I've been following the Dr. Oz situation as of late. If you'll recall, 10 doctors recently sent a letter to Columbia University calling for his dismissal based on his lack of credible scientific backing for the medical positions he often holds. This morning I see that on an upcoming episode of his show, Mr. Oz will fight back against critics who call him a fraud. I saw a clip of him "fighting back" and the general message went like this:
"I try to help people live healthier and yet some critics want to silence my freedom of speech."
It's tiresome hearing people claim their freedom of speech is being stifled, when in fact it's their platform that we want to stifle due to their misuse of that freedom. Freedom of speech is crucial to what we have in this nation, and that's why it's crucial that we exercise that freedom to call out people on their bullshit. I see someone like Mr. Oz as exercising his freedom of speech while simultaneously abusing it. He's not merely holding an outlying view on hotly debated topics or going against the grain of mainstream science or something. He's outright lying about the efficacy of medications he promotes, and he does this from a platform that he built around very noble things that he knows lend credibility to his voice: he's a doctor at a prestigious university, he offers health and dieting advice to the masses, he says he wants to help people live healthier lives, and he's got a TV show seen by millions. That platform has the potential to do so much good... and yet he uses it for no good at all. He isn't being paid to help the masses be healthier by promoting products to further that goal. Quite the contrary: he's being paid to promote products by people who want to sell products. He's a spokesman, and not a spokesman for the scientific or medical community or for people who want to lead healthier lives, but a spokesman for the business community. And while the businesses that develop products labeled as miracle cures for whatever, and that do not work for anything they claim, are not blameless in this, they sure as heck wouldn't last very long if not for a famous guy with a doctorate talking about them.
When someone jokes about a "used car salesman" we all know exactly the stereotype they're referring to because it's been burned into our minds that these folks are sleazy and will do anything to make a sale. And yet because "Doctor" Oz has a medical degree and works for a university and says he wants us to lead healthy lives he's perceived as something better than that stereotype. Sadly, he is worse... much worse. At least the car salesman who talks up the AM/FM radio in that old beater vehicle as if it's futuristic technology is talking about something real and isn't putting your life in danger when he exaggerates the importance of features. Mr. Oz just talks about whatever will sell his sponsor's products though, with just enough scientific mumbo-jumbo that everyday folks without medical degrees think he is providing them with valuable medical advice. We used to call them "snake oil salesman", but that term isn't as widely used as it was back when water was packaged in a bottle and promoted as a cure-all (although that still happens today... it's called homeopathy). But there are people out there who have real medical problems, or who want to take steps that will actually help curb their weight, or who need to know what medicine is truly proven to treat an ailment from which they suffer, and these folks shouldn't have to be doctors themselves to avoid falling prey to a salesman wearing a lab coat. He has the knowledge to know that the crap he talks about doesn't have any scientific basis and what makes him truly dangerous is that he's chosen to shun that knowledge in favor of keeping folks in just enough darkness that he can collect his fat paycheck while still being perceived as an actual doctor.
So I say this to "Doctor" Mehmet Oz: If the merits of what you speak about stood on their own you'd have an evidence-based defense to your position. You could point to each thing you've promoted and talk about the science that led you to the conclusion that it's "magic in a bottle" and was worth promoting full-blast from your podium. Instead you attempt to keep up the charade not even by giving us more of the pseudo-medicine you so dutifully practice, but by calling into question your critics' respect for Freedom of Speech. Know this Mr. Oz: Your critics aren't trying to quell your free speech and we aren't asking for your arrest, we'd just rather you don't use your disproportionately large platform to spread such misinformation under the guise that you want to help your audience. The only help you actually provide is to yourself and to your sponsors.
