to most people, the word shaman brings to mind images of any type of spiritual healer. It holds the meaning of someone that is connected very strongly to the realm of spirit, with wisdom and knowledge and power that others do not.
they don't realize that there is a difference between native medicine men, the african "witchdoctors", etc. or even that different groups use different names, that some find the term "shaman" to be insulting, or offensive. Most know next to nothing about native peoples regardless of the part of the world they live in. Even communities close to native populations have very limited knowledge of the native peoples.
This is why it is so easy for fakes to take advantage of gullible people, because they don't know any better.
The only way to combat this, is to educate people about the native peoples. their beliefs, and why it isn't proper for those who are not a part of their community to practice.
The hard part of this, those not searching spiritually don't care (this is a big part of the worlds problems today, people don't care, as long as it doesn't directly affect them), and those who are searching, are bombarded by the fakes online and off.
The false information far outweighs the truth. This has got to change before any other attempts are successful.
