#2635: Don Campbell

The Mozart effect is a silly but familiar bit of nonsense pop psychology according to which listening to Mozart’s music will, for some unclear reason, increase your intelligence. It was first proposed by real researchers (Shaw et al.), but their study failed to replicate and a meta-study showed no effect (at least not beyond whatever might have been caused by mood changes). But hah! When has lack of evidence, plausibility or mechanism stopped a potentially profitable piece of pseudopsychology? Several attempts were made to turn the mythical effect into a cash cow, the most important (outside of Austria) probably being Don Campbell’s Mozart Effect Resource Center, which peddles a variety of pseudo-scientific products based on the myth (he even trademarked the purported effect). Campbell subsequently wrote a number of books and published numerous albums with Mozart’s music, including The Mozart Effect for Children, where he explains, in the chapter “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Neuron”, that Mozart’s music enhances the network of connections forming in the infant brain, based on the fact that it sounds properly sciency and gentrified for his audiences to say something like that. That said, even Campbell has criticized the original Shaw et al.-study for its lack of controls – concluding, predictably and based on no evidence whatsoever, that had the controls been in place, the effect observed would have been even more dramatic. It demonstrably would not.

 

But not only does Mozart increase your intelligence, as Campbell sees it; Mozart is rather an all-purpose source of magic, and can even cure disease – according to Campbell, he himself made a blood clot in his brain disappear by humming, praying, and envisioning a vibrating hand on the right side of his skull. The finding didn’t quite reach peer review. But it is not Campbell’s only flimsy anecdote about the disease-curing properties of music written by a generally sickly person with numerous health problems who died at the age of 35. As it is, Campbell remains a popular speaker for post-truth middle-class audiences.

 

Diagnosis: Mostly a cynical but savvy opportunist, we assume, but people who keep repeating nonsense for decades will usually end up convincing themselves, too. Not the most immediately harmful of woo, perhaps, but woo nonetheless.

#2634: Bob Campbell

We have no idea whether he’s still around, but proud Arkansan Bob Campbell used to be a bit of a clown-figure on the wingnut conspiracy circuit, the ones that would later descend into Trump-worship and Qanon rubbish. Campbell was the instigator of something he called the American Grand Jury back in the late 2000s, the mission of which was to drive then-President Obama from office and put him on trial for treason. According to Campbell, Obama “is a certified crook that has committed treason and fraud,” therefore “[H]e is a fraud and a traitor.” So it goes.

 

Apparently Campbell formed the American Grand Jury in March 2009 to examine “evidence” and hand down “presentments” that the group hoped would be used to indict the president (no, he doesn’t even being to understand how any of this works). Campbell’s main charge was of course that Obama wasn’t born in the United States and thus ineligible to serve as president. The group also sought to indict Nancy Pelosi for her role in the scheme to get the Obama elected. Campbell’s concrete plan was to take supporters (for a mere $649 a head) on a roadtrip by bus to deliver their findings to federal judges in 20 states. In a rare moment of self-awareness, Campbell admitted that “[s]erving our Grand Jury Presentments have [sic] always made the courts mad,” but he was nevertheless convinced that “[w]ith what I have in mind it should really burn the bark right off a few of these liberal Judges.”

 

Campbell is predictably critical of Islam as well: “Islam is a bully belief system. It’s [sic] followers act as spoiled little children/brats that can’t take the truth”, and he was strongly in favor of Quran burning. “ ‘Burn baby burn’ is my motto”, said Campbell.

 

Diagnosis: We would actually be somewhat surprised if Campbell made it all the way to the 2020s, given his basic incompetence at forming true and useful beliefs about the world, but insofar as he did, we have a fair idea of what he’d be doing right now. Probably mostly harmless, though.

 

Hat-tip: Splcenter

#2633: Daniel Cameron

Chronic lyme is not a real disease, and long-term antibiotics are not an appropriate treatment (indeed, it is a very, very inappropriate treatment). But a number of people wrongly believe that chronic lyme exists and, moreover, that they themselves suffer from it. That creates a potential market for cures, and for vultures to swoop in – and sure enough: A number of “lyme literate” doctors have popped up on lists distributed in conspiracy theory media the last few years, offering various kinds of magic, pseudoscience and non-science-based remedies for chronic lyme, including Daniel Cameron. Cameron is a practitioner in Mt. Kisco, NY, and a real MD: according to his website, he is also “a nationally recognized leader for his expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses.” Well, he is indeed recognized in certain woo- and conspiracy groups; his star among board-certified infectious disease doctors and other experts is significantly dimmer.

