The Taxpayer’s Union has revealed that the government is funding astrology amongst other alternative and non-scientific practices.
In a comment to Stuff, the Ministry of Health says it is encouraging its Healthy Families providers to incorporate ‘maramataka’ into their services. Maramataka is the traditional study of lunar cycles.
The Ministry explains: “The work of Healthy Families NZ is part of the growing movement to place indigenous knowledge and practices on an equal level with western epistemologies.”
Excuse me. On an equal level? Since when has non-scientific Mumbo Jumbo been equal to scientific and proven knowledge and practices? This is the exact same kind of nonsense that Lushington Brady has written about happening in Australia where primitive Aboriginal practices are not only treated as equal to Western practices but in some cases are actually thought of as only acceptable when Aboriginals do them.
One of the best examples is traditional burn-offs to protect the aboriginal community from Bush fires. As Lushington so succinctly puts it, “Green activists campaign against hazard reduction burning when it’s done by the wicked whitefella, but slap on a bit of ochre and they’re happy to torch away.” In that example, the primitive practice makes scientific sense but other practices tolerated by Australian feminists such as the spearing and assault of Aboriginal women are not equal nor acceptable.
Astrology is Mumbo Jumbo and I don’t care how much you enjoy reading what the stars have in store for you in your latest copy of Women’s Weekly, we both know that it is nonsense. Enjoyable nonsense (I like being a Scorpio because it suits my personality), but I would never give it equal standing with psychology.
Look at this nonsense on the Healthy Families website for Whanganui:
Healthy Families WRR are working with others in the community to bring back some of those practices that kept us connected and healthy.
One easy way that we can do this is by adjusting our activity levels according to the energy levels and pull of the moon. Everything has an ebb and a flow, including us, so by allowing ourselves to rest during the low energy phases and amping it up on the high energy phases we are placing ourselves in a position for optimum benefits.
Next thing they will be advocating painting our faces, burning incense and dancing around an open fire to align our chakras.
The same Moon Mumbo Jumbo is being promoted by Healthy Families in Rotorua, Waitakere, and the Far North. The cost to the taxpayer for the Healthy Families programme is around $9 million a year, and this includes advocating for astrology, herbal remedies, massage, and prayer. While not disparaging the power of prayer or the benefit of massage and some herbal remedies, I do not think that they should be put on an equal level with modern medicine. I certainly do not think that the government should be funding advocacy for prayer or astrology.
Most concerning is that it appears that they are mainly targeting Maori families for these alternative practices. Isn’t this soft racism? Don’t Maori deserve the same high standards of healthcare and medicine enjoyed by everyone else?
This approach to Maori health is not just ineffective, but actively harmful. There’s a risk that ill families will see these traditional techniques as a substitute for scientifically-backed measures. Moreover, every health dollar that is spent on astrology is a dollar that cannot be invested in core health services.
Taxpayers Union.
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