Feature Article
August 2001
Eclectic Artists Publishing.
Sick & Tired?
(How About An Alternative Health Care Prescription?)
Sections within this article:
2. Will The Doctors Take Their Own Medicine?
3. Take This Advice, and Call Your Legislator in the Morning
4. Better Health Through Exercising (Our Rights!)
Had enough? Use our SPEAK! function (on the left) to spread the word and tell others how you feel. Nothing will change until we all SPEAK out… So make your voice heard today!
The observant citizen can spot a recurrent theme in western politics and economics over the past 50 years: Large-scale propaganda has often obscured the truth of even the most common social events, generally leading the public to passive acceptance of mass injustice. The so-called “Health Care Industry” provides no exception, and in fact is a perfect case in point. While pretending to rely on “the free markets” to provide medical care for our society, the industry instead relies on an array of anti-competitive laws, massive taxpayer subsidies, and discriminatory practices to mask incredible waste, inefficiency, corruption and greed. Of course, like many patients, upon learning that our system is diseased we must pass through denial before we will become angry. Hopefully we will live to find acceptance and then vow to make the changes necessary to ensure our long term survival. Here is the prognosis: Given the current monthly premiums and actual rate increases for the largest health insurance firms over the past decade, in 20 years the typical 60 year old’s insurance premium will be 16 times what it is today for a 60 year old… that will be an astounding $4,100 per person per month! Do the math yourself and you will begin to understand the size of the problem. Then plug this number into your retirement budget (but be sure to keep your medications handy)! Since the median age of the U.S. is increasing (due to the aging of the baby boomers), with life potentials of 80, 90, even 100, real trouble is brewing. (EDITOR’S WARNING: This article contains graphic illustrations of parasites feeding upon our system and is not recommended for young children.)
Your Money or Your Life?
One popular view regarding the Health Care Industry is that it is a ‘free market’ which should be treated like any other ‘free market’. Of course, such a claim should be able to withstand reasonable scrutiny, but in cases of life and death such arguments are more slippery than a snake oil salesman.
For instance, in a ‘free market’ the buyer will obtain prices from a number of qualified bidders, and then carefully select the best service and price combination from the pool of eager sellers. Let’s see if this applies to Health Care.
Imagine that you (or your spouse) has a heart attack, or severs a limb at work, or is involved in a serious car accident. Under these circumstances, being a faithful believer in the infallibility of capitalism’s ‘free markets’, what would you do? Dutifully retrieve the Yellow Pages ™ and obtain quotes from several hospitals which have especially nice- or professional-looking advertisements? Do the same with the ambulance services? Would you negotiate pricing, or simply go with the lowest cost quote for the specific service package you desired? Since this is an emergency we will assume that you will skip questions regarding billing practices, malpractice claims, references, etc., so you should be able to execute a contract for these $2,000 – $100,000 (or more) in services within a day or two — after your accountant and attorney review the formal documents, of course! And if a recommended treatment seems too pricey, well, you can always do the work yourself with the help of a few buddies, right?
Okay, let’s be serious! You will call 911. You will accept help from the first medical technician who arrives, probably a fireman or paramedic* serving local taxpayers in a VERY socialist manner (just like the police… damn socialists, they’re everywhere)! On the ride to the hospital an array of treatments are administered with NO direct approval by key family members, muchless discussion of costs, likelihood of success, etc., for any of these courses of action. You have delegated your authority to other members of society, trusting that they have the patient’s best interests at heart. But wait: These are simply other faithful capitalists acting in their own self-interest to maximize their wealth regardless of the tragic fate of the commons! Well, it’s too late: The wheels are in motion, you are completely out of the control loop, and only time will tell how much is billed to your insurance company and how much gets billed to you. How much is charged is strictly a matter of how much each “service provder” feels they can get away with; there is literally nothing competitive about it. Of course, other than the “Remittance Amount”, you rarely glance at the bill, and you never actually question any charge thereon (after all, it is written in some combination of Latin, Greek and Acronym). If you dare to ask anything, you are chastised in condescending tones and then directed to phone other bureaucracies, ‘the answer is not available here’. Even your lawyer advised that you can not fight the system, unless you are willing to fake pain and suffering worthy of TV-news headlines. Is does not matter whether your service providers succeeded, failed or made things worse, their contract is binding upon your estate and their accounts receivable department will be contacting you. Even more horrifying: The possibility of cancellation of your helath care policy, thus forcing you to join the 30% of U.S. citizens who can not qualify for or afford health insurance.
