Today is the last day of ‘World Homeopathy Awareness Week‘, which commences every year with cult-like commemoration of the birthday of its movement’s founder. The site informs us:

‘WHAW (World Homeopathy Awareness Week) was created to promote homeopathic awareness around the world. During this week homeopaths and friends of homeopathy share with the world the miracles of homeopathy.’

The miracles of homeopathy. Hmm. They are a confused bunch, these people. Trying to couple the irrational miraculous with scientific rationality. Whether the latter is supposed to lend authoritative weight to the former’s reaching claims, well, only they can figure that. But check out the arrogance of this year’s theme (if last year’s wasn’t bad enough): ‘Homeopathy for Trauma & Disasters.’ Disregarding the incongruity between the scrolling dramatic, Hollywood-esque photographs and the shoddy promotional brochure we are taken to upon clicking that label in the top right hand corner, instead take a scroll down at the WHAW Facebook page and take in some of the brazen irresponsibility. What’s the theme for next year? The confrontation of apocalypse and homeopathy’s pledge to preserve humankind from extinction? The future is safe in their hands. Keep drinking the ‘energy’ and marvel at the grandiosity.

The apparent tension such outlandishness must produce necessitates the means to attempt to ground in the real world. Hence, awareness of homeopathy’s (ab)use of science as a legitimising veneer is also necessary. To mark WHAW, this brilliant dissection of a 2007 issue of the Elsevier-stabled journal Homeopathy is re-run here (thanks, Kausik). I note with interest that a seat on Homeopathy‘s Editorial Advisory Board is occupied by the senior author of a certain paper in BMC Cancer, whose comment facility seemingly persists with apparent inefficiency.

Or I’m aware of just being ignored.