Quackery and Hype: Mesmerized by Wizards

the notions of quackery, charlatans, hype, mesmerists, and wizards are not new. For thousands of years, since well before the concept of scientific theory existed, the fear of illness and death has spurred curiosity, hope, and the resultant medical "performance" to create interest, intrigue, and desire to try whatever one can to stave off or cure illness. But unlike in prior centuries when one desperate for wellness or cure was primarily duped by the traveling huckster going door to door peddling his snake oil, currently the touch of a button on a phone, sound bite on the radio, catchy product placement, or cursory Internet search are all one needs to be deceived. "Healers" now include celebrities, television personalities, former athletes, and those with political clout, drawing in not crowds in a town square but millions of followers on social media.

While classic fictional con artists such as characters played by Robert Redford and Paul Newman in The Sting or real-life scammers such as Bernard Madoff may be who first come to mind when picturing a con or a scam, today there is more wizardry and trickery in the health sphere than almost anywhere else. As health information becomes more readily accessible, primarily in the form of Internet-based resources, tricks of the trade are similarly becoming more and more the norm.

In 2017, almost 150 years after the clowns first donned their red noses, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus closed its doors. Many remember this "greatest show on earth," having experienced it as a child in awe or as an adult watching a child's face light up with amazement. In recent years, more information has been made public about both the animal and human abuse that went on behind the curtains of this three-ring circus. P. T. Barnum was a supreme huckster of his day. His popularity grew and thrived on human cravings for the extreme, the strange, and the impossible. Animals performed stunts never seen before, and audiences gawked at exhibits of those with what one would today refer to as endocrine or metabolic disorders (a "bearded lady," a "giant," a "human skeleton"), or congenital disorders (a "four legged child," a "miniature adult").

While today the notion of public exhibition and exploitation of individuals with medical and surgical challenges is extremely insensitive and offensive, P. T. Barnum's "Freak Shows" were standard afternoon entertainment for the entire family just over a century ago. Even in the years before the renowned circus came to be, Barnum advertised the exhibit of the beautiful "Fee-jee mermaid," which was actually an altered ape's skull sewn to a fish's body. In the mid 1800s, Barnum also claimed that George Washington's 161-year-old nurse would be on site to tell tales of our dearly departed first president. Nowadays, we look back on such absurdity and wonder how those living in the nineteenth century could possibly be so gullible as to believe such ridiculous stunts. But thousands fell for Barnum; back in the day, seeing really was believing.

In the twenty-first century, one need not wait for the traveling circus's appearance to fall prey to a visual stunt. At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, a YouTube video went viral, leading more than 5 million people around the globe to gawk in amazement at the clip showing a feral wolf entering the dormitory of the US Olympic Team athletes. It was quickly termed "The Sochi Wolf Event." The power of television and the Internet enabled this video to be seen worldwide in a matter of hours. Its veracity was not even called into question. But shortly after, it was revealed that this was not a wild wolf in an athletes' dormitory; it was a rescue animal in a Hollywood studio. The American late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel had aired it as a harmless prank. (No animals were harmed—the rescue animal was domesticated, not wild, and was well cared for.) But unlike in the days of P. T. Barnum (who notoriously did abuse animals), the rapidity of...