Faced with such a ‘market’ environment, it is tough to fulfill your dutiful role as an informed buyer acting with the reasonable market knowledge required under capital theory, so you do what any sick patient (or indoctrinated citizen) does: You roll over, do what you are told, try to ignore the pain, and hope they leave you with a little dignity. “Mercy! Please, for my child’s sake, mercy, please!” So let’s be honest: When the life of someone you love is on the line there is NO price you will not agree to pay. When it’s your money or your life, the robber (barons) can take all they can carry.
(* Note: Some municipality have implemented additional “fee for service” charges for emergency response teams for which residents must pay an extra monthly “subscription fee”… non-subscribers incur hefty charges if services are actually requested.)
Will The Doctors Take Their Own Medicine?
The American Medical Association (AMA) is reportedly the wealthiest and most generous lobbying organization in the U.S., effectively controlling health care legislation at both state and federal levels. So, is the AMA fighting to ensure that the American public has access to ‘free market’ health care, like good followers of Adam Smith should? Of course not. Because the golden rule of self-interested wealth-maximization is to get whatever you can for yourself and the other guys’ problems are no concern of yours.
Therefore, the AMA has worked tirelessly to ensure that only a limited number of medical students matriculate each year, artificially limiting the number of doctors practicing throughout the U.S. This in turn ensures a well-controlled shortage of doctors and thus effectively little or no competition. If we had as many doctors as we have engineers or lawyers then the average doctor would make what those professionals make (about $75,000 per year on average rather than an average of $165,000 for M.D.’s). The AMA argues that Americans recieve great health care because our doctors are trained in such limited numbers. Well, if the U.S. can not train competent professionals in large numbers then the law, accountancy, nuclear engineering, and weapons programs are all suspect! The truth is that the AMA wants no part of ‘free markets’. Like most other Sunday-school capitalists, they may speak the holy word but their actions betray them: They consistently lobby for legislation which guarantees a captive market: minimum competition, maximum barriers to entry, artificially high prices. Make costs public, make profits private.
Not convinced? Did you know that the number of hospital beds is artifically regulated, too! That is not a ‘free market’. Of course, health insurance companies are regulated, too! That is not a ‘free market’. (But you should not be surprised to learn that Health Insurance regulations are written by Health Insurance company lobbyists, which isn’t really representative democracy, either.) Let’s see… there are regulations which force consumers to use the services of doctors, preventing adults from obtaining their own medicines, for instance. And the pharmaceutical companies are allowed to use billions of dollars of publicly-funded medical research without paying any royalties to the treasury for license of the underlying intellectual property. Those are not examples of a ‘free market’ either.
Gosh, now that we look at it, where ARE the ‘free market’ principles applied within the U.S. Health Care industry today? As far as we can tell, the ‘free market’ is limited to the ensuring the freedom for doctors, hospitals, medical supply and technology firms, pharmaceutical companies, and related service providers to charge whatever they can get the health insurance firms to agree to pass along to YOU, the rate-payer. The “consumer” is conspicuously absent from the equation beyond the assigned role of “grateful and terrified”.
Of course, professional courtesy requires that Health Industry officials and Legislators alike are insulated from the consequences of their actions. Each will always have both the income and the health coverage necessary to maximize their lives as well as their profits. “Caveat emptor.”
Take This Advice, and Call Your Legislator in the Morning
So, how can we build a better Health Care system without more of that commie nonsense?
Let’s think in terms of “Liberty & Responsibility”. We want the freedom to choose our own doctors and our own medicines, and we should be willing to take responsibility for the choices we make. So let’s de-limit the training of doctors. It’s in the public’s best interest to train as many doctors as we can, as fast as we can… increase supply, drive down costs. In addition, get rid of the medical monopoly on prescritpion drugs… let us adults hire doctors as consultants when we deem necessary, but if we know what we need (or want) then we should be free to procurred it at will. Of course, the insurance agency will probably refuse to pay for medication which is NOT prescribed, but the entire dynamic will change as many people take back the responsibility for their own health care decisions.
