Michelle Dickinson writes ....
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"When was the last time you saw a scientist on the cover of a glossy magazine or watched a reality show about the comings and goings of an engineering lab? The answer is probably never because our detail oriented and focused careers struggle to compete with the public’s huge appetite for sensational celebrity news and gossip.

Many celebrities achieve their elevated status through excellence in acting, singing or sports, however, these skills don’t make them an expert in science, nutrition or medicine.
Even so, we are seeing more and more examples where scientific advice is being given by people whose status is measured by the number of Twitter or Facebook followers they have rather than their academic qualifications and experience.

A study published in the British Medical Journal concluded that people trust celebrities with their health, even when it might cause them harm, and that celebrities are often perceived as having greater credibility and sway than medical doctors, despite having little if any medical knowledge or expertise.
It goes against common sense, which tells us to see a mechanic when our car is broken, to visit a doctor when we are ill and to watch one of the Iron Man movies when we want to watch Gwyneth Paltrow play a personal assistant.

Paltrow has managed to be held in higher esteem than doctors by some of her followers, hundreds of which paid thousands of dollars last week to attend her health and lifestyle summit. The summit used A-list celebrities and book pushing doctors to give out medical advice, sell health and nutritional products and promote beauty treatments. Products included a $115 medicine bag containing “magically charged stones” for healing and inner strength and a $90 jade egg which apparently increases feminine energy when inserted into your nether regions.

Even though many of the products sold at the conference were nothing more than pseudoscientific snake oil beautifully wrapped in pretty packaging, they were priced at such a premium that many were convinced they must work.

Paltrow is not the only celebrity to enjoy the "halo" effect giving them a cloak of generalised trustworthiness that extends well beyond their expertise; pseudoscientific alternative medicines and treatments that use jargon-filled descriptions have been pushed by celebrities for cash for years.

Pushing obscure treatments and unproven medical advice, such as detoxing, to the masses helps no one other than the fruit-filled bottled drinks companies, which can't even name the toxins they are removing, and the celebrity chef selling paleo-for-babies recipe books, which health experts warn could seriously harm infants.

The challenge we scientists have is figuring out how to reduce the serious impact that pop culture brings to big issues when faced with celebrities, including President Donald Trump, Jim Carrey and Alicia Silverstone, publically pushing their unfounded views connecting vaccinations and autism."

Dave, I agree with you. Some people are celebrated too much, and some too little. I've seen some celebrities use their fame to advance good causes (i.e Bono's Red campaign, Ashton Kutcher's work with human trafficking, Paul Newman's many charitable endeavors during his lifetime,) and others such as Paltrow use their fame to advance silly notions. Unfortunately you can't legislate common sense.

I watched Stephen Cobert spoof this on his show last night. Even he seemed a bit stunned about the jade stone in women's hoo haa.

My TBM wife laughed and laughed at that. She was, like, "You take what and do what? And it's supposed to do what, exactly?"

I believe columnist Argus Hamilton said it best.

"For the record, I take all my direction in politics, my beliefs in philosophy and my instruction in religion from celebrities. Some of these people have degrees from Beverly High."


http://argushamilton.com/argushm.htm

It's bad enough these celebrities think they know something about health and lifestyle. Worse, they think they have special insights about politics and science. (Yes, I'm talking about YOU, Ashley Judd, Matt Damon, George Clooney, Sean Penn, Leonardo DiCrapio...!)

Don't forget Ted Nugent, Charlton Heston, Kid Rock...and, of course, The Donald. :)

ificouldhietokolob Wrote:
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> ...and, of course, The Donald. :)

Do you mean the celebrity who made a fortune (worth billions), and went into into politics? Or the celebrity wannabes who went into into politics, and THEN made a fortune (worth millions)?

More on Gweneth and her mystical, magical "Goop:"

http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2017/06/23/nasa-calls-bs-on-gwyneth-paltrows-latest-goop-product/

Trust advice from excellent actors when they're talking about acting.

Fine singers might give great advice on singing.

Musicians might know all about the instruments they play.

None of this gives them expertise on health, financial, or political questions.

I've had two very good friends who have beautiful trained voices and sing in operas. They like to give advice on other topics, but I find much of it very flimsy and sometimes laughable. I love them, but don't go to them if I have questions on topics they know nothing about. Both of them like to quote from questionable sources and the information is sometimes just plain wrong. Whenever the conclusion laid out and the evidence is designed to lead in that direction, don't believe it.

That's what TBMs do.

Quoting from Dave the Atheist's original post:

"Products included a $115 medicine bag containing “magically charged stones” for healing and inner strength and a $90 jade egg which apparently increases feminine energy when inserted into your nether regions."

Gee. I wonder if those "magical stones" include duplicates of the peep stones that Joseph Smith used in translating the Book of Mormon and other tales.

Yes...the words magical stones also brought the (now horribly embarrassing) term 'peep stones' to my mind.

I saw Paltrow's appearance on the "Today" show recently, and I wanted to puke. I used to enjoy her roles as an actress, but it's getting to the point that I can't stand to look at her.

Scamming-bitch-ly yrs,

S

Jade eggs or ben wa balls in the vagina as it can strengthen the pelvic wall, but for it to increase "feminine energy" is typical GOOP woo. There are specific types of weights for this purpose as well, but Paltrow has scooped the idea to turn a tidy profit and wrench her arm out ofthe socket by patting herself on the back.. She's kind of a self-congratulatory asshole. Her "lifestyle advice" is asinine (check out how she tells you how to make a bed) and pretentious i.e. “I’d rather smoke crack than eat cheese from a tin.”
http://thoughtcatalog.com/nico-lang/2013/09/45-hilariously-ridiculous-gwyneth-paltrow-quotes-that-will-make-you-want-to-punch-something/

I do not, for the life of me, see how people look up to her as a health and lifestyle guru.