Hi Surly Amy,

I’m fairly new to skepticism; among other things, I was totally into alt-med woo. I’m now trying to make evidence-based health choices. So here’s my situation: I saw a new OB/GYN today. She was really nice and comforting, listened well, and was collaborative when coming up with a treatment plan for my (complicated) issues, taking into account my concerns. The only downside was that, in addition to recommending good (science-based, workable) options, she also encouraged me to try acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine. There was also some alt-med stuff around the office (advice on a natural home-birth experience, “Mothering” magazine). Other than this, it was a positive experience and I liked her. I’m worried I’m just oversensitive to alt-med stuff, having recently come out of being very involved in it. Should I be concerned about having a doctor who embraces some woo, eventhough she also practices real medicine? Thank you!

~Erin

Dear Erin,

Get a new doctor. Today. Seriously. Go. Find a new one.

This message you sent made me so angry I had to answer it right away. First of all, be VERY proud of yourself for being an intelligent skeptic and noticing that there was something awry in the doctor’s office. Also, congratulate yourself for knowing that you deserve legitimate science-based care and for knowing the difference between alt med and legitimate medical practices. Now, tell yourself that if something goes wrong with you, or if indeed something is wrong with your health and you need treatment that you deserve the best, most reliable, peer reviewed proven treatments that you can get. You also deserve a doctor who understands the difference between potential medicine and placebo effect and actual medicine and long term benefit.

This cup of tea may make you feel better temporarily but it will not cure HPV.

I’m sure the doctor you visited seemed willing to listen and appeared to care. The Alt med-crowd seems to have really cornered the market on time spent with patients and the science based medical establishment in general could learn a thing or two about bedside manner from this, but what you really need isn’t herbal teas or acupuncture. You need someone you can trust to help you make serious decisions with your health care that can effect your quality and quantity of life and the life of a child should you conceive. This is no joke. It’s not tea time with friends. It’s a doctor patient relationship and a doctor should be trustworthy and should know better.

It’s one thing for a medical professional to acknowledge that a patient is seeking alternative treatments outside the office and to not interfere with that but it is quite another thing to have a doctor actively pushing these treatments from within the office. Recommending these treatments displays a complete lack of understanding of science based medicine and should not be tolerated. My advice? Find a better doc.

Good luck on your search and I hope you quickly find a doctor that understands the processes of the scientific method and not just how to pacify a patient.

And congratulations on educating yourself and being a skeptic. I’d hug you right now if I could!

Got a question you would like some Surly-Skepchick advice on? Send it in! We won’t publish your real name, unless you want us to and creative pseudonyms get bonus points! Just use the contact link on the top left of the page.

So Elbayomy was convicted, right?

He was not. Instead, Judge Mark Martin chastised the atheist in question for his misinterpretation and lack of understanding concerning Islam. He then found Elbayomy innocent of all charges, claiming that there was not enough in the way of evidence.

There are several separate issues in this case that have been conflated in many of the write-ups about it, and, indeed, by the judge himself. In order of relevancy to the case, I would say that the first is Perce’s understanding of Islam, the second is Elbayomy’s understanding of the law, the third is the perspective of Judge Martin, and last, but not least, is whether or not Elbayomy is guilty of a crime.

For all of my knowledge of Islam, I had no idea what Perce was talking about when he claimed that the Quran says that Muhammad rose from the dead. He might be referring to the story of Muhammad’s “miraculous night journey.” Of course, whether or not Zombie Muhammad is an actual thing in the Quran does not matter at all. Just as I am not legally permitted to smash someone’s computer when they parade the tired stereotype that atheists are all amoral douchebags (pro-tip: it simply isn’t true), Elbayomy is not legally allowed to tear at someone’s costume while they are wearing it because they dressed up as something that is inaccurate to Islam.

In the audio recording of the case, Elbayomy says that he thought it was against the law to dress up as Zombie Muhammad. Even if that sincerely were the case (which I would find bizarre given that many immigrants come to the U.S. because of things like freedom of speech), the man had no right to take the law into his own hands. Self-defense is only a legitimate defense if your bodily integrity is in question, not when you and your family are upset by something.

In terms of the judge in this case, Perce’s title for his Youtube post of the audio for the case, as well as others’ articles, say that Mark Martin is a Muslim. He admits as much in the audio, discussing a bevy of issues before issuing his decision, including his personal opinions of Perce, his views on how he feels the First Amendment should be used, the treatment of blasphemy in Muslim countries, and Perce’s lack of understanding of Islam and Muslims. He then claims to put all that aside before stating that there is not enough evidence to prove Elbayomy guilty.

