of medicine but by thugs who are paid by the establishment in order to keep the pressure on the competition and their hands clean in the event they are sued. The skeptics network is a sorry lot, exceptionally so, but I will not digress on that tangent...yet.
Luckily the voice of health freedom is alive and well both politically and socially in spite of the attacks launched by 'skeptics'. What we are each facing today is a struggle for freedom of choice vs suppression of choice. 'You' should have the right to choose the brand of health care you want. You should not have it chosen for you or have your choices limited because of a profit driven ego trip from a suit wearing schmuck on Wall Street.
Seek knowledge and understanding...do not allow yourself to become a sheep to be used for the benefit of a few profit driven morons.
Nuff Said.
