# data[].attributes.headline
Post #9 Image | Stunting the growth of Humanity

# data[].attributes.subject
Post #9 Image | Stunting the growth of Humanity

# data[].attributes.body
Description:
5G towers, a tool for faster and better internet, that is until people began to burn them. The movement of theories claiming it causes cancer, caused the corona virus, mainly stems from the fear that these towers cause radiation to the surrounding area believed to weaken the immune system, while others say its something to do with QAnon and the Deep State, yet all seem to have morphed into what it is now from the introduction of cellphones, or just new technologies.

Connection:
Right out the gate, you notice a Suppression By Authorities feel from this where their Confirmation Bias is rooted in aspects similar to the 9/11 conspiracy theories. By the actions of these people, in their response to Anti-Chinese belief, this has ensured that an advancement will almost certainly not be allowed outside of China, thus stunting the progression for faster internet for the average person, all because some people think they are right and are doing justice by ignoring what officials say, wasting what is usually tax-payer money to fix the towers, or relocate them entirely, in some cases.

# data[].attributes.body
1. While going through this I found that almost all of the sub-topics I've decided to cover all contain the potential to cause severe harm and/or death.
2. In real life, I care about my mother and occasionally see her talk about her home remedies for her joint pain due to the fact of as she's getting older she still wants to work, and miraculously still does, but prices for her medications keep rising, so she has lately started shifting from her trust in medical doctors to the more natural kind. In part I wanted to take this course to enlighten myself and hopefully think of a way to sway my mom back towards safer and proven methods.
3. While doing research I found the stuff on Conversion Therapy to be the most interesting as initially my perception of it was that it was all to do with sex changes, as when I hear about it in the news, it's almost always referring to something like 'mother losing custody over trying to turn son into girl through conversion therapy'.
4. Relating back to question 2, I'm going to remember mostly about the home remedy homeopathy stuff as I will need it later to hopefully prevent my mom from killing herself or others unintentionally. I know she isn't that daft, but I fear that with age she may end up becoming such.
5. To me, I would say Homeopathy is the most dangerous one as it can lead to believing in the Anti-vaxxer movement, and I'd say stuff like the Flat Earth Conspiracy theory are relatively harmless to all but themselves if they decide to go to a bar full of scientists, or bikers.
6. Commonsense and be wary of everything that involves the talk of wanting you to pay for anything labeled as to boost your immune system, chances are it is a scam and is most likely salty cabbage water from a motel bathtub.

# data[].attributes.headline
Post #10 Image | Physical Harm through Fanatical Belief

# data[].attributes.subject
Post #10 Image | Physical Harm through Fanatical Belief

# data[].attributes.body
Description:
Mad Mike Hughes died on February 22nd of 2020 when he shot his homemade rocket up into the air to try and disprove that the earth was round, but unfortunately he didn't make it higher than 1875 ft into the air before plummeting back down at terminal velocity.
Prior to this, and in the past, experts had criticized Mike, and his peers, on the fact that the earth is flat, and his peers had done tests to prove their biased opinion, yet despite the community's stubbornness, they pushed mike to shoot a metal tube up, believing that gravity isn't all that real and that he'd be fine.

Connection:
This could have easily gone under Death as a topic, but I felt it reasonable to show where a fanatical belief ripe with Confirmation Bias could go. Mike was 64 years old and believed in the flat earth conspiracy, famous for their bias for their belief believing they can't be wrong, so much so that their Perception and Observation regarding the horizon led Mike and a minority of others to belief that their Simple conclusion must be right. Nobody could properly escape the disc and show that we live on a blue marble.

# data[].attributes.body
Description:
Mummia Vera, a container of ground up mummified remains straight from the Pyramids of Egypt and bought by the elite during the 17th century as they pillaged the ruins of ancient Egypt and snorted the ground up powder as they thought the remains of the ancient would give them mystical visions of the dead.

Connection:
Even though it isn't as common in modern times, there was a time of where mystical thoughts were rampant from children to the elderly, and as the elite and top members of fashion were doing Mummy Dust, the Appeal to authority stood there as an influential beacon to pillage pieces of history to get a lick of the wisdom from the ancient.

# data[].attributes.body
Description:
in 2018, ABC reported on conversion therapy and during the featured video they interview a Brian Sullivan, a currently straight man who stated the thinking of the time of when he had been put into his Conversion therapy, a psychologically abusing program that forces young to suppress gay thoughts as the common religious thought at the time was that being gay wasn't something you were born to be. A pastor, Greg Bullard, stated that due to the unwise mixing of Religion and Psychology it can cause mental stress like anxiety, anger, pain, and sometimes suicide as individuals begin to hate themselves as those involved in Conversion Therapy believe that God hated them for having 'impure' thoughts that did not conform to the norm at the time.

