Published in The Daily Banter, 19th January 2016:

‘The Dangers of Pseudo-Profound Bullshit’.

Excerpt:

“Though seemingly harmless, there is a sinister element to this digitised Xanax. Under the glowing skin of innocuous pseudo-profundity, they lead to an abscess of anti-modern medicine and pro-alternate medicine content.”

“Some may argue that they find comfort in the memes and simply ignore the nonsense. Where is the harm in that? Consider by analogy religious moderation. Religious moderates can isolate parts of scripture that align with their worldview, focus on passages they find comforting or inspiring, and discard the rest. Though seemingly private and harmless, the issue is that religious moderates, like ‘pseudo-profound moderates’, provide credence and shelter to all ideas contained within – whether that is a holy book or a Facebook page. Moderates fan the flames of ignorance towards others who may not have the cognitive toolkit to navigate a space speckled with dubious claims. Religious and pseudo-science literalism is bound to ensue.”

– Steve Stankevicius