What’s that you say? We NEED regulations to protect society and individuals, even from themselves? Okay, then as long we agree that government regulation is needed, it should be acceptable to reign in this out of control industry which has become so inefficient that it has consistently raised prices (costs) 4 – 5 times as fast as the official inflation rate over the past decade! An educated and civil society recognizes that medical care is as much a public function as police, fire and paramedic services. Sure, wealthy folks can still have their own private body guards, and even on-site fire and medical personnel, but for most of us it makes more sense to pay a basic tax and then count on receiving whatever services we need, when we need them, without additional cost (and especially without a cost that bankrupts us and our families).
To simultaneously argue against creating true ‘free markets’ AND against public control of the Health Care Industry is to illogically repeat the indoctrination of the marketers and lobbyists. Such is the vulgar logic of hypocrisy and rationalization. The salesmen, of course, demand that they can fairly play both sides of the argument at the same time, but in our hearts we know better. And if we know what is good for us (and our families), we had better stay focused on the math of escalating health care costs within our current ‘free market’ system — THEN DEMAND CHANGE! Major systematic change: Nothing less than full cradle-to-grave care for every citizen and resident-alien employee, all within the basic tax structure of our Country and States. NOTHING LESS IS ACCEPTABLE, or we dare not call ourselves “civilized”.
Making such a goal happen will obviously require an overhaul of the related corruptions. For instance, private corporations must be required to pay (into the health care fund) for licenses on ALL new intellectual property derived from publicly-funded research — in direct proportion to the gross revenue derived from those products (a standard “compulsory license” similar to those related to musical copyrights might work). No one should be able to claim patent rights for any form of DNA, any life form (whether or not previously existing), or any compound which is produced within nature (unless their last name is spelled “GOD”). Profits (including executive compensation) on any medicines or technologies which are deemed “life saving” shall be limited to twice the rate paid on government-insured treasury bonds, and the government shall continue to guarantee loans and otherwise subsidize the funding of research it deems to be “in the public interest” (as it does now). No one shall be considered uninsurable, nor shall any risks be excludable for any reason, including medical history, DNA sequencing analysis, and/or pre-existing genetic risk factors. Private insurers can, of course, continue to underwrite private policies as they and their clients might desire, but everyone must pay into the general tax system and everyone shall receive the best care that modern medicine can provide. If the ‘free markets’ are unable or unwilling to provide services under these conditions, then the taxpayers will simply do it for themselves (just as we do with police, fire and paramedics now). This is not to imply that a fair profit or just rewards should not be paid to hardworking, innovative, and creative professionals who help keep us going strong, only to clearly comdemn excessive profits, compensations and wastes.
Better Health Through Exercising (Our Rights!)
Just as with your weight, exercise, and cholesterol: Now that you are informed of the risk, the best course of action is ACTION. Think about the future. Talk to family, friends and neighbors to reach a consensus. Then contact your state and federal legislators and DEMAND FULL HEALTH CARE COVERAGE FOR ALL AMERICANS — NOW! You can procrastinate, of course, but that is simply the type of denial which will put your loved ones at risk.
There are two important messages:
1. We must end the greedy pricing practices which allow one segment of society to force all others to hand over any sum demanded, or risk losing their life: An unfair business practice if ever there was one. (There are many ways to accomplish this, so let the devil remain in the details for now.)
2. We must establish a system which provides full health care coverage for everyone legally living and working in the U.S., while funding these costs as part of our basic tax structure. We must view this as the price of living and profiting within a civilized, responsible and free society.
These are two simple messages which should be relatively easy to convey to others, even politicians. Of course, if you are not willing to vote against your local favorites regardless of their actions (or inactions) then it will not matter… our fate is sealed. Remember, the lobbyists exercise their rights daily, and with the fervor of one who is acting in their own self-interest and maximizing their own wealth regardless of what that means to you. That is just basic capitalism at work, not to mention human nature.
So don’t you agree that it is high-time we started acting in our OWN best interest?