Connection:
Going into this specific video, I was half expecting it to harp on the current gender conversion therapy and surgery that happens in modern time, which has its own bouts of depression and suicide, instead the story told gave insight into the religious ties that it has, where ideologies of the average person from Brian's youth gave him and others the sense of anger towards themselves where their mental state was just harmed by blaming themselves, where some even believed that suicide was the answer to be forgiven by their god.  During the conversion therapies, most individuals who take part in it are made to hate themselves as those who convert them to the perceived norm build an emotional connection as a way to ensure they don't turn gay.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
About 700,000 adults have undergone some form of a controversial method to change a person's homosexuality and suppress their feelings toward the same sex.

"Conversion therapy" is banned in 14 states, primarily on the west and east coasts. While the practice is highly criticized, it is still supported in Tennessee.

People like Brian Sullivan consider themselves survivors after experiencing conversion therapy. Efforts to change someone's sexual orientation are associated with poor mental health, including suicide, according to a report by the Williams Institute at University of California, Los Angeles.

Conversion therapy is receiving more attention thanks to the newly released film featuring Nicole Kidman, "Boy Erased." It follows a college student as he undergoes conversion therapy at the same program Sullivan was a part of.

Sullivan told his family he was gay when he was 19-years-old. However, that never stopped him in his journey to pursue his faith in God.

"I wanted to please God," Sullivan said. "I sort of fell in love with this idea of God being the only entity that loved me unconditionally."

As a student at Crichton College in Memphis, Tennessee, now known as Victory University, Sullivan came across a program affiliated with Love In Action, a Memphis-based, ex-gay ministry aimed to convert homosexuals.

"I voluntarily sought out a 'therapist' that was affiliated with them. I began to go therapy to convert or to change these feelings I had for men, and learn how to manage them and live life as a
straight man," Sullivan said. "I wanted to keep that close relationship that I felt I had with God."

For a few months, he had one-on-one sessions in what can be described like an outpatient therapy. He had to keep a journal to keep track of his sexual desires and speak about them.

Like many others, his sessions included that being gay was something you develop and is caused by issues within the family.

"You were taught you cannot be born gay and that there's something that had to cause it. They believe it was all environment. Since my father wasn't really in the picture, I was taught that maybe I was seeking out the love of other men," Sullivan said.

While Sullivan believed everyone involved had the right intentions to help people of the church, he said the approach of treating sin as a sickness left damaging effects.

"Being gay is something you cannot change, and trying to change it doesn't work. You're frustrated and you're angry and because you love Jesus and you want to be pleasing to God, the only place to direct
that rage and anger and hurt is inward," Sullivan added.

Eventually Sullivan left the program when he met the woman he would be married to for eight years. However, he was still attracted to men which was openly discussed in their relationship. However, struggles with his identity on top of life issues motivated him to try to kill himself.

"If you don't heal from your wounds and the damage, then you will bleed on people who didn't cut you
and you will bleed on a God who didn't stab you, these are people who did this," Sullivan said.

Several child and family psychology groups including the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry warn against the use of conversion therapy, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

"You have no real rubric for something to be dealt with," Covenant of the Cross Church Senior Pastor Greg Bullard told WTVF. "You're basically taking shots at somebody with a goal but you have no method of getting to that goal."

At 41-years-old, Sullivan has now been attending Bullard's church and "feels closer to God than ever before." Bullard's congregation is open to anyone regardless of their sexual orientation.

Bullard said he's had some people come through who survived conversion therapy.

"It creates this dichotomy in this person's mind and psyche that causes them to never be able to put life back together again," Bullard said.

Sullivan admits he still faces challenges emotionally and spiritually because of his experience. He said he doesn't want to knock down the church, but hopes people's stories will help others realize how damaging conversion therapy can be.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Conversion therapy leaves impact on survivors

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
About 700,000 adults have undergone some form of a controversial method to change a person's homosexuality and suppress their feelings toward the same sex. "Conversion therapy" is banned in 14 states, primarily on the west and east coasts. While the practice is highly criticized, it is still supported in Tennessee.

# data[].attributes.headline
Post #6 Video | Harm to others/Harm through rumor

# data[].attributes.subject
Post #6 Video | Harm to others/Harm through rumor

# data[].attributes.body
Description:
Featured in this video, Oprah has invited some couples onto her stage and given them a voice to promote their anti-vaccination belief, stating the common point of bodily illnesses like autism and asthma to be caused by the multiple vaccinations a child should have by a certain age, or weeks or days after they are born.

