Like I said, I don't watch Oprah and have no desire to defend her. Nor do I care necessarily for the particulars of these issues per se. What bugs me are the attitudes and assumptions expressed in the article. In my mind what is even scarier than say encouraging people to use positive thinking is convincing them that conventional medicine is the god they must worship or else be accused of the direst forms of heresy (i.e. crazy talk). There is this strange message conveyed that modern science is an objective take on the world and that if we simply trust in it's science we can all be saved. And while I love modern medicine and owe my life to it a couple times over, can I kindly say that that is a bunch of bs.

First, modern medicine is not objective nor does it hold all the answers. The average doctor only has a very limited knowledge base when it comes to even what is known about health. Their skill and training vary and they are not the ones out there doing research and discovering new cures. I've personally had enough doctors either misdiagnose me or decide that since they don't understand my symptoms they will do nothing to still hold any illusion that doctors truly know best about these things. While they know a lot, they are relying on their limited education and whatever drug programs have been pimped to them. They are obligated to sell the cures from the companies that have wined and dined them, not necessarily seek out what cure might work best for each patient. Similarly those cures were created by researchers funded by certain companies – with certain demands and expectations. This is not objective science seeking to heal the world, but businesses playing a marketing game with our health. They have bottom lines to protect – and when that bottom line is about money not health, that claim of objective science shatters. This god we are encouraged to blindly trust has ulterior motives.

Secondly, this unfounded trust in conventional medicine assumes that who we are can be reduced to biomedical issues. If we get sick then we are given some (patented) chemical to fight that sickness. The more we get sick, the more chemicals they sell. Who we are as whole people gets ignored. Pursuing lifestyles that help us be healthy, whole people messes with that system. We are trained to simply want to pop a pill to biomedically remove a problem, and that alternative remedies, preventative measures, or even concerns about those pills are scoffed at. If it doesn't support the conventional system, it is alternative, and therefore wacky "crazy talk." But the stories are more than obvious that people who take care of themselves – care for their body and "soul" – are happier and generally healthier. There is something to the power of positive thinking – be that if the form of prayer, or meditation, or whatever. There is something to watching what we eat, exercising regularly, detoxing ourselves, and feeling good about who we are that helps us truly live our best life. We are not just organisms waiting to get sick so that the sickness can be banished by the pill the priest dispenses at her holy alter. Life is a lot messier, organic, and holistic than that.

And I think that's what Oprah is on to. Sure, I say question her suggestions, look into how they really affect people. But I have a hard time accepting a critique that dismisses her holistic lifestyle tips simply because they do not walk lockstep with conventional medicine. I use conventional medicine, and I actually know very little about so-called "alternative medicine," but I question the supremacy of conventional medicine and it's cult-like following in our society. It is a fantastic tool that I am grateful for, but I don't buy the propaganda that it holds all the answers. So I appreciate the voices that propose alternatives and remind us that we are more than cells to be experimented upon. We don't have all the answers, and I doubt we ever will, but the picture is a lot bigger than we have been led to believe.