Natural Cures: They Might Kill You

Being a bookstore monkey, I've seen all sorts of dumb, silly, and just plain annoying books come and go during my tenure, and I've never given my opinion to anyone when I disapproved of the selection. There's a recent book, however, that has pushed me closer to that edge, and I've gone so far as to mention the controversy.

Late night infomercial hack, Kevin Trudeau, has a book that he has been touting called, ''Natural Cures 'They' Don't Want You to Know About.'' Originally it was only available to order through the infomercial, then it became so popular, it had to be sold through normal outlets. Now my store can't even keep the damn thing in stock.

Seeing the title, I never really gave it much thought. I figured it was the typical flavor of the week crap that the public drinks up for a while like a diet sensation, but it was never really worth noticing. We sell all kinds of religious, metaphysical, political and self-help books to people who are searching for answers that they'll never find. And as far as I'm concerned, people can waste their money on whatever fads they want because they're sheep, and there's just no stopping the steamroller of stupidity in people. Besides, it keeps the economy going. I have no bones with capitalism when it's harmless.

A week or two ago, however, a coworker pointed out a bit about it in the NY Times which made me take notice for the first time. Apparently the author is not only full of crap, but he's also been a danger to society for years, and has been in prison for fraud! The "cures" in the book could possibly do more harm than good, and unfortunately, keep the ill from getting real help - as I understand from the review. I haven't (and won't) read the book. There are several who have read it and feel it was a waste of time and money.

The title of course is silly. "They don't want you to know about" feeds the public paranoia and distrust of anyone who is actually educated or an otherwise authority on any subject. For the same reason that Bill O'Reilly is popular (he tells it like it is, especially when it isn't), people will always buy into the simplest answer no matter how complex the problem. They want "plain talk" and whatever easy way out they can get. Why people would buy into the idea that doctors have been trying to keep people in the dark about inexpensive cures to ailments is beyond me. Sure, they government is conspiring against us with an alien spacestation on the moon (I was friends with an "intelligent" couple who actually believed that one!!), but where does the mistrust end?! More importantly, why are people so willing to believe the first crackpot theories they hear and willingly dismiss what has been proven?

Aparently, in the book he legally cannot tell what many of the "cures" are, and people still aren't hip to what that means: 1) If he told you, the lawsuits would fly his way once people got sicker, and 2) HE DOESN'T HAVE ANY CURES BECAUSE HE'S A CON MAN!!

My only consolation with the popularity of this book is that at least it may thin out the herd. If a few morons die because they are too senseless to realize that cancer can't be cured without proper medical help. I know, of course, as long as I keep wearing my Eternity Ring I got no worries.