-Do not sleep too much or too little, or you'll die. But don't worry, "they" can fix that with magic little pills.What I'm sardonically alluding to above is the mainstream hysteria about potential health threats. Every single day, the media bombards us with information about a new study or new research purporting to find yet another way for us to die. Of course, after learning of the paleo diet, I view any mainstream medical suppositions with intense skepticism. But I'll admit there likely is some truth value to these pronouncements. Nonetheless, the incessant and often shrill prognostications about public health scares do little except, well, scare people.
-Do not eat bacon and eggs or you'll get high cholesterol and die. But don't worry, "they" can fix that with magic little pills.
-Do not microwave your oatmeal (whole grains!) in a plastic bowl or you'll die.
-Do not drive a gas-guzzler because it'll pollute the air and you'll die. But don't worry, "they" have a better option and it won't even cost you that much.
-Do not eat meat for lunch or you'll get a heart attack and die. But don't worry, "they" can fix that with magic little pills.
-Do not go outside and get a tan, or you'll die of skin cancer. But don't worry, "they" can help you avoid that.
-Do not get emotional or you'll die. But don't worry, "they" can fix that with magic little pills and a nice woman with a psychology degree.
-Do not use a cell phone or you'll get brain tumors.
-Do not watch too much TV or you'll die.
-Do not drink. Oh wait, drink red wine. Or white wine. Or I dunno, drink some, but not too much. But anyway, you'll die if you don't follow "their" advice.
-Do not eat anything that is not organic or you'll get heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. And then you'll die. But don't worry, "they" can fix that with magic little pills.
-Do not stop having sex after age 70 or you'll die. But don't worry if you have trouble, "they" can fix that with magic little blue pills.
-Do not avoid going to the doctor for any mild ailment, because it could be cancer or diabetes or a learning disability or, god forbid, a cold. And then you'll die.
I was just going to deem this the "Medical Industrial Complex", but apparently that phrase already exists. That's basically what this is - big Pharma that funds specious data mining and takes advantage of a media that gleefully breaks any sensational news irregardless of the story's veracity, a modern society that has enough leisure time to scare itself, liberal academia that pushes fallacious medical scholarship, and liberal society that views mankind himself, instead of nature, as the ultimate arbiter of man's biology.
In the end, destiny will take hold of our lives. My advice: live your life with little worry, eat and exercise paleo, and don't do crack.
13 comments:
While there is certainly intentional mendacity (or thoughtless profiteering) in the upper echelons of the medical establishment, I think a large part of the problem is that the training of doctors is, by and large, the rote memorization of large amounts of information. This is, of course, important (and I am not against rote learning) but it does not foster critical thinking and instead refers doctors back to a large corpus of information. Perhaps I am too optimistic, but I think that if the spear carriers of medicine were better thinkers and not mere memorizers quackery would not have made the inroads it has. I may be wrong about my view of medical training, though, as I have no experience in the field.
"Science" is one of the primary tools of the system- mostly complete psuedoscience, and with the social "sciences" but also with biological science twisted out of what it can actually tell us and is useful for. Real science has made great achievements and people have almost unquestioning trust in it, so when they want to make you do something they clothe it in "science".
but i love crack
"Do not microwave your oatmeal (whole grains!) in a plastic bowl or you'll die."
What's that about? I've never heard this one before.
OT:
Matt Drudge has highlighted numerous examples of blacks running rampant across the country. He has all the article links right at the top of his page! Amazing. You should read the comments at the news sites. There's a backlash coming and I can't wait.
Glad OneSTDV decided to start posting again. I just bookmarked this site a few weeks ago and figured that was why he decided to quit. lol.
"Do not microwave your oatmeal (whole grains!) in a plastic bowl or you'll die."
What's that about? I've never heard this one before.
Microwave safe bowls. Apparently, plastic can leak into your food if you use plastic bowls to heat up food.
Amazing. You should read the comments at the news sites. There's a backlash coming and I can't wait.
Despite the popular narrative on HBD sites, I've honestly never read a mainstream article with comments that involves race and behavior where the commenters don't bring up HBD. Now we just have to translate that honesty to the actual articles (not just the comment sections), more in academia, and real life.
When it comes to hysteria,few things beat breast cancer. The chances of getting it vare grossly exaggerated. The tests are over prescribed. And money is wased on endless BC studies that couldve been spent on other cancer research.
You forgot: Don't share needles with gay Haitian prostitutes.
As a Doctor, I'd like to make the following comments.
I think a large part of the problem is that the training of doctors is, by and large, the rote memorization of large amounts of information.