Summary & Conclusions:
In spite of the ‘free market’ rhetoric, health care is NOT (and never will be) properly served by private interests. It is not possible to have a level playing field when you are negotiating for your life. But the philosophy of Liberty & Responsibility can be employed to design a new system which provides full coverage for everyone, while ensuring that professional care providers and innovative technology firms are rewarded for their hard work, creativity and (especially) effectiveness.
If you are worried sick about how you will afford to keep your family healthy, or if you are just sick and tired of seeing 35% of all your health care premiums wasted on marketing (as if ANYONE needs to be sold on the benefits of having health care coverage) then exercise your liberty by acting responsibly to “Change The System!”
Use our “SPEAK!” function to alert your peers as well as key representatives. Then, tell every one of your legislators to “get it done or GET OUT! And we mean NOW!”
Thank you for your attention, interest and concern.
Copyright 2001 Eclectic Properties Corporation. All rights reserved.
Alter-Nation and Alter-Nation.com are Trademarks and Servicemarks of Eclectic Properties Corporation.
Used here by kind permission.
Artwork of the Month
Artwork of the Month – August 2001
Works are selected for provocative visual,
intellectual, social and/or spiritual content.. Print versions
(suitable for home or office display), with or without professional mounting and
framing, may be available for order as indicated below each display.Eclectic Artists Publishing.
“It Seems We’ve Lost Our Minds!”
Available as 6″x9″ print suitable
for framing at $18 each
or professionally matted and framed at $75 each.
Order Now!
Signed by the artist upon request.
About The Art
Now ain’t that funky… check the magical colors, bro! Dat’s my kinda temple, baby. Let’s rock the palace. Quick… Post this print on the ‘net and bullhorn the crew. Da jam is on. We’ in! Jus’ fire up my trusty spinners and M.C. Altered be in the house. Got a NEW religion, baby! The church o’ the psychedelic reality; one big mofo day-is-night, freedom-is-slavery, corporations-gots-rights, critics-of-da-man-is-unpatriotic-commies, ain’t-gotta-wait-cause-we-got-credit, buy-buy-buy blackbird this shit done kicked my ass skunky kinda high!!!! Twisted, baby… T-wisted! Damn, dis some crazy, F’d-up, messin’ in my drawers and don’t answer the phone for nuttin’ kinda dope! Where y’all say dis from? C’mon, kick down with the 411… A bro’s gotsta knows.
Whoa… jus’ gimme a second, I be awright, I be awright. Jus’ give a brotha a SECOND… so let me git dis straight… Y’say damn near everyone gots dis can’t-see-straight-ground-control-to-Major-Thom buzz on? Right now?!?! Since when?!?!? Shit, I can’t understand a damn word you sayin’ fool. I be all messed up. But I tell you one thing… You da man… yeah, you IS DA MAN!
Yo, bro! Say, when’d I start talkin’ like dis, hmm?
Copyright 2001 Eclectic Properties
Corporation. All rights reserved.
Poet's Park
Poem of the Month – August 2001
SECIOV REGNORTS
.WON ERA UOY EREHW OT KCAB YAW RUOY KROW NEHT
,GNIKEES ERA UOY DNE EHT DNIF
,ELZZUP YNA FO TUO YAW RUOY DNIF OT
,WONK NEM ESIW LLA SA
.ENOD S’TI WOH SI SIHT
.HTGNERTS RUOY WOHS
.EM OT KCAB EMOC ,ESAELP ,TI KSA I DNA
.ECIOV REGNORTS EHT
:TI DNIF I TAHT EREHT S’TI DNA.
.GNIEB LAMIRP RUO OT
,TSAP EVITCELLOC RUO OT
,FLESYM NIHTIW PEED HCAER I OS
.SECIOV REGNORTS DEEN EW DNA …SU SI REWSNA EHT
.REWSNA EHT TON ERA STNEMNREVOG
.YADOT SECIOV REGNORTS DEEN EW
Copyright 1989 Dean DiSandro, published and
administered by Eclectic Artists Publishing.