While the outcome of the case cannot be evaluated solely based on the judge’s views, the fact that he aired them is disturbing. As for the views themselves, they are irrelevant to the case and by stating them, the judge reveals his deep biases, no matter what he claims about putting them aside before issuing his decision. The idea that American law should be at all influenced by anti-free speech values is abhorrent.

Furthermore, he, as an American Muslim who is integrated enough in non-Muslim society to be a judge, has done his own community a great disservice. Already, people are claiming that this is an example of the implementation of sharia in the United States and necessitates anti-sharia legislation. It is now going to be far harder to argue that sharia is not the threat in the U.S., I have done so in the past, as Judge Martin’s comments are the first real example to which those who fear sharia can point and say, with some basis, that Islamic viewpoints are being favored over Constitutional ones.

In the case of the final issue, i.e. the only legally relevant one for this case, you can decide for yourself, based on the video as well as the testimony of the officer who responded to the incident. According to Perce, physical contact took place; according to the officer, Elbayomy admitted to it. While I am inclined to say that I would take the testimony of two people, one of whom was not directly a part of the incident, over the testimony of a single person accused of assault, I, unlike Judge Martin, will freely admit that my biases influence my decisions: I have been the target of overzealous, offended Muslims enough times to where I would consider them capable of a lot of things when upset, assault being one of them.

Main image via.

How’s that for an Afternoon Inquisition opening line? Well, this story suggests the immune system drives male attractiveness, or at least gives service to research suggesting a correlation, and I thought it might make for a good discussion.

You see, due to an apparent association between testosterone levels, facial attractiveness, and a stress hormone called cortisol, researchers from the University of Abertay Dundee, Scotland, conclude that a strong immune system plays a greater role in attracting women to men, than great bodies or muscles.

Of course as thinking creatures we place value on other things besides base physiological reactions when we consider a person’s attractiveness, but the basic idea here is, men with healthy immune systems tend to have higher testosterone levels, and a man’s face is generally seen as more attractive if he has high levels of testosterone.

So what do you think? Do you give any thought/credence to purported instinctual reactions? Are they important? Are we at their mercy? Do you see any flaws in the study? Links to other related information? Guys, what of your own immune system/testosterone levels/cortisol levels?

The Afternoon Inquisition (or AI) is a question posed to you, the Skepchick community. Look for it to appear Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3pm ET.

Want the opportunity to share your cinematic vision with hundreds of other atheists, skeptics, and freethinkers on the big screen, and a chance to win $250? Every year, the Atheist Film Festival in San Francisco features a selection of provocative, engaging, thought-provoking, and/or hilarious short films. Whether you’re an amateur filmmaker, pro, semi-pro, or never operated a camera other than your smart phone, we want to see what you can come up with!

Topics concerning atheism, agnosticism, skepticism, science, or a secular approach to human are encouraged. Beyond that, it’s up to you. We want our shorts program to present a plethora of secular perspectives and to demonstrate that art and reason are not mutually-exclusive categories. The deadline isn’t until June 30th, so you’ve still got time to put something together if you’ve got a great idea.

Selected films will be screened at the festival on August 11th, 2012, and one grand prize winner will receive $250 and the first annual Atheist Film Festival filmmaker’s award. See the flyer below or visit sfatheistfilmfestival.org for guidelines and more information. We look forward to your entries!

P.S. Look for an interview next week on MAL with Cas Fornalski, Mad Art Lab reader and the genius behind the film festival’s sweet new logo and design campaign!

Not interested in submitting a film but still want to help out? Download the flyer and post it on your campus, bring it to meetings with your local secular groups, leave copies at coffee shops where creative types hang out, or link to this post on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, etc. Thanks for your support!

This is quite the difficult question to answer, and not just slightly due to the fact that Muslims themselves vehemently disagree on the issue among themselves and work to promote a united front for the eyes of non-Muslims.

Despite what many Muslims are wont to say and a lot of scared Americans might believe, Muslims are far from a united group with similar opinions. Islam, while originating in the region now known as Saudi Arabia, spread quickly to other areas. Like Christianity, it was active in wiping out local religions, but tradition and custom have a way of showing themselves whether or not a conqueror has told a tribe that all of its members ought to worship one god. What is considered to be important to people as Muslims varies from region to region.