Connection:
A clear connection here is an Appeal to Authority, as by Oprah letting her speak, and later agreeing with this lady's belief, has given this lady a similar influence than that of Oprah, as Oprah's popular show is seen as gospel to people, and while this lady spouts on it inclines the viewer to feel compassion for her, an Emotional Connection if you will, yet at the start of her segment you hear her say she was rejected by multiple doctors to, what I can only assume, sign off on fraudulent papers to say her child was vaccinated, or to support her stance, right there it should have been a red-flag, essentially another form of Suppression by Authorities.

# data[].attributes.headline
Post #5 Video | Physical Harm through All-Natural

# data[].attributes.subject
Post #5 Video | Physical Harm through All-Natural

# data[].attributes.body
Description:
Sally and Jacob talk about the past Ebola Virus back in 2014, explaining their methods have fast results  by spouting off different examples of other instances where themselves and others have been 'healed' of other diseases/viruses perceived to be similar to Ebola.

Connection:
Throughout the video Sally and Jacob remain calm and verbose amounts of evidence, rather perceived evidence, to draw connections between their alternative medicine and how effective it could be to help your body against Ebola. Furthermore, they keep involving money into their lecture, saying if you buy your kits they you will survive this and any other illness out there, and in what they say they make it seem like what they peddle is a cure-all, saying it cures this and that but never claim its a direct cause of what they do, but instead it does, it just influences your immune system to become stronger and fight on its own, yet their own statement contradicts what they say the moment they mention they aren't the cause, because if they did then it'd be a crime against the common person.

# data[].attributes.body
Description:
From National Geographic, they recount a small excerpt of Chinese history with their Traditional Medicine that utilized parts of animals thought to be a boon for the human body, yet as the years have gone on and most of these remedies have become less in demand as society advances with science, there is still the demand for animals who are slowly becoming, or are already considered, endangered, poaching animals like Pangolins. whose scales are ground up and said to be enhancers for lactation and arthritis and many other illnesses.  The same type of thing goes for the horns of rhinos and sometimes the balls of tigers.
Luckily over time the governments, where these animals reside within, have been trying to take measures to protect a small population of these animals who have slowly become endangered through setting up protected land monitored by armed officials to ensure these animals aren't killed to extinction.

Connection:
Due to past Confusion with certain causes it has been believed that these different animal parts can be a boon to the human body, where in some areas it is believed that the heart of a mighty beast, like a tiger, can give you immense strength and courage, and as such it has caused some species to go extinct in areas where this type of thing is believed to be true, mostly based on the unexplained circumstances of where an individual has gained the courage or is now able to birth offspring.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Traditional Chinese medicine, often referred to as TCM, is a system of health care that dates back to the third century B.C. It grew out of the writings of ancient healers, who began recording their observations of the body, its functions, and its reactions to various therapies and treatments, including herbal remedies, massage, and acupuncture. For more than 2,000 years, generations of healers and scholars added to and refined the knowledge. The result is a canon of literature dealing with practically every sort of health issue-from the common cold to cancer, pregnancy to old age.

Though China has long embraced science-based medicine, TCM remains popular throughout the country and is often offered in hospitals and clinics alongside science-based medical treatments. TCM has also become popular beyond China's borders and can now be found in more than 180 countries worldwide, according to some counts, and has an industry value of more than $60 billion a year.

Despite its long history and increasing popularity, TCM has been criticized by the medical community for lacking efficacy in many of its applications, by the conservation community for its use of substances derived from animals and its role in increasing the demand for species threatened by extinction.

Growing demand for TCM products has had devastating consequences for many species of wildlife. In some cases, poaching animals to use their body parts for traditional medicine is the primary reason why an animal faces a risk of extinction.

This is the case with pangolins, more than a million of which have been poached between 2000 and 2013. The small ant-eating creatures are in demand for their scales, which are ground up into powder or paste and are said to help with lactation, arthritis, and many other ailments. Also suffering major losses are rhinos and tigers, sought after for their horns and bones, which are believed to hold healing properties. However, there is scant scientific evidence that suggests those treatments are effective, though in some cases patients may see results because of the placebo effect.

Desire for TCM products has also led to poor treatment of animals in addition to their losses in the wild. Sun bears and Asiatic black bears are captured from forests or captive-bred so that traders can extract bile from their gallbladders. Bile is a yellowish liquid that has been scientifically proven help some liver conditions and other ailments. During the process, the bears are usually kept in tiny cages and live with a permanent catheter, to drain the bile, that can rust or otherwise degrade.