About The Poetry
This piece is taken from a theatrical length multimedia musical stage-play entitled “Existing as Slaves” which was written during the period 1988 – 1991, yet awaits its debut “until the time feels right”. Despite the bleak title of the play, it is actually a story filled with hope, optimistic that humanity will indeed awake from its long slumber and find its way to transcendence, rising above raw biological drives to finally earn that title prematurely claimed by our conceit: “Civilized”.
The text of “SECIOV REGNORTS” is half-chanted, high-sung to primal drum rhythms… in precisely the syllabic order indicated above, just at a moment of crisis. A more standard “reading”, mysterious and elusive for the protagonist, provides all the additional explanation which might be needed by a curious audience.
Copyright 2001 Eclectic Properties Corporation.
All rights reserved.
Alter-Nation and Alter-Nation.com are Trademarks and Servicemarks of Eclectic
Properties Corporation.
Used here by kind permission.
Steal a Song
August 2001
JOIN NOW!
And be sure to purchase Alter-Nation’s latest CD, Change the System!.
You can also use these links to contact Rockin R Records regarding recording your
music or Eclectic Artists Publishing regarding
publishing your songs.
Funky Logic
Download & Play MP3 music file
What’s on the tube nearly every night?
The gods of war and the glory of the fight,
while making love is kept out of sight.
I may be wrong… but it seems we’ve lost our minds!
We need a world where we teach what’s kind.
The kind of world where we make love every night.
Love needs to dominate every mind.
Preach healthy sex and leave violence behind.
Playboy we brown-bag here, Rambo we gladly cheer.
Is it just me or is that funky logic?
Our tragic history:
The kids must memorize the dates and places of mass human carnage.
But never let us dare to make kids sex aware.
This topic best belongs in back seats and darkened halls!
Still we are so surprised… Petunia blooms with child!
Debate abortion and condoms and STDs.
Blame corporations’ greed?
Church and Bureaucracies?
Go check the mirror: The blame rests with you and me!
It’s in the news nearly every night.
The gods of war and the glory of the fight.
While making love is kept out of sight.
I may be wrong but it seems we’ve lost our minds!
Lyrics copyright 2000 Dean DiSandro. All rights reserved. Used here by kind permission.
About The Song
Can you say, James Brown? (I knew that you could!)… but mixing funk, reggae, ska and a white-boy singer altogether in one blender? Can I get a WITNESS? Pour liberally into a frosty mug and shake-yer-booty. Dave, Brian and Scott had a crazy funk thing in the works… all Dean wanted to do was dance every time they played it. Then Scottys teacher posed the dilemma… “If we want to slow the spread of sexual diseases, should we hand out condoms freely in the schools, or does that simply promote even more dangerous promiscuity? Should we be so open about sex with the kids?” Hmmm, they never debate whether they should teach kids about war! So, our funky music was placed into service to expose this funky logic: It seems to be okay to expose kids to violence but not healthy sexuality! What does ol J.B. think? Waaaaaaa, hey, hey… kiss myself!
Buy Alter-Nation’s Change the System double-disk, multimedia CD now!
Copyright 2001
Eclectic Properties Corporation. All rights reserved.
Alter-Nation and Alter-Nation.com are Trademarks and Servicemarks of Eclectic
Properties Corporation. Used here by kind permission.
AlterMedia
August 2001
This may be a book, a video
program, an audio program, a lecturer, poet, show or other touring artist, or
any other form of communication which is entertaining, enrichingandeducational.click here to
join now. Have an Alter-Media recommendation?Eclectic Artists Publishing. If
your suggestion is published you will receive ONE Alter-Nation Hour to be used
at your discretion.
The (Truly) Alternative Press
A Sampling of Periodicals Which Dare To Challenge The Status Quo
(PLUS “Hotel California”, a melodious dose of social commentary by The Eagles which holds up well after 25 years!)
With nine massive transnational corporations owning over 90% of all media distribution world-wide, we should expect that the bulk of agenda setting stories will serve the interests of those corporations. That is just common sense.
Further, many of these nine corporations are widely diversified into other key economic sectors. For example, Westinghouse (which owns CBS) and General Electric (which owns NBC) also have divisions with major U.S. defense contracts. Disney (which owns ABC / Capital Cities) also owns record labels, movie studios, theme parks, Discovery Channel, Discover magazine, etc. So we should not expect these firms to criticize the defense budget, discourage couch potatoes, or criticize the fantasy-based and escapist aspects of our culture. That would simply not be in their best interest.