One minor example of this that I observed growing up relates to Muhammad’s sayings on eating. Growing up in the Indian diaspora community in London and Southern California, I was always told that the Prophet’s sunnah, or example worthy of emulation, was to eat with one’s right hand, preferably using only the thumb, the pointer finger, and the middle finger, and to dine communally off a single platter. Those of us who chose to eat with our hands were seen as both less Westernized and, somehow, more Muslim than those who used a spoon or fork instead.

Then, in fifth grade, I began attending an Arab-dominated religious school. One of my classmates there, a girl of Egyptian descent, reacted with disbelief when I told her that eating with your hands was better and more Islamic. Her father, she asserted, slapped her if she ever dared to use her hands to eat. I learned much later that while a lot of post-colonial Arab countries were really big on picking up certain European habits, including but not limited to those relating to dining, India was different. Indian traditions related to communal eating and the use of the right hand happened to match up with Muhammad’s views on eating, and so those are enforced among Indians.

Eating habits are of not of general concern in the grand scheme of things, but take something of far more importance, like female genital mutilation. Those African Muslims who practice it claim that it is Islamic. Muslims from other areas might disagree and say that it’s not truly Islamic, and though anti-FGM Muslims have more Islamic texts on their side, it’s hard to convince people who have been doing something for centuries in the name of Allah that, no really, their views on Islam are the wrong ones. On the other hand, for Muslims in most parts of Asia and the Middle East, FGM is a rather uncommon, if not unknown, practice.

These differences are often ignored or glossed over by Muslims. Post-colonial Islam has meant a great deal of backlash against anything considered Western as well as anything seen as causing divisiveness in the Muslim community, dubbed fitna, or civil unrest. Fitna, as a concept, has been used for everything from quashing healthy debate among Muslim scholars to banning women’s sections in London mosques.* It is the second-worst slur with which a modern Muslim might brand another Muslim’s words or actions.

Beyond the idea of fitna, the concepts of unity and oneness is very important in Islam. Islam arose from of a polytheistic culture, so its monotheism is reactionary in a rather marked fashion. The idea is not limited to its theism, as ummah, or the sense of a single international Muslim community, is emphasized above all other allegiances. Even Muslims who identify with some of the Islamic sects will readily agree that Muslims should be united as one ummah, not divided. Mention Israel, or the United States, and Muslims are all the more eager to put differences aside in favor of showing themselves to be united.

Between Islam’s history of having a deep impact on the cultures that it conquered and the Muslim wish to maintain the illusion of unity, it’s quite hard to differentiate which practices are Arab and which are “Muslim.” Even if the question were more specifically on a single issue within Islam, there would likely be disagreement on all sides. Ironic, no?

*It shocked me, when I was an American Muslim, that so many mosques in England lack a prayer section for women. This is changing, but it was quite the culture shock to go from American mosques, where women almost always have a section and often serve in mosque leadership, to a country where there wasn’t even a place for me to pray. My British cousin explained to me that having women at the mosque “caused fitna” because men ended up fighting over the women. I replied by wryly asking her why they didn’t ban the men instead.

Main image via. Thanks to Jim for the question. You can send me your questions by posting on my Facebook page or emailing me at heinous.heina@gmail.com

One example of something that is often criticized for unscientific (or, at least, not verified) reasons is Monsanto, the global agricultural corporation.

Most of the fuss that we tend to hear about Monsanto relates to their foods derived from GMO, or genetically modified organisms. In other words, people tend to be most upset by the idea of food whose genetic code has been altered in a lab as opposed to selective breeding, an older genetic modification technique.

While there seems to be quite a bit of fear surrounding genetically modified foods, most of the evidence does not indicate that is particularly unhealthy or toxic. As is the case with anything other technological advancement, there might be issues with it, but the most measured and methodical approach would be to take each issue on a case-by-case basis. In the case of genetically modified foods, there have been some early issues with allergic reactions, but those were pulled from the market when the issues were discovered.

Reactions over GMO aside, though, Monsanto is problematic in many, many ways. In fact, even in the case of groups who oppose Monsanto based on their perception of food safety issues, of their top ten list of “Things Monsanto Doesn’t Want You to Know“, four of the list items have little to do with food safety, and one is particularly disturbing: Monsanto’s litigiousness against small farmers. Between 1997 and 2010, 144 cases filed by Monsanto have made it to litigation, while 700 were settled out-of-court. Monsanto is opposed to the common farming practice of saving seeds, and while this could be argued to be their choice and right in business practice, the fact is that it is quite difficult to buy non-GMO seeds (i.e. non-Monsanto seeds). The inability to save seeds has made farming far more expensive both domestically and abroad.

