Chiropractic Fatwa
By
JCS
“Muslim clerics in Spain issued what they called the world’s first fatwa, or Islamic edict, against Usama bin Laden on Thursday, the first anniversary of the Madrid train bombings, calling him an apostate and urging others of their faith to denounce the Al Qaeda leader.”
Finally, the good Muslims who abhor the violence of the insurgents who destroy in the name of Allah have spoken up with their frustration. Not only is this fatwa an act of conscientiousness on their part, but an act of courage for fear of reprisal from those evil doers who kill in the name of their cause. At last the silent majority within the Muslim community has spoken, and now it’s time for the silent majority of good, ethical, progressive DCs to do the same.
“The commission’s secretary general, Mansur Escudero, said the group had consulted with Muslim leaders in other countries, such as Morocco — home to most of the jailed suspects in the bombings — Algeria and Libya, and had their support.
“They agree,” Escudero said, referring to the Muslim leaders in the three North African countries. “What I want is that they say so publicly.”
And now is the time for ethical, progressive DCs to do the same—publicly declare a fatwa against our own evil doers—those in the Axis of Evil Vendors who’ve exploited, terrorized, misinformed and mislead some in this profession for too long.
The more I write about the corruption within the Axis of Evil Vendors, the phony educators, the phony “alliance” leaders, the phony “peer reviewed” researchers, the outright yellow journalists, and the known demagogues within this Axis, the more it resonates among the rank and file field docs in our profession. Indeed, the Galactic Online Alliance is now the third largest alliance in the profession, growing daily with new members—Chiro Jedi Warriors who want to change the direction of this profession.
Just like the good Muslims who are tired of radical insurgents killing innocents in the name of their religion, the time has come to declare an official Reform movement within the chiropractic profession. For too long we’ve stood by and allowed these insurgent vendors/chirovangelists to do their dirty deeds in the name of chiropracTIC philosophy, as if it were some sacred religion with irrefutable tenets from BJ that were sacrosanct from any critical analysis for fear of being branded a “mixer” or “medical wannabee,” the typical demagoguery these hate-straight con-artists have used for decades, ya folla?
Unbeknownst to these narrow minded sycophants, there are other reputable branches in the chiro tree based on more than dogma. This radical outspoken branch, like the Muslim insurgents, has railed against progress in our own profession and certainly denounced any movement toward reconciliation with the dreaded medical profession. They’ve fought against Unity, they’ve fought against the CCE’s mission to improve our education, they’ve fought against broadening our scope of practice, they’ve fought against democratic reform, and they’ve resisted the trend to evidence-based health care. Instead, they continue with the ol’ gobbledygook that has embarrassed us all for too long, ya folla?
Just like the radical insurgents in Iraq and Spain, these chiro radicals are willing to blow up any effort to progress in order to keep by fear what little control they may still have. Like the Muslim schools that teach hate-filled propaganda against the infidels, the same can be said of our chiropracTIC insurgents who use yellow journalism and philosophy/dogma classes in chiro colleges to brainwash naïve students into believing that there’s only one way to practice chiropractic—their “principled” way or no way. Indeed, chiropracTIC philosophy has nothing to do with the love of learning, the true definition of philosophy, because it is, in fact, dogma from another century that has intellectually handcuffed this profession for too long.
So, the time has come to declare a chiro fatwa against the evil doers in the Axis of Evil Vendors, aka, the Chiro Coalition comprised of the ICA, WCA, and their allies at Life-Sydneyland, Sherman, and Life-West. I didn’t add the Palmer University campuses because its recent actions suggest that the Fountainhead is undergoing enormous change, such as its riddance of King Guy, expelling the WCA from its campuses, and the recent flap with its own alumni association comprised of FOG sycophants. Something’s brewing in Davenport and hopefully it will signal a tabula rasa–a new beginning.
It’s quite obvious that our chiro insurgents, as small in numbers as they are, have used the media to reek havoc within our profession with constant misinformation that fills every edition of Terry Rongberg’s free rag, The Chiropractic Journal, as well as the ICA’s newsletters with its leaders/vendors columnists, and the many slanted editorials in Don Harrison’s free tabloid. We’ve also have read the numerous embarrassments outside our profession as we’ve seen with the recent JVSR, The Journal of Very Silly Research, junk science articles published by Matt McCoy that suggest SMT can cure MS, PD, and cancer, and these evil doers have used the media to thwart progress as we saw in the FSU debacle when these insurgents testified and lobbied against the proposed chiro program.
Of course, the embarrassment of Life Diploma Mill continues to be led by the pseudo-academic administration of King Guy Riekeman and his unqualified assistants who look upon that campus as a marketplace and students as potential consumers. These ideologues use ol’ time chirovangelism as the carrot to sell the products and services of their friends/vendors such as Bill Harris, Tom Morgan, Rongberg, Gentempo, Kent, Markson and whichever vendor is willing to donate money to their futile cause of hate-straight chiropracTIC. When critics urged Life to open up its campus, we meant an open academic environment, not opening its doors to more vendors. For a price, you too can be a FOG, ya folla? Indeed, when will vendor-driven chiro campuses be gone?