In response to the poaching crisis, countries have banned the killing and capture of many animals used in traditional medicine, and a global wildlife treaty called CITES has barred or restricted commercial trade in some of these animals and their parts. Poaching has continued despite these regulations, however, and wildlife trading-for TCM and other uses-has become a dangerous and sophisticated black market worth billions of dollars a year.

Many in the TCM community have tried to dissuade the uses of animal-based remedies. In 1993 rhino horn and tiger bone were removed from the traditional Chinese pharmacopoeia, and in 2010 the World Federation of Chinese Medical Societies released a statement urging members not to use tiger bone or any other parts from endangered species. In addition, many reputable TCM practitioners now prescribe substitutes for animal-based remedies, although some shops and restaurants still market products derived from animals.

Businesspeople in China and other Asian countries have also started government-sanctioned bear and tiger farms as a way to prevent poaching of them in the wild. But farming has proven an inadequate solution: evidence has shown that many of the animals on these "farms" are captured from the wild, treated inhumanely, and are often killed to supply the black market for animal body parts.

To learn more about how ancient remedies are changing modern medicine, check out this story in National Geographic's January 2019 issue.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
is traditional chinese medicine effective

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Traditional Chinese medicine and wildlife

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Traditional Chinese medicine, often referred to as TCM, is a system of health care that dates back to the third century B.C. It grew out of the writings of ancient healers, who began recording their observations of the body, its functions, and its reactions to various therapies and treatments, including herbal remedies, massage, and acupuncture.

# data[].attributes.body
Description:
Within this article, it goes over the events of a Calgary woman, believing her natural remedies could cure her child of an unnaturally high fever, later found to be meningitis and a strep infection, but unfortunately the child passed. Later accounts in the article say she was arrested and prosecuted for her negligence.
Tim Caulfield, a University of Alberta professor, says that this could have been solved with proper knowledge of when to take a child to a doctor, and even though the parents did what they were doing in good faith, it does not abstain responsibility for the death of a child, and the law agrees.

Connection:
Although the article goes over the matter in short, it is clear that due to the belief that Ancient Wisdom and All-Natural were at play in the result of a death, as these people, specifically this Calgary woman, was convinced that these home remedies, usually much cheaper than medical bills, were cure-alls, which is very tempting for those who don't have all that much money in life to begin with.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
CBC News · Posted: Nov 29, 2016 12:31 PM EST | Last Updated: November 30, 2016

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Health law expert warns of ‘pseudo-science’ after Alberta child deaths | CBC News

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
After the recent deaths of two Alberta children treated with natural remedies, a health law expert weighs in on what he describes as a trend of “pseudo-science” — and the question of whether prosecuting parents is the best way forward.

# data[].attributes.body
Description:
This article goes over how one of the largest mail scams caused multiple elderly, and others. Over the course of 2008 to as recent as July 2018, the scam of sending the elderly letters promising that through trinkets and by-mail readings, a psychic could help them reconnect with the dead, but only if Maria Duval, the figurehead of the operation, was paid exorbitant amounts of money, eventually totaling to the estimate of $200 Million, leaving some elderly homeless and/or feeling defeated on the ground of being duped with false kindness from a stranger.

Connection:
This article connects to the danger of bleeding yourself dry of money on the premise of an Emotional Connection by promising that through the powers of Mystical Powers you could be cured or could be reconnected with a dead friend/family, but it only led to the bankruptcy of those who fell for this scam by being duped with good faith.
Due to how vulnerable the elderly can be, due to mental illnesses or just too much trust in strangers, it's not much a surprise that so many were fooled, yet the moment Money was involved, they should have backed away and reported this scam before it became too late.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Its victims are all over the world, but they have one thing in common: desperation.

They are seniors suffering from debilitating illnesses, debtors struggling to get back on their feet and even families facing homelessness.

The scam is remarkably simple: people receive letters promising them that psychic guidance and talismans from the French clairvoyant Maria Duval are the secret to turning their lives around. All they need to do is send in money.

The scheme's victims quickly become convinced that Duval can help them win huge amounts of money, find professional success and overcome terrible health problems.

U.S. postal inspectors say that Duval is at the center of one of the largest cases of mail fraud in history -- which has raked in more than $200 million in the United States and Canada alone.

Read the full investigation: CNNMoney goes on the hunt for Maria Duval

Some investigators around the globe question whether Duval exists at all or if she is actually the creation of scam artists. But for the scheme's victims, Maria Duval is remarkably real.

And their haunting stories show just how heartless the scheme really is.

'Something tells me that I can trust you'

Many victims have written lengthy letters in response to the Duval mailings, unloading their hopes and fears to the psychic.

