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Why the “Magic” Wonder Pill Syndrome is Making Americans Sicker than Ever
And “alternative” healthcare is almost as bad
The human weakness for a “quick fix” isn’t new, but the modern sickcare industry encourages us to take it to new levels.
And, as people naturally looking for the easy way out, we want to believe in what’s easy and overhyped instead of what’s effective.
It’s in the best interest of the pharmaceutical industry to encourage that weakness. The delusion of overnight health boosts its perceived credibility and, therefore, its profits.
As much as the alternative health industry sells supplements by attacking (often with great justification) “Big Pharma,” much of it is pulling the same scam.
The Historical Roots
When sick or injured, Og the Caveman was probably impatient to stop feeling hurt and weak, even as the medicine man gave him a smelly hot tea to drink.
Nobody enjoys pain, and his people needed him to help gather roots and hunt game.
No matter how sick or tired, Ms. Og has a demanding baby to feed and care for on top of finding leaves and berries.
Still, it’s unlikely their healer or shaman encouraged them to believe they would get over their illnesses overnight. “Magic potions” existed only in fairy tales.
And disappointed cave people may have filed a “malpractice suit” with a spear through the gut.
Medicine Advanced in Fits and Starts Across the Globe
Healers discovered useful herbs and developed many various theories and metaphysical systems to explain and cure diseases.
However, for the average person who was not a lord or lady, rest and a few good herbs were probably the most efficacious cures available.
(Only lord and ladies could afford to pay for doctors.)
The ancients created “nostrum remedium,” which is Latin for “our remedy.” That lead to the English word “nostrum.”
As early as the late 1600’s, the English crown would grant a “letter patent” to the inventor of a secret remedy to cure sick…
