Arianna Huffington is – as most of you know – the socialitefounder ofHuffington Post.Despite other potential virtues, the Huffington Post’s attitude to science,especially in their health and well-being sections, is more than questionable;indeed, Huffpo is an abysmally shameless pusher of pseudoscience and woo,including anti-vaccinationism,Deepak Chopra-style altmed garbage; and self-help articles most of all reminiscent ofThe Secret.Luminaries who have written for the site include self help guru andpseudo-“Native American” spirituality rip-off peddlerJames Arthur Ray (to be covered); John Morton, current spiritual director of the new-age groupJohn-Roger's Movement for Inner Spiritual Awareness; altmed loonAndrew Weil;as well as homeopath and internet trollDana Ullman (seethis,for instance). Reasonable people have thus repeatedlycalled for a boycott,and there is a good discussion of Huffpo’s preference for bogus claims aboutmedicine over realityhere - Huffington herself says that “[w]hen it comes to health and wellness issues,our goal is to provide a diverse forum for a reasoned discussion of issues ofinterest and importance to our readers.” Or, in other words, the Huffpo willnot try to distinguish the correct from the wrong or even crazy, instead tryingto promote afalse balance.

The thing, of course, is that – like Oprah – Huffingtonherself is a big fan of such matters. She is, for instance, a longtime followerof John-Roger's MISA, and the dreadful piece“A Personal Case for Homeopathy” by Judith Acosta was published not only in Huffpo but on Huffington’s own blog.When Huffpo’s new science section was announced shepresented it in a mannerthat is, well, rather revealing with regard to how she views science:“Rather than taking up arms in those misguided, outdated battles [betweenscience and religion], HuffPost Science will work in the tradition ofinquisitive minds that can accommodate both logic and mystery,” Or in otherwords, they will continue to push new-age woo and disregard that boring notionof trying to align their claims with reality. Which of course isexactly what they did.

Even quackwatch has been forced to list Huffington asa promoter of questionable methods and/or advice.