Canadian Heritage Alliance Articles Erik the Norseman the Paradox of Complimentary Medicine

Canadian Heritage Alliance :: Articles :: Erik the Norseman :: The Paradox of Complimentary Medicine

Thursday, February 24, 2005

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Articles: Erik the Norseman

Staff Journalist - email - bio

The Paradox of Complimentary Medicine

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Erik the Norseman [email] [bio]

Wherever in the world there are people, you find a system of

traditional medicine. These systems of therapeutics, based

principally on local plants and to a lesser degree on animal

products and minerals, evolved specifically to treat diseases and

conditions indigenous to those people as well as to those maladies

common to all humanity.

When the White Man settled in the New World, he brought with him,

along with the conventional medicine of the time, a European

tradition of Folk Medicine dating back millennia. To this tradition

was added new medicines found in this New World. Knowledge of these

new remedies found its way back to Europe and became part of the

Western Tradition.

Various formal Schools of Medicine based upon these botanic remedies

sprang up during the 19th Century along side with traditional

Western Herbalism. Homeopathy, founded in early 19th Century

Germany, found a ready home in North America. Many of these schools

of medicine were Licensed to grant M.D. degrees. The largest of the

botanic schools, Eclectic Medicine, and Homeopathic Medicine

graduated their last doctors in the late 1930s! In the meantime

other systems of therapeutics such as Chiropractic and Naturopathic

established themselves and traditional Western Herbalism has

continued to flourish.

So, where is the paradox? The paradox lies with the conventional

(Allopathic) medical establishment. Many hospitals offer

Complimentary/Alternative treatment. Acupuncture and Traditional

Chinese Medicine is what is offered. If it is Oriental, especially

Chinese, it is finding acceptance but not Western traditions!

Homeopaths, Chiropractors, Naturopaths and practitioners of Western

Herbalism are locked out, treated as are lepers. You may be treated

with herbs, but only Chinese herbs prescribed according to the

principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Are Western traditions and practices so inferior to the Chinese?

Must the denial of our White heritage extend even unto the healing

arts? The highest authorities have told us that Canada has no

culture or traditions. Denying us our heritage in this regard, in

favour of that of another culture, is another nail hammered into the

White Man’s coffin.