 

Indeed, Cameron is a former president of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), an organization that has developed their own guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of “chronic Lyme,” based on pseudo-evidence accepted exclusively by themselves, and which offers courses on how to become “Lyme literate”. In fact, Cameron is the lead author of both the original ILADS guidelines and its 2014 update, and has testified before several state legislatures to achieve measures that would protect “Lyme literate” doctors from being subject to the professional misconduct measures they obviously deserve to be subject to. Cameron also makes presentations and infomercials to Lyme support groups. He has also written articles promoting the idea that  “chronic Lyme” exists, and recommending long-term antibiotics as a treatment, to be published in bottom-feeder and borderline fake journals such as Medical Hypotheses. Despite the evidence, and professional agreements on those who actually study it, he also offers his treatment regimes as treatment to people in vulnerable situations.

 

“But doesn’t his practices amount to medical misconduct?” you may ask. Why, yes, it does, and Cameron has certaintly been disciplined by boards for professional medical misconduct, primarily for his failure to properly diagnose or follow up – but rather offer inadequate treatment – to people who were not, in fact, suffering from chronic Lyme. To his fans, however, such elitist cancellation attempts just cements his reputation as a brave maverick doctor willing to stand up to the system (which, notably, can’t included Big Pharma, given that Big Pharma obviously stands to benefit from Cameron-style advice and treatment regimes.)

 

Diagnosis: Few topics illustrate the problem of fake diagnoses and pseudoscience better than chronic Lyme nonsense, and Daniel Cameron isn’t merely an example of but a leader in the scam that is ILADs and chronic Lyme treatment. A real threat to civilization.

 

Hat-tip: Jann Bellamy@Sciencebasedmedicine

#2632: Erika Calihan

Erika Calihan is a random woman whom former Kentucky governor Matt Bevin for some reason (Bevin called her a “good friend”) appointed to a state government position. Calihan, being a lunatic dingbat and conspiracy theorist, promptly used the opportunity to scour facebook for nonsense related to the 2019 election that Bevin lost, primarily various conspiracy theories and fake news alleging massive election fraud – conspiracy theories that Matt Bevin went on to repeat in public. The claims included for instance references – without a shred of evidence, of course – to “thousands of absentee ballots that were illegally counted”, people allegedly being “incorrectly turned away” at the polls, “a number of [voting] machines that didn’t work properly”, and ballots being stored in open boxes.

 

Calihan subsequently appointed herself Executive Director of her own astroturf group Citizens for Election Integrity (basically herself and one Kris Stuebs), and became, as such, the de facto leader of the Kentucky gubernatorial election conspiracy activists (in addition to Bevin himself, of course): “We’re newly formed because we heard all the charges just like everybody else,” said Calihan about the group, neglecting to mention that all the allegations came from herself. She demurred when reporters asked for specific evidence, but the group did circulate a press release touting an event in Frankfort where they would present purported evidence (mostly rumors, footage from CNN that the group claims is “video evidence” of “manipulation” at electronic voting booths, and purported irregularities in vote totals reported on county websites). When they failed to provide any actual evidence, Calihan explained that “We’re just two moms” (herself and Stuebs). She didn’t admit to being wrong, of course.

 

Together with Bevin, Calihan predictably went on to become a semi-professional COVID-19 restriction protestor and heckler.

 

Diagnosis: Insane conspiracy theorist. Yeah, she’s done and gone, but she’s also strikingly representative of a certain segment of the population.

#2631: Roland & Lennell Caldwell

Roland Caldwell is a pastor affiliated with the fundamentalist Burnette Baptist Church (also a TV channel). Lennell Caldwell is too, and we assume (but can’t verify) that there is some relationship between them – Lennell Caldwell apparently enjoys the position of “Apostle” with the church (as well as being a pastor at First Baptist World Changer International.) Neither of them likes gay people.

 

So the Caldwells, joining forces with e.g. Stacy Swimp, reacted stupidly to the 2014 Michigan ruling that the state’s denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples was unconstitutional, and claimed that civil rights should not be upheld by the courts if doing so conflicts with the opinions of the majority – where “majority” doesn’t mean majority, of course (if it did, there would be no criticism of the ruling), but in line with what the Caldwells happen to think. As for proponents of same-sex marriage, Roland Caldwell made his position clear: “You are my enemy! Anybody that’s an enemy of God is an enemy of mine. And now the fight is on!”