This is key, of course, because mass media IS THE way ideas, information and news are transmitted to nearly everyone on the planet. To feign doubt regarding this truth is to ignore the obvious influences Hollywood has across the globe, even in third world villages. Monitoring, control and reactive intervention are now technologically possible, so their economic and political value is mined routinely by those who have more ambition than soul.
The statistics, the observable realities, and even the well-understood human psychology, lead us to a shocking realization: George Orwell’s vision of “Big Brother”, specifically information management by and for an elite ruling class, largely surrounds us today. Orwell’s “Double-speak”, which re-defines words, even to the point of inverting their original meaning, has a modern (and legitimized) practitioner: The Spin Doctor. As Orwell observed first-hand during World War II, a constant re-writing of history is necessary to suit the purposes of the elite. For example, the Kennedy-family was resurrected from ‘bootlegging outlaws’ in the 1930’s to ‘saviors of liberal democracy’ by the 1960’s. U.S. nuclear testing (i.e. on our own unwitting soldiers), U.S. roles in Central and South America (i.e. Panama, Columbia, Guatemala), Indonesia (i.e. East Timor), and the Middle East (Iran, Palestine, Israel), and official cover-ups by every Presidential adminstration over the past 40 years testify to both the desire and ability to manipulate public consciousness. Even the official “Inflation Rate” calculations were modified (publicly and purposefully) over 20 years ago to ensure lower Cost-Of-Living-Adjustments for government obligations and lowered expectations for wage increases from U.S. workers, regardless of the fact that these figures now bear no relationship to the reality of the actual increasing cost of living for Americans. [Note: Officially cumulative inflation over the last decade has been 34%, but housing, insurance, food, gasoline, education, automobiles, and utilities have increased by 100% or more, while health care costs have risen nearly 300%]. Routine disinformation campaigns, and even outright lies, have become so commonplace as to rarely raise much interest from a cynical and apathetic public. Today, people feel (and act) so powerless that the Orwellian prediction of a two-way video monitor in every room is not even necessary, although many public survelliance cameras are spread throughout cities, on highways, in shopping centers, banks, stores, warehouses, even dressing rooms and bathrooms. According to on-camera testimony from various ex-spooks, CIA and NSA computers monitor nearly every bit of telecommunication (telephone, cell phone, broadcast, e-mail, etc.) in the U.S. and, with or without the consent of other governments, the world.
The point is simple: People in power have the tools to manipulate the public through the media; they have been perfecting these means since the dawn of radio; they DO CARE TO manipulate the public to enhance their profit and power; and therefore we should expect that we are being actively manipulated via the mass media, not for benefit but for theirs. This is really just common sense.
So your choices are simple: (1) Enjoy being manipulated, OR (2) Include a supplement of alternative media in your informational diet.
For those choosing the latter course of action, here is small sample of alternative periodicals which we have found to be courageous, informative and independently-minded.
The Nation – The oldest continuous publication in the U.S., whose independence is made possible by its “no advertisers” policy, which is offset by subscription fees and philanthropic donations. While a discernible “left” bias is evident, the no-holds-barred editorial style allows contributing writers to openly argue with each other, and no topic or viewpoint seems taboo. Contributing authors have commanding credentials, articles are well researched and well argued, the writing is consistently literate and educated, and dogma is rarely in evidence.
Mother Jones– The most infamously alternative of the alternatives. Named after a woman who was spunky well before women were allowed to be spunky (and who is long since dead), this magazine provides in-your-face anti-establishment opinions and reporting. As their current logo reads: “Celebrating 25 years of Raising Hell.”
Utne Reader– “The Best of the Alternative Press” is the Reader’s Digest of independent thinking. This is the hard copy version of the internet’s main promise: re-circulation of interesting and unconventional ideas, counter-spin on the mass media’s predictable pronouncements, a virtual salon for lonely souls taking the road less traveled.
