If you’ve ever read Drew Curtis’s fantastic book, It’s Not News, It’s Fark, you’re probably aware of the “Equal Time for Nutjobs” article. Basically, it’s when someone fills space in media by allowing nutjobs to spout off their unfounded, wrong ideas because to ignore them would be “unfair.” I mean, we could just ignore the guy who thinks flu shots make kids autistic, but we have to be fair, right?
Earlier this week, Dr Oz, one of Oprah’s satellite hosts, used an episode of his show to talk about anti-gay reparative therapy. Honestly, he could have just summed it up as “IT’S BULLSHIT. DON’T DO IT,” but instead, he gave crazy people a pulpit, allowed them to talk seriously about said bullshit, and aired it all on a major network. Shockingly, GLAAD was not happy about this.
“While we acknowledge this is a difficult conversation to have, it’s critical that a discussion like this happen through the filter of a show like The Dr. Oz Show rather than in secluded basements or back alleys,” the statement read.
Oz—who acknowledges that medical groups like the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association denounce reparative therapy—wrote on his blog following the episode, “’After listening to both sides of the issue and after reviewing the available medical data, I agree with the established medical consensus, ‘I have not found enough published data supporting positive results with gay reparative therapy, and I have concerns about the potentially dangerous effects when the therapy fails, especially when minors are forced into treatments.’ [SOURCE]
Wait, so he recognized that it was all bullshit only after the show? And he came clean only on his blog? Nicely done, doc.
But in all seriousness, I understand trying to open a dialogue, but you don’t need to open a dialogue on something with an obvious answer. Two plus two is four. We don’t need a televised debate on whether or not it equals three or five or negative bleventeen. Likewise, you really probably shouldn’t draw attention to an unscientific practice by seriously debating it on your medical show.
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