A Practical Recommendation for Dealing With "Quackbusters..."
Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen
October 29th, 2003
Normal, mentally healthy, citizens from all over the world send me
copies of e-mail exchanges they've had with "quackbusters." I'm always
amused, and I always advise the same thing - "Do Not get involved in
e-mail exchanges with these people."
When they ask why I advise that course of action, I try to explain the
"mental set" of the average "quackbuster," and I suggest that they
simply avoid the aggravation of dealing with a form of mental illness.
For that's what I think they're dealing with.
Former President Ronald Reagan, during his administration, was
responsible for the "turning out" of various classes of mentally ill
persons into the streets of America - without their medications - as a
cost saving benefit. No American President, since, has chosen to
re-instate those people to mental hospitals. So, on the streets of
everyday America, we've come to expect to see those individuals,
covered with dirt, long stringy hair, wild eyes, and a stench you can
tangibly feel from 30 yards, mumbling, babbling, or shouting their
version of normalcy into the ether. It doesn't matter to them, one
whit, that no one is listening, or cares to listen to their nonsense.
Poor you, if you get cornered by one of these, and can't extricate
yourself quickly. Most people, caught in this kind of situation, I
think, would want to go home and take a shower just to feel clean
again.
Well, it's kind of like that encountering a "quackbuster" on the
internet.
In fact, it could be EXACTLY what you've encountered. Those of you
who, like me, make use of Public Libraries for research, know what I'm
speaking of. Public Libraries have free internet connections, and who
is sitting there glaring into the computer screens? You guessed it.
Either a rat died in the walls a while ago, or those three persons at
the computers are responsible for the library rapidly emptying of
other users.
I DID wonder who those glaring, un-medicated, people were
communicating with on the net...
My advice to you, if you get an e-mail from a quackbuster soldier -
file it away in a stink-proof corner of your hard drive, to be used
later, if necessary, in a court of law. If you think that YOU get
weird e-mails from these people, you should see the ones that "I" get.
And, I relish them, and save them all for that day in court.
If you make the mistake of ENGAGING them in argument you run the risk
of falling into the old adage "Never argue with a fool, for before
long no one will be able to tell who is the fool..."
Stay tuned...
Tim Bolen - Consumer Advocate