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French Woman Gets €800/month For Electromagnetic-Field 'Disability'
An anonymous reader writes: If you were dismayed to hear Tuesday's news that a school is being sued over Wi-Fi sickness, you might be even more disappointed in a recent verdict by the French judicial system. A court based in Toulouse has awarded a disability claim of €800 (~$898) per month for three years over a 39-year-old woman's "hypersensitivity to electromagnetic waves." Robin Des Toits, an organization that campaigns for "sufferers" of this malady, was pleased: "We can no longer say that it is a psychiatric illness." (Actually, we can and will.) The woman has been living in a remote part of France's south-west mountains with no electricity around. She claims to be affected by common gadgets like cellphones.
Subject says it all. It really is time to start taking lawyers and other bottom feeders to task. Mentally ill people should be treated for their paranoia, not have it confirmed.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
I suffer from hyper-sensitivity to delusional stupidity. I'm living on the same planet as this woman and it's crippling me.
I saw a third party documentary that said the Pyramids were constructed by aliens...
See, this is why you can't give pseudoscience an inch. Every little success validates it in the eyes of its own practitioners, and legitimizes it in the eyes of the public, until society tumbles down the rabbit hole of paranoia and irrational fear of the harmless on one hand, and blind trust in actually harmful practices on the other hand.
> Anything with a double-blind requirement falls well short of settling an issue because it is subjective.
That is nonsensical. A test has a double blind requirement because it's the standard in removing bias from the equation.
The question of exactly what you're testing and to what degree, is not subjective either. What you are saying (badly) is experiments are often used to justify application in out-of-context scenarios (see Chemotherapy). That is a separate socio-political issue, outside of the realm of science and has nothing to do with subjectivity, but a lot to do with ignorance and malfeasance.
Pretend to use a cellphone in her presence. When she starts complaining of symptoms and discomfort, show her that the phone not only isn't on, that it doesn't even have a battery in it so there's no chance it could have been on.
I did something similar to this with a friend of mine who claimed to be able to see infrared light from TV remotes. While he wasn't looking I removed the batteries from one, then called his name and when he turned around, pointed it at him and pushed buttons. He complained about how much that hurt his eyes, and how could I do that to him? Then I showed him the remote had no batteries in it. Needless to say he was somewhat embarassed. Still claims to be able to 'see' IR light though.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
I have double-blind sensitivity syndrome, you insensitive clod!