There is a weird, dark corner of YouTube where people share anti-vaccine theories, lash out against big Pharma and randos have somehow become medical experts. It’s an odd place where logic and critical thinking go to die.
Those wading around in this cesspool will likely come across Alan Mandell. He is a chiropractor who has glossed himself as the motivational doctor. That is as laughable as it is incorrect. Dr. Mandell isn’t a doctor. And his only way to motivate people is to promote the deflection of all criticism of him while simultaneously building an “Us vs. Them” faux reality as if anyone who disagrees with his dopey flock is a Philistine.
Let’s make one thing perfectly clear, Dr. Mandell is not a doctor.
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Dr. Mandell is not a doctor
This article wouldn’t exist if Alan Mandell called himself the motivational chiropractor and stated clearly that he was not a doctor. Look, much of the stuff in his videos is questionable advice at best and just flat-out wrong on other occasions. But that doesn’t matter if you aren’t claiming to be an authority.
People are free to give out whatever shitty advice they wish and those listening are within their right to follow or discard it. Tell folks that eating sewage cures cancer for all I care.
When you start saying you are a doctor and presenting yourself as such, that’s a problem. You have created a false sense of authority. And make no mistake, this runs rampant across everything Mandell does. He clearly wants you to believe he is an actual doctor and not some pseudo-science peddler.
For example, this guy is wearing scrubs in many of his YouTube thumbnails. The visual implication is that he sees clients and is a trained medical professional. Why use an image of you in scrubs otherwise? There is no reason other than to present himself as a false authority.
His only qualification is reading other articles on topics that can be found at the top of Google Search and then repurposing them for his videos.
Here’s a great example. This is a video by the “doctor” that sees him talking about facial massages that can boost collagen in your face, a medicine area way beyond his chiropractic background. Has he studied this field to become an expert in it?
No, there are countless articles and videos published before his that cover the subject. Of course, none of them are masquerading as a doctor…errrrr…Motivational Doctor. Additionally, most actually source other scientific or medical research. Mandell, not so much.
My personal favorite is his YouTube descriptions, many of which are plagiarized from Wikipedia or other sources. Take a look at this description for one of his videos on anxiety. Here is what can be found on the Wikipedia page on anxiety.
He can’t even be bothered to rewrite this at all. If you are lifting information from Wikipedia, why should anyone trust anything else you say since it is likely to be coming from some other source, not yourself?
And that’s the problem with all this. By wearing scrubs and calling himself a doctor despite not holding an M.D., Mandell has become a false authority albeit a mostly harmless one. However, would you take advice on burning belly fat or how to stop a heart attack from someone billed as the “Motivational Chiropractor”? Hell no!
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Through the years of being a fake doctor
Things get weird if you go back into the Alan Mandell archive. There is some good, such as him noting he is a chiropractor, which he has long since stopped. Then there is him claiming to be a motivational speaker and delving into some bizarre topics. My personal favorite was this gem.
It is incredibly ironic that he is warning people about child predators while doing his best to look like one. This occurred during an extended self-help guru phase that never really took off for him. Eventually, he would go back to videos related to the chiropractic field. He would only mention his profession in certain cases but, honestly, there aren’t many issues you can find with these videos.
After a while, videos on subjects like vitamins and diet started to creep in. By 2018, things had taken on a life of their own. Mandell was doing videos on how to stop a sneeze, places on your body you could press for more energy and all kinds of other quackery.
While popular, this did catch up to him at one point because all his videos in the past two years or so start with this long-winded disclaimer:
That is very verbose but here is what it roughly translates to in layperson’s terms. Mandell has so little faith in what he is telling you that he would prefer it if you went and saw a doctor. Moreover, you are out of luck if you follow his advice, and something goes wrong.
So, there’s that. Probably not a great idea to follow someone’s information when they are also telling you they want nothing to do with the results should you take it. But what do I know? I’m just a guy with a philosophy degree and the ability to think critically.
The wannabe cult leader
We’ve already established that Dr. Mandell is not a doctor but a chiropractor. However, in order to keep this charade going on, he has also morphed into a cult leader. Anyone who watched my video on Dr. Berg and scrolled through the comments section knows what this looks like.
Those who follow him are so wrapped up in his personality that they have cast aside any sort of logic or ability to think for themselves. How Mandell does this is fairly manipulative. By using faux positivity and language that sounds inclusive but is, in reality, exclusive, you can successfully foster a culture of us versus others.
But don’t take my word for it, let’s go to the tape.
According to Mandell, a murderer who enjoys murdering shouldn’t stop because people and laws tell them to stop. And, in fact, the only reason they want the murderer to stop is because they are jealous. This is ridiculous, but it also follows a clear pattern.
The chiropractor empowers people to dismiss anything they don’t like said about them and only accept what they agree with. This is what cult leaders do to focus attention on their own words. It is driving a wedge between reality and the world being created by Mandell. And the only ones who don’t see that are those who are too far gone.
Beyond that, so much of Mandell’s schtick is gross for lack of a better term. His use of the words we and together imply inclusivity but only if you agree with him. Then there are phrases, such as change your life and overcome, which are simply fodder for weak-minded fools.
Final thoughts
Here are indisputable facts we know about Alan Mandell:
- Dr. Mandell is not a doctor but presents himself as such.
- He uses a disclaimer to warn people his advice may not be any good.
- He plagiarizes Wikipedia and other sources.
- His language and word choice are similar to cult leaders.
These are four facts. It is not an opinion, or something made up. This is an indisputable reality. By all means, have fun writing your angry comments talking about the “jab” or big pharma or how Mandell helped your mother bench press 300 pounds. None of that changes those facts.
At the end of the day, I do not care where you get your medical advice from so long as it doesn’t hurt others. You do you. But the question you should ask yourself is this: if the person offering me medical advice doesn’t want to be fully transparent with me, is it worth listening to? As Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit once said, think about it.
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