Fraud

There's a lot being written these days about Satyam worldwide and Golden Key and Sakvithi in Sri Lanka, but I wanted to write about two types of fraudsters that people keep giving money to in the name of tradition.

First, astrologers, palmists and other mystics of a similar nature who claim to be able to predict your future or solve your problems for a fee. It's fairly obvious that random groupings of stars that resemble a certain shape when viewed from earth, combined with the 5 planets visible to the naked eye and two eclipses (since this particular con predates modern astronomy, the fakers assumed eclipses were physical entities) can't predict the fortunes of 500 million people at a time in newspapers and give a more granular, personal prediction when paid.

My personal theory is that since ancient astronomers were able to accurately predict eclipses, flooding and other such natural events that actually can be calculated based on observations, it was easy to monetize this ability by convincing people that they could predict other things as well. I would obviously pay more to find out what happens to me next week than I would to be told when the next annual flooding takes place (unless I live on the river bank of course)!

I'm sure mystic healers and other spiritualists also have some foundations in psychology and the placebo effect, and I'm hoping someone who has investigated this stuff seriously comments with a link.

The other set of fakers are the Ayurvedic physicians who claim to be able to cure everything from AIDS to Cancer. To my knowledge none of them are certified by any authority and probably can't be sued for malpractice either.

I'm fine with the physiotherapy side of Ayurveda and any medicines that were actually formulated based on empirical evidence (people with x disease got better when they ate y leaf, so lets sell them it's juice), but that's it. I fail to see how a medical system where the foundations are flawed (no, the body is not made up of air, phlegm and bile) and predates microbiology can actually cure anything else.

The west also believed in humours at one time, but moved on. People of the east, proud of our traditions, keep going to these fakers when the ailment either appears to be minor or western medicine doesn't claim to provide a 'permanent cure', believing that 'doing something else at the same time won't do any harm'. In actual fact, some of this stuff people pay hard earned money for can actually be quite harmful, simply because there's no FDA making sure it isn't!

The saddest part is that people look for solutions from both these types of fakers when things are most desperate. They would spend what little money they have getting spiritual advice or fake cures, that could have otherwise been spent on proper medical care or gone towards solutions to the problems they are facing. The people who actually sell this fake "Hope" also probably believe it's harmless, but it's not, it's a pretty bad form of exploitation!

I say hold them accountable, sue them if the medicines don't work and the predictions turn out to be wrong. I see too many older people and some even my age, quite a few with graduate level or secondary education, falling for these tricks. Traditions are fine, but don't let people use them to exploit you!