Western Medicine? What is it?
As you are unlikely to know, I am a subscriber to various e-mail mailing lists. On one of which, tonight, some chap (I presume it was a chap, and will henceforth refer to this person as "he" despite the fact it may not have been - I don't have the patience to type anything else) said he was opposed to "Western Medicine".
This is one of the most stupid things I've ever seen anyone write. Why? And what exactly are you opposing? Could you, for example, go and get a prescription for antibiotics, if you had a bacterial infection, as long as you lived in Hull? Or would you have to live further East, like China? Of course, if you keep going East, you get back to what we might call the West, again, so maybe Western medicine should be more qualified.
I presume he wasn't in favour of chopping up tiger penises (as is considered highly medicinal in China - although those opposed to "Western Medicine" don't like to be thought of as wiping out endangered species...)
What I assume he meant was he was opposed to large drugs companies and the power they wield. Which is, in fact, a reasonable position to hold. But you have to be able to draw the line between said drugs companies, and the scientific produce they sell at their inflated prices. Otherwise, you can become just "anti-science" which does no one any good... And, in fact, does a lot of people harm, when they suffer from easily curable diseases, but are told not to take the requisite drugs because they're sold by big, bad drugs companies, and instead they should take carrot juice and ground tiger penis. And then die.
I sent this chap a mail, with a similar rant in it to this. I'd be intrigued to see if he (or anyone else on the list) replies. I'm already a pariah for suggesting that Nik Turner's band might be better than Dave Brock's, so we'll have to see how many more people I can irritate....
This is one of the most stupid things I've ever seen anyone write. Why? And what exactly are you opposing? Could you, for example, go and get a prescription for antibiotics, if you had a bacterial infection, as long as you lived in Hull? Or would you have to live further East, like China? Of course, if you keep going East, you get back to what we might call the West, again, so maybe Western medicine should be more qualified.
I presume he wasn't in favour of chopping up tiger penises (as is considered highly medicinal in China - although those opposed to "Western Medicine" don't like to be thought of as wiping out endangered species...)
What I assume he meant was he was opposed to large drugs companies and the power they wield. Which is, in fact, a reasonable position to hold. But you have to be able to draw the line between said drugs companies, and the scientific produce they sell at their inflated prices. Otherwise, you can become just "anti-science" which does no one any good... And, in fact, does a lot of people harm, when they suffer from easily curable diseases, but are told not to take the requisite drugs because they're sold by big, bad drugs companies, and instead they should take carrot juice and ground tiger penis. And then die.
I sent this chap a mail, with a similar rant in it to this. I'd be intrigued to see if he (or anyone else on the list) replies. I'm already a pariah for suggesting that Nik Turner's band might be better than Dave Brock's, so we'll have to see how many more people I can irritate....
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