Aside from the seed issue, Monsanto had targeted dairy producers who advertise their milk as rBGH free. Whether or not rGBH is controversial due to legitimate reasons, for them to target other companies for truthfully advertising their products is somewhat disingenuous given that they falsely advertised Roundup as “biodegradable.”

In addition to current issues, Monsanto has a history of creating toxic waste dumps, over 50 of which have been targeted by the United States government for clean up, not to mention the toxic waste issues it has created in other countries.

To reverse a proverb, the enemy of my enemy is not automatically my friend. Just because Monsanto is opposed by some people who are afraid of genetic modification does not mean that all people who dislike the company and its practices do so for the same reasons. To assume that any company that is targeted by pro-woo crowds must be just fine as a business is to engage in an odd reversal of the contrarian fallacy.

Main image via.

But in moments like these, it’s hard not to stop and take note of how different the world is for him than it was when I was a kid. And I’m still young enough to be of a generation that was afforded the luxury of one uphill trip and one downhill trip when commuting to school, and that path was mostly cleared of snow. 

I remember being in grade school, hearing about how one day touch screen computers would exist, and that blew my mind. Now I can’t go five minutes without using one. And I keep it in my pocket.

And when I was growing up, we had shuttles that took people to space! That’s not really a thing anymore.

There were two Germanys… in fact, Eastern Europe and most of Asia were completely different maps.

It was amazing that we could control the TV from across the room. Now I can control my TV from anywhere in the world… even though I don’t even need a TV to watch TV.

Hell, I can even watch news for 24 hours straight… and never hear anything that’s actually news. And I can stay current on the state of the world by watching Twitter.

Just two months ago, my daughter saw a pay phone for the first time… and thought it was an electric razor.

We can change the world without leaving our homes and without ever putting on pants.

I can Facetime with my mom’s poodles. And I have. Because I refuse to live in a future where I can’t talk to dogs on the phone.

I know it’s pretty cliche at this point to talk about how much times have changed, but really… really… our world is amazing.

And even though we may have lost Pluto as a planet, we gained a new perspective on the universe.

What is your favorite thing about living in the future? What is your favorite advancement over the last century? What are you still waiting to see happen? How do you feel about the state of our world? Are you nostalgic for your good ol’ days? Do you ever pine for a world with less technology? Can you admit that you still struggle to list the planets without ending with Pluto?

T-shirts with the featured and Pluto images can be purchased at Snorg Tees.

The Afternoon Inquisition (or AI) is a question posed to you, the Skepchick community. Look for it to appear Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3pm ET.

Washington, DC
March 24
I actually haven’t solidified plans for Reason Rally yet, but I wanted to mention it just in case I do end up going. If I do go, I’ll be working on a story for radio, but not speaking.

New York City
April 21-22
As always, I’ll be at NECSS with my Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe co-hosts as well as PZ Myers, Seth Shostak, Julia Galef, George Hrab, and more!

Arlington, VA
May 18
The Women in Secularism Conference is super exciting! I’ll be there with fellow Skepchick Debbie Goddard, plus Greta Christina, Jen McCreight, Susan Jacoby, Sikivu Hutichinson, Jamila Bey, Ophelia Benson, and many more amazing women. Be there!

Berlin, Germany
May 20
Then I’m immediately off to the 6th World Skeptics Congress, my first time ever in Germany! Also at the con will be Simon Singh, Harriet Hall, James Randi, Massimo Polidoro, and many more.

Cologne, Germany
May 25-27
The following weekend I’ll be in Cologne for the 2012 European Atheist Convention with PZ Myers, Taslima Nasrin, Annie Laurie Gaylor, Leo Igwe, Tanya Smith, and (you guessed it) many more! By the 25th I expect to be speaking fluent German so that’s probably how I’ll deliver my talk.

Minneapolis, MN
July 5-8
In July it’s time for SkepchickCon, which occurs every year during CONvergence! More info on that coming soon but you can still pick up your tickets in the meantime.

There’s a lot more planned for the rest of the year but most of the details are still being hammered out, so I’ll do another post once we get there. Hope to see some of you soon!