"I'm already thinking what I would do with all this money," one victim wrote in a letter that was recovered by the U.S. government. "My wife would not have to work anymore and would drive a newer car. So I would too. We could install air conditioning in our house." And in a note scrawled at the very bottom of the letter: "I forgot! A good amount of this money would go to the bank."

'How can you do this to an elderly person?'

Like many of those who have fallen prey to the Duval letters, Leela DeVere's mother was suffering from Alzheimer's disease when she began sending $139 a month to the psychic. The payments quickly added up to thousands of dollars."How can you do this to an elderly person with Alzheimer's?" DeVere asked.

Want to follow our hunt? Sign up for updates here

'I am getting more broke every day'

In another letter to Duval that was taken by authorities, one person wrote that they had serious money problems and that they were struggling to afford new glasses or a dentist appointment. They apologized for not writing more often, telling Duval that they had been "in distress" with back problems. "I am getting more broke every day. I can't send what I don't have."

"Clare used to be a happy girl"

It's not uncommon for some victims to feel so close to Duval that they become obsessed. An article from the Evening Chronicle reported that a 17-year-old U.K. girl was found dead in a river in 1998 with a letter from Duval in her pocket. Her mother told the paper that her daughter had been corresponding with Duval for weeks before her death. "Clare used to be a happy girl but she went down hill after getting involved with all this," she said.

'They have made an independent elderly man dependent on his children'

Online consumer forums are filled with complaints from victims and family members about Maria Duval and the financial and emotional toll of her letters. One complaint, from a resident of British Columbia, tells of an elderly father who sent $6,000 to the psychic hoping to win money. "Now he is broke and nothing came true. I hope these [people] are not able to sleep at night."

'She was eagerly waiting on my disability check'

Someone who said they were suffering from brain cancer wrote in an online forum that Duval would send "panicky" letters demanding $45 twice a month -- ultimately costing the person around $1,500 in disability benefits. "She can never have enough. She is the biggest scam ever."

'I couldn't eat or sleep worrying whether I'd be hit by more bad luck.'

In some cases, the Duval letters have taken a more sinister tone -- suggesting that misfortune awaited those who ignored her. In 1997, one woman told the Scottish Daily Record & Sunday Mail newspaper that she was terrified of what would happen if she didn't send money.

Who is Maria Duval? Email us with your stories, theories and feedback

"When I wrote to say I didn't have that kind of cash, the letters got even more frightening," she said at the time. "I was so scared I couldn't eat or sleep worrying whether I'd be hit by more bad luck. I was convinced I'd need further heart surgery and this time I might not survive."

'I feel like a fool'

A mother of five living on a fixed income thought that sending money to Duval would help bring about a better life for her children. "I have sent this woman lots of my money where I could not pay my bills," she wrote in a consumer complaint forum. "Yes I feel like a fool, but when you receive [these] letters over and over you feel like a failure if you did not send it in to get a better life for your children."

'I was so desperate for some kind of hope'

A Michigan woman wrote in an online complaint that Duval's letters came to her in some of her darkest days -- after separating from her husband, watching her son join the military and losing her job. "This scam crushed the last bit of hope I had in any kindness or miracle that could be, and pushed me over the edge," she wrote. "Congrats! You got another weak one."

'He is now bankrupt and at the mercy of the state'

A Milwaukee resident wrote online about their 96-year-old father-in-law who refused to believe that the Duval letters were a scam and even tried to send a cash payment after his family closed his bank account. "He is so desperate for money that he pins all his hopes on this."

"I live on Social Security"

An 82-year-old Oregon widow said she regretted the day she first sent money to Duval. Even after realizing it was a scam, she wrote in an online complaint that money continued to be deducted from her checking account. "I live on Social Security, so don't have very much money. Can someone please help me?" she wrote in 2009.

'I am homeless and $5000.00 in debt'

A Utah resident said they ended up in even worse financial shape after sending money to Duval. "All she wanted from me is money. Now I am homeless and $5000.00 in debt," the person wrote in an online complaint. "I need dental care, and I have no money to pay."

CNNMoney (New York) First published February 24, 2016: 4:50 PM ET

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Elderly, broke and homeless: The victims of a $200 million psychic scam

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
They are seniors suffering from debilitating illnesses, debtors struggling to get back on their feet and even families facing homelessness. The scam is remarkably simple: people receive letters promising them that psychic guidance and talismans from the French clairvoyant Maria Duval are the secret to turning their lives around.

# data[].attributes.headline
Post #1 Dangers of Pseudoscience  | Assignment 2

# data[].attributes.subject
Post #1 Dangers of Pseudoscience  | Assignment 2

# data[].attributes.body
Alexander McWilliams