Word: Credulous

credulous

[ krej-uh-luhs ]

adjective

1) willing to believe or trust too readily, especially without proper or adequate evidence; gullible.

2) marked by or arising from credulity: a credulous rumor.

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The date was not going well.  At least, as far as Jen was concerned.  It seemed like Nick was having a grand time.  The date had started out so well.  Nick was a reasonably good looking fellow.  Not Hollywood quality, but neither was she, so that was fine.  He had started out fairly polite, holding the door for her and such.  Even the beginning of the conversation had gone well.  It had simply been the usual first date fare. 

               Then they started discussing interests.  It had all gone down hill from there.  Even the arrival of dinner had not saved the conversation.  Nick kept talking while tearing through his T-bone steak.

               “So,” He said through a mouthful of meat.  “Like I was saying, none of that bacteria and virus stuff is real.  It’s all made up to sell pills that keep us docile.  I mean, they do other things also, but that’s the big one.”

               “Uh…huh…” Jen said.  She was trying very hard not to get up and walk away.  She did this by reminding herself that the salmon dinner she had ordered was too good to simply ignore. 

               “Really, it’s all just energy.  Every single disease a person can get is because their internal energies are misaligned.”  Nick said, either ignoring or not noticing her unpleasant reaction to his ideas.  “The real way to stay healthy is to keep your inner energies properly aligned.”  He nodded sagely to himself as he cut another piece of his dinner.

               Jen knew she would regret this immediately, but she had to know.  “I see.  That’s…fascinating.  And how do you know all this?”

               “I looked it up.  See, there’s this guy who knows all this stuff.  He used to be a doctor, but he lost his license for daring to speak the truth.  Now he spends all his time teaching others how corrupt the medical industry is, and the real meaning of health and wellness.”

               “And, uh, how do you know he’s right?”

               “Because he’s a doctor, obviously.  He knows what he’s talking about.”

               She really should not have been surprised.  He had spent nearly five minutes talking about the benefits of crystals.  The only reason he had ended that line of conversation was that the waiter had come to take their order. 

               “Let me guess, you learned about crystals and stuff from him?”

               “Oh yeah.  Learned everything I know about staying healthy from him.  He’s super smart.”

               “And why don’t other doctors agree with his ideas?”

               “Because they’re in the pockets of the medical industry, obviously.  It’s all pretty clear if you watch some of his videos.”

               “Does…does this doctor sell things?

               “Yeah.  How’d you know?  Do you watch him also?”

               “Uh, no.  You haven’t even told me his name, so yeah, kind of hard to say.  But I do know about people like him though.  My mom is big into stuff like that.  There’s always some medical ‘expert’ with dubious medical credentials that tells you about all kinds of new age-y stuff.  Stuff that they just so happen to sell.  Seriously, mom once bought a lump of rose quartz for over $200.”

               “Oh, that was a good buy.  Rose quartz is good stuff.”

               “Nick, you can buy the same thing for 20 bucks pretty much anywhere else online.”

               “And?  That just means it’s either of poor quality, or they don’t understand what they’re selling.”

               “No, look.”  She took a deep breath before continuing.  “Don’t you think it’s a little suspicious?  A person claims they’re a doctor and then tells you something is good for you, and then sells it for two or three hundred times what it’s actually worth?  That doesn’t set off any mental alarms?”

               Nick looked at Jen like she had grown a second head.  “No, of course not.  People need to make money, you know.  And I say more power to them, since they’re selling things that actually help people.”

               “According to the people selling the stuff.”

               “Well, who else?  Definitely not mainstream medicine.  They don’t want people to know about the benefits of alternative medicine and energy healing because it would put them out of business.”

               Jen gave in.  She held her head in her hands and groaned.  This was going nowhere fast.  She recognized the symptoms of a person so lost in delusions that no amount of reason, logic, or facts would pull them out of it.  She had tried with her mom and had failed miserably.  There was no way she would get through to someone she had just met an hour ago.

               “You know what, fine.  You go on believing whatever it is you want to.” She said.  “But just be aware that I will not be a part of it.”

               Nick looked at her for a moment.  “You sound like you need some energy realignment.  I know some great people for that.  I’ll introduce you later.”

               Jen stood up and left.

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There are some weird beliefs out there.  And not just for the alt-med crowd either.  I've heard about people believing that mountains are the remains of ancient, giant trees.  Seriously, it's a thing that some people believe for some reason that I'll never understand.