Thoughts on Leap of Faith

So, I'm going to go off on a tangent here. It's easy to say that what Flim and Flam do here is a blatant scam. Still, throughout my life, "miracle healing" has been around with televangelists and other charlatans abusing their status as religious figures to sell their Miracle Water or healing hands in the idea that you have to have faith for it to work. These people usually try to sell their "snake oil" to the gullible or those who are desperate. The sad part is these people exist and make millions off of their victims, and there aren't many repercussions for their actions. Flim and Flam are a mirror image of these charlatans in the real world; they're selling a placebo to the ponies of Ponyville. Where you think something works, but the reality is it's just your brain being tricked into thinking it does.

Here we have an ethical dilemma for Applejack as she is confronted with the fact that Granny Smith thinks the tonic works, but the reality is that it's just her thinking it does. And Applejack doesn't want to ruin this for her Granny despite she keeps putting herself in danger. This is a great episode, as Applejack's honesty is tested here, where she's caught between a rock and a hard place. If she tells the truth and confirms the tonic is a sham, it might ruin Granny Smith's desire to do more with her family. But as things progress in the episode and how Flim and Flam use Applejack to confirm that the tonic works, meanwhile, the knowledge that the tonic isn't real grows on her conscience. Eventually, she does break her silence and starts to expose Flim and Flam for who they are with the help of their "actor" friend. So, in the end, she chose to stand up for honest nature and expose the lie Flim and Flam crafted around their tonic.

Overall this episode to me is special as it really shines a light on a real-world issue. Not only miracle healers but those who sell essential oils or other "alternative medicines." It's easy to think that someone outside the medical field knows they don't, especially if you're desperate. But the problem is that it is hard to come to terms with our beliefs, and as Applejack said, having beliefs to help build confidence is fine, but the second we hold those beliefs in lies, we end up becoming beholden to them to an unhealthy degree.