 

Roland and Lennell were apparently behind organizing pastors and churches in Michigan to protest the aforementioned ruling, the goal apparently being to “send a message that there are yet still pastors in the city and state who stand by both our Michigan Constitution and our Judeo Christian values,” according to Lennell Caldwell. (Of course, they did explicitly not stand by the Constitution. Details.)

 

Diagnosis: So yeah, there are a lot of these around, but although the Caldwells are hardly major forces in the fundie deranged wingnut movement, they’re incredibly silly and hateful, and worth mentioning just in case anyone should ever run into them.

#2630: Cherie Calbom

a.k.a. “The Juice Lady”

 

Juicing, according to its proponents, is the process of removing toxins from the body by consuming only juice for days in a row – preferably by using an expensive juicing machine to prepare the product, since effective New Age magic transmutation rituals require class-exclusive and gentrification-typed spell components. (It also removes all fiber; who needs fiber?). The idea, like all other detox ideas, is utter nonsense, of course.

 

But juicing has a significant number of fans and proponents, such as Cherie Calbom, self-declared “The Juice Lady”, who also claims to be “America’s most trusted nutritionalist”, whatever that means. Her evidence, to the extent that she feels the need to provide any, consists primarily of anecdotes, often involving herself, such as when she rid her body of “a tumor the size of golf ball” after consuming nothing but juice for five days – an achievment that, if it at all indicates anything that actually happened, ought to convince you never ever to take advice from her on absolutely anything.

 

Calbom has written a number of books, many of which are concerned with weight loss, such as The Coconut Diet: The Secret Ingredient For Effortless Weight Loss (with one John Calbom). The books contain absolutely nothing of value to anyone but instead a plethora of questionable health claims, and some of them aren’t completely innocuous, especially those made in her series The Juice Lady’s Remedies for …, which includes at least “Asthma and Allergies” and “Stress and Adrenal Fatigue”. Needless to say, juicing has absolutely no beneficial effect on real diseases, nor will it help remedy the conditions people interpret in light of fad fake diseases either. Among her more disconcerting titles, you’ll also find The Complete Cancer Cleanse: A Proven Program to Detoxify and Renew Body, Mind, and Spirit (with Michael Mahaffey and John Calbom again) – note that the authors are careful to merely suggest but not outright claim that their suggestions actually have any effect on cancer whatsoever; there are good reasons for that. (Despite Calbom’s complete lack of knowledge or understanding of cancer, some altmed crazies, like Judy Seeger, apparently take the title of her rant to indicate that she is something of a cancer expert). Among her titles are also some attempts to branch out into new territories, such as “Souping: The New Juicing”.

 

Calbom apparently holds a a Master of Science degree in whole foods nutrition from Bastyr University, which is not anything to be proud of.

 

Diagnosis: Complete and utter tripe, quackery and nonsense. But there is a rich market for this kind gentrified bullshit, and we admit that Calbom has figured out how to exploit it.

#2629: Joetta Calabrese

Joetta Calabrese is a homeopath, and as homeopaths are wont to do, she offers terrible advice on a range of issues. Ebola, for instance: According to Calabrese, “in the case of Ebola, no conventional treatment or vaccine is available. Fortunately for us, homeopathy has great renown for its healing ability in epidemics.” Homeopathy has no benefit for anything whatsoever, and insofar as that is reasonably well known, the statement might technically count as true, though not for the reasons Calabrese imagines it to be. She offers a range of what she considers to be treatment options, though – “remedies” homeopaths would push, without evidence of efficacy, for other diseases that, to Calabrese’s mind (to the extent that it’s there), “match this symptom picture” (homeopathy, of course, is all about symptoms) – all of which consist of water soaked into sugar pills. And, to repeat, Calabrese seems to believe these things, if her website is any indication. She also has a book, The Survivalist Guide to Homeopathy, which suggests she might be into other nonsense than medical nonsense as well.

 

Diagnosis: Completely delusional. If you suffer from anything, you’re better off trusting random chance selections of remedies than the advice of Joetta Calabrese. A significant threat to her surroundings.

 

Hat-tip: Respectful Insolence