I admire Arianna Huffington greatly and enjoyed working on her 2003 campaign. She is one of the brightest bulbs on the planet. I was very excited when she announced plans for her blog, and have visited almost daily since it launched.
Like many of you, I was at first disturbed by the quantity of gossip on the site. Recently, the percentage of silly gossip stories has risen. But I am not going to complain about that, but rather explain what seems to be the justification for such a huge waste of bandwidth.
At the same time, I have to point out that there is one area in which HuffPo has become completely unreliable: medical advice. Unfortunately, the site promotes a lot of woo-woo "alternatives" to medicine that have been totally debunked by scientific tests. This not only endangers people, but also contributes greatly to waste in health care.
So below the fold I try to explain what is going on.
People come to HuffPo for various reasons, but gossip is a major draw. Consider the most popular stories list today. Six items include:
Guy Ritchie: Madonna Is Retarded
Hilary Swank Sleeps Naked, Stays Naked In Front Of...
Dennis Miller Knocks Hannity, Beck On Fox News (VIDEO)
That's 50% of the "most popular" list!
Now let's consider today's front page offerings:
Boyzone' Singer Stephen Gately Dies In Spain
Madge Drops Trainer... Mischa's New Home... Yankees' Wives Trash Kate
Jimmy Kimmel's New Girlfriend Is On His Staff
Is Your Digestive System Making You Sick?
TS Eliot Is Britain's Favorite Poet... A Happiness Lesson From Actors: Find The "Yes"
Politicians' Yearbook Photos: Which Are Keepers And Which Need A Retake?
PHOTOS: Amazing Animals Who Camouflage
Woody Harrelson And Vegan Twinkies
PHOTOS: Lady Gaga Performs After Obama's Big Gay Speech
Mayan Year 2012 Stirs Apocalypse Predictions, Doomsayers
WATCH: Bill Maher: Repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Because It Will Make Rush Limbaugh "Explode"
Yes, these are front page stories!
So, should we complain about this? No! HuffPo uses gossip to attract people to their progressive news stories. If they added naked men and women, they could achieve even more. Maybe that's what we should demand. Show us Jimmy Kimmel's staff in all its morning glory! Add some T & A and maybe Fox viewers would flock to the site.
HuffPo has a strategy, let them use it. But my real problem is with the unscientific New Age woo-woo that might be taken as serious news. Search "homeopathic" for example:
1.
Jacob Dickerman: Swines and Birds and Homeopaths, Oh My!
May 5, 2009 ... Unfortunately, people looking to help protect themselves and their families are being preyed upon by a group whose theory of medicine goes ...
www.huffingtonpost.com/.../swines-and-birds-and-home_b_195597.html
2.
Homeopathy: Arnica Relieves Pain
Sep 19, 2009 ... Arnica Montana, a plant native to mountainous areas of Europe and North America, has been used for centuries to treat a variety of pain.
www.huffingtonpost.com/.../homeopathy-arnica-relieve_n_291682.html
3.
Dana Ullman
Sep 24, 2009 ... Dana Ullman has written extensively on homeopathic research in an ... Dana Ullman has also written chapters on homeopathic medicine for ...
www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-ullman
4.
Swine Flu : Pictures, Videos, Breaking News
The theoretical debate over whether homeopathy works is like two people arguing whether ... There are homeopathic clinics and hospitals around the world, ...
www.huffingtonpost.com/news/swine-flu?show_comment_id=32140299
5.
Swine Flu : Pictures, Videos, Breaking News
Sep 26, 2009 ... Really, the bottom line is to subject homeopathic medicine to the same standards as the FDA requires prescription products to undergo. ...
www.huffingtonpost.com/news/swine-flu/
6.
Swine Flu : Pictures, Videos, Breaking News
Really, the bottom line is to subject homeopathic medicine to the same standards as the ... I thought we were debating the efficacy of homeopathic medicine, ...
www.huffingtonpost.com/news/swine-flu?show_comment_id=32154143
7.
Dana Ullman: The Wisdom of Symptoms: Respecting the Body's ...
Sep 24, 2009 ... Homeopathy simply provides a wonderful alternative and Dana Ullman has .... It is well known that water forms little balls in homeopathic ...
www.huffingtonpost.com/.../the-wisdom-of-symptoms-re_b_299070.html
8.
Health : Pictures, Videos, Breaking News
In addition, the author goes on to recommend homeopathy, which is at best ... Even if it could be show that homeopathic solutions were more than just water ...
www.huffingtonpost.com/news/health?show_comment_id=32017533
9.
Health : Pictures, Videos, Breaking News
Sep 29, 2009 ... If you go the homeopathic route you should be advised that coffee, mint, and perfumes can antidote the effects of the remedy. ...
www.huffingtonpost.com/news/health?show_comment_id=31857382
10.
lotuslady7761 on HuffingtonPost
There are many journals that have published homeopathic studies. ... I happen to be well trained in homeopathy, so here is the real story about what he says ...
www.huffingtonpost.com/users/profile/lotuslady7761?action=comments
Only one story, fortunately the first one, points out the fact that homeopathy is complete and utter bullshit that defies the law of physics. The others all pretend that there are some benefits (other than placebo effects) from this scientific impossibility that has been debunked in 100% of the scientific studies.
Yet Americans waste billions of dollars each year on these and similar frauds. This should be part of the health care discussion. Government sponsored health care should only include scientifically supported treatments. Not one penny should go to alternatives to real medicine. But Arianna Huffington has friends in the "New Age" community, and that perhaps explains the destructive presence of stories supporting woo-woo nonsense.
So this is something we should complain about. HuffPo does real harm, perhaps even killing people by its implicit endorsement of alternatives to medicine.
I have nothing against research and endorsement of anything that can be scientifically proven to work. I have successfully consumed garlic for decades and haven't once been attacked by vampires. But that is not a scientific investigation, though I am confident that a survey would indeed show that no one who has consumed garlic has ever been bitten by a vampire. It works for me, so why shouldn't everyone go out and buy a ton of garlic (from Gilroy, not China. Communist garlic does not work as well.)
So, let HuffPo run with the gossip and sex stories, but let's hope that the harmful support for frauds can be reduced or eliminated.