The human body (and its biochemistry) is incredibly complex.
Just keeping on top of all the information is hard.
I think a large part of the problem is that the training of doctors is, by and large, the rote memorization of large amounts of information.
Lack of critical thinking is multifactorial.
1) Our selection process for doctors favours specialists over generalists.
2) Our litigation system punishes innovation which isn't peer accepted.
3) You can't train for systems thinking. You either have it or you don't. It needs to be recognised that there is "Systems quotient" which is analogous to IQ. The two are loosely correlated. Lots of doctors don't possess it. But by and large they are better at it than patients who tend to be fanatics about their one hobby horse.
A lot of the conflicting advice out there is pushed by the idiot media for idiot public consumption. The public seems to have a real problem with the concept of death and understanding the concept of risk.
Yeah sure, microwaving your food in plastic may increase your risk of cancer, but not microwaving the veggies and instead buying some junk food may increase your risk of dying from heart disease.
No one looks at the bigger picture, especially patients, who have a real difficulty balancing risk vs benefit.
People think that they can live a risk free life. They can't. We're all going to die from something someday.
SP ~ Thank you for the information.
1) Our selection process for doctors favours specialists over generalists.
Is this trend pretty much across the board in all countries, or just in Australia?
Also, could you go more in depth as to what systems thinking is?
Cyprian, I too agree that many doctors lack critical thinking. Social Pathologist sums up the reasons nicely.
What we are left with are Doctors who are basically screening for treatments instead of trying to maximize patient health. I don't see their job as much different than a data analyst or accountant. They apply simple algorithms to complex data. I still respect them, but I don't trust them more than any other cog in a wheel. If you understand their role in the MIC, you will know how to avoid the pitfalls.
Every time I get a check-up, I get the same basic treatment. After being poked, prodded and examined, the BMI chart comes out and I'm told that I could lose a few pounds and I should try to eat more lean protein and whole grains.
Then the big three Pharma-sponsored questions come up - one is answered by my blood test. I'm told that my cholesterol is perfect, nothing came up on blood tests (sponsored by Lipitor). I'm asked how my moods are - they're fine (Prozac). Finally, I'm asked about my erections -also fine (Viagra). It might be different at a quality clinic in the US. Here in Canada, we have Universal Health Care so nobody is given special treatment unless they have one of the commonly known and treated diagnoses.
"The public seems to have a real problem with the concept of death and understanding the concept of risk."
This is so true. Everywhere I look people are trying to eliminate the thought of death from their reality. It is at the root of veganism. It is the reason that suicides are now blamed on anyone who caused the victim strife (bullies). Germany is going to turn the lights out because of an irrational fear of nuclear power caused by an extremely freak accident at an inferior plant built on a fault line.
"In the end, destiny will take hold of our lives."
So fatalistic. Shouldn't we be pursuing the brass ring so we can acquire the trappings of success?
Is this trend pretty much across the board in all countries, or just in Australia?
In the U.S. and Europe, specialisation has long been established, it's only recently that its been making headway into countries of the British Commonwealth.
Also, could you go more in depth as to what systems thinking is?
Broadly speaking systems thinking is looking at the "whole picture" of the thing in question.
I'll give you a practical example. One of my elderly patient's, who has a multitude of medical problems, saw a cardiologist who recommended that he take warfarin for his condition. I won't go into it in detail, but warfarin is a crappy drug with lots of risks to the elderly. Now, from a cardiology point of view, the patient was given the right advice.
But the cardiologist did not take into account that this man has a hard time getting to the office to have his blood taken, his other medical conditions require frequent adjustments to his other medications which in turn affect the dose of warfarin he needs to take. He gets easily confused and is forgetful. English is his second language. He is sick of having his day taken up by visits to the doctors. He didn't want to go onto the drug but felt that he should because the cardiologist told him to. He is 85 years old.
As I said before, from the cardiologists point of view, the drug recommendation is correct. But from my point of view, taking is whole life into account, I told him not to take it as I felt the risk vs benefit vs quality of life issues were not there. I told him not to take the drug.
I did wrong thing from a specialists point of view and the right thing by the patient.
To a cardiologist a man is a heart with accessory bits. To a gastroenterologist a man is a intenstinal tract with bits attached and so on.
Human beings are multiparametric, specialists are uniparametric optimisers. I don't mean to steal traffic from OneSTDV but the last few posts on my blog deal with this issue.
"Microwave safe bowls. Apparently, plastic can leak into your food if you use plastic bowls to heat up food."
I'm so fucked.
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