Of Psychics and Faith Healers

Two stories came to my attention today that both address the lack of critical thinking in our society.

The first one comes to us from Barrie, Ontario where Colleen Leduc is having problems with her daughter’s school. Her daughter, Victoria, is autistic and attends a public school. A few weeks ago, she got a call from her school that they believed her daughter had been the victim of sexual abuse, one of a parent’s worst nightmares.

Colleen was naturally upset and then she was told the “evidence”.

“"The teacher looked and me and said: 'We have to tell you something. The educational assistant who works with Victoria went to see a psychic last night, and the psychic asked the educational assistant at that particular time if she works with a little girl by the name of "V." And she said 'yes, I do.' And she said, 'well, you need to know that that child is being sexually abused by a man between the ages of 23 and 26.'"

Victoria, who is non-verbal, had also been exhibiting sexualized behaviour in class, actions which are known to be typical of autistic behavior. (See other typical actions here) That lead authorities to suspect she had a bladder infection that may have somehow been related to the 'attack.'”

Yes, a psychic! And she could only identify a girls whose name begins with V, and she was displaying behavior typical of someone with here condition...well, call that and open and shut case! NOT!

On top of that, Victoria wears a GPS unit with a sound recorder which pretty much put any allegations to rest. But that didin’t stop her from being reported to Children’s Aid who also visited her to investigate the allegations!

The other story comes from Oregon where a family let their teenager die from a pinched urethra, a condition that could have easily been treated with a catheter. The family relied on faith healing instead.

Both of these stories illustrate the harm that non-critical thinking can do, leading to untrue accusations and even to death. We supposedly left the dark ages behind and are no longer governed by irrational superstitions. Given all I encounter in my everyday life from horoscopes to psychics to biorhythms to faith healing, well, I have my doubts.

Think, people!