So, the enemies of chiropractic Reform and Progress are well known. Unlike the Muslim insurgents who hide in spider holes, our insurgents are obvious to all, their evil deeds continue unabated, and they chant the Money Hum as they ruin our image and profession.
But let’s be clear: this conflict between the Evil Vendors in Chiropractic who use chirovangelism to incite demagoguery within our ranks no longer is one ideology pitted against another. Don’t think this is a religious war pitting straights vs. mixers. It’s not one faith-based sect versus another faith-based group as these demagogues would have it. It’s not even a faith-based group versus a secular group as the chirovangelists portray anyone who objects to their mockery as less than “principled” like them.
This Reform centers on ethical versus unethical issues:
- Conflicts of interests among so-called leaders in the WCA and ICA.
- Journalistic fraud and outright yellow journalism in the JVSR, TCJ, Chiropractic Choice, and Harrison’s tabloid, Clinical Chiropractic.
- Faith-based education led by vendors/ideologues versus Learning-Based curriculum led by real academians.
- Patient-based practices versus non-therapeutic, experimental, sub-based practices.
- Evidence-based profession versus a faith/dogma-based profession.
These are the articles of dispute that this Reform must embrace. If we are to succeed into the mainstream American culture and not stay forever on the fringe wondering why we’ve been marginalized, we must come together—the ethical DCs, certainly not with the ICA or WCA loonies—to declare our Reform movement.
The medical profession, media and the public are waiting for good DCs, just like good Muslims, to step forward to renounce the radical insurgents who have tainted our profession for too long. Resonating in my mind is the recent comment to me by Dr. George Lundberg of Medscape at WebMD:
“If some influential individual or group in chiropractic would follow your thesis, and would loudly and openly embrace EBM, let the chips fall where they may, and, if I may push further, openly repudiate the “vertebral subluxation and resulting nerve pressure is the root of all diseases” (presumably the Palmer belief structure), then I and many other physicians could openly and without fear and derision look at what 2005 EBM chiropractors actually do and go forward together.”
If this isn’t an invitation for reconciliation, I don’t know what is. But we need to start this ball rolling not only with evidence-based critical thinking rather than dogma-based mindset of ol’ chirovangelism, but a public announcement of Reform would be the starting point. As I’ve recommended before, a mea culpa, an apology for past transgressions, along with a tabula rasa, wiping the slate clean with a new start, would be essential. Never forget: Americans love to forgive.
Then announce our commitment to evidence-based guidelines, learning-based curriculums, and patient-based practice. Define our identity as POE for non-drug, non-surgical spine specialists. Change our image from radical anti-anything-medical faith-based ideologues that profess unproven chiro-cures-all gobbledygook, appear as hucksters, and act like shysters willing to do anything for a buck.
This would also include George McAndrews advice to “isolate the rascals.” If the ICA and WCA loonies resist this Reform movement, as they certainly will, so be it and declare publicly our rejection and fatwa against these radicals, just as the ACA HOD declared the WCA a fraud last year. If Life and Sherman or any other college continues teaching dogma and hate-spewed ideology, so be it and declare those hate-straight colleges intellectually and academically bankrupt. If practice management gurus continue teaching unethical scripts, never-ending wellness programs, non-therapeutic, detect and correct VSC only programs, so be it and declare them shysters. If certain free tabloids continue spewing discord and misinformation, put them on the list of yellow journalists to be condemned. All of these radicals need to be held responsible for their devious actions, ant the best way is with public condemnation.
We know who our enemies within are, so it’s now time to isolate them and publicly speak out against them. As George McAndrews also said, “5% of you are freaks, 5% of you are cultists, and the rest of you keep your mouths shut.”
What we need now is just what the Muslim leader urged, “What I want is that they say so publicly.” So true: good DCs in the ACA and at large must publicly denounce the Evil Doers in this profession—isolate them to our own fringe and let them die on the vine, ya folla?
Now it’s time to confront the 10% of freaks and cultists, plus it’s past time for the 90% of good DCs to open their mouths just like the good Muslims have done in their fatwa against their own evil doers. The sooner we announce our Reform publicly, the sooner our image will change for the better.
We have an important role to play in the Decade of Joint and Bone Disorders as we fight the epidemic of pain and disability, so the sooner we organize our troops, the sooner we will succeed.
But we need a Declaration of Reform before we enter battle. If you’re so inclined, send me your name and I’ll add you to the growing list of Chiro Jedi Warriors ready to do battle against the Axis of Evil Vendors, phony educators, phony journalists, and phony association/alliance leaders.