HopeDance– Though much smaller HopeDance is a bi-monthly which dares to tackles issues both large and small, tangible and mystical. While maintaining a solutions-oriented and typically local focus, the topics covered draw upon and are applicable to national and international concerns. In particular, HopeDance sets an excellent example for what a local, community-oriented magazine can (and should) be… including lists of available barter services, support for a local currency, regular education events (e.g. sustainable housing methods), and even “wild dancing”.
MUSIC TIP OF THE MONTH
The Eagles, “Hotel California”
One of the best albums of the 1970’s, “Hotel California” combines beautiful melodies, rich harmonies, and thick instrumentation with profound (if sad and cynical) social commentary. For anyone who has not lived the L.A. experience, this album (now in CD form) will take you from the charm that drew folks west to the self-addicting facade which keeps them there despite The Angels’ fall from grace. The final lines from the track “The Last Resort” sums it up neatly: “They call it paradise / I don’t know why / You call someplace paradise / Kiss it goodbye.”
Copyright 2001 Eclectic Properties
Corporation. All rights reserved.
Alter-Nation and Alter-Nation.com are Trademarks and Servicemarks of Eclectic
Properties Corporation. Used here by kind permission.
CoolLink of the Month
August 2001
Sites are selected for provocative visual, intellectual, social and/or spiritual content.Have a Cool Link suggestion? Eclectic Artists Publishing. If your suggestion is published you will receive ONE Alter-Nation Hour to be used at your discretion.
Accessing Reason:”The Union of Concerned Scientists”
Having a hard time finding the “truth” regarding important scientific questions (global warming, genetic engineering, our rate of resource consumption or the sustainability of our planet)? With so many opinions tossed around on these (and other) important topics, wouldn’t you like to hear from some credible sources? Where do you suppose you could get well-researched, heavily-documented, and rigorously argued information? From your minister? From a politician? From the folks who are making a buck in the related industries? From their lobbyists? Perhaps the gal at the coffee machine, or your neighbor Bob, or Aunt Flo, or maybe a local bigshot who belongs to your club. No, each of these sources is likely to have a limited understanding of the disciplines, as well as inherent biases. Further, none is likely to even try to be objective… that is not their job; their job is to evangelize their own point of view (or that of their ‘superiors’).
Most people would agree that a scientist would be the best source of accurate information relating to the sciences. After all, not only do scientists adhere to a methodology which makes the elimination of personal bias the prime objective, not only do they suffer severe and public peer review, but they are also specifically learned in the issues at question.
Of course, that did not stop the most learned followers of Ptolemy from proclaiming (for 2,000 years) that the Earth was in the center of the universe, the universe revolved around the Earth, and an Ether filled the gap between the heavens and Earth. Nor did it stop religious and secular leaders from forming a powerful alliance around these ‘facts’ which ‘conclusively demonstrated that God has proclaimed man to be special (central), God speaks to the clergy, and God has dictated (to the clergy) that the King shall rule and ye shall obey’. A relatively efficient means of social control which survived from the time of Pharoahs until Renaissance (enlightment, awakening) thinkers ripped open the curtains to reveal the little ‘wizard’ and re-frame ‘reality’.
Embarrassing to say the least… so most scientists thereafter have adhered rather strictly (some might say prudishly) to “The Scientific Methodology” which forces them to put forth a theory, predict specific results from an appropriate experiment to be conducted, then measure those results in as objective a manner as possible, and finally submit the whole ball of wax to several levels of public peer review. Yet still, they must wait until at least one other team (usually more) in a similarly competitive position is able to replicate the experiment with predictable results. Only then can they claim to know what they think they know.
Now, be honest: You probably don’t spend anywhere near that much energy making sure you know what the heck you are talking about, do you? Neither do we! Who has time? It would be impossible to be an expert on everything, so it is simply better to rely on trustworthy sources. That ain’t the dude at the coffee machine, and it sure ain’t a salesman for the industry. Nope, if you’ve got to choose, believe the scientists: They are the ones who got the planes into the air, made the vaccines for kids, and have otherwise provided ‘miracle after miracle’ to prove their worthiness.
So, use this link and spend a bit of time reading what objective scientists are saying about:
1. Global Warming? (Yes, it is happening, pretty certain it’s due to us; pretty certain that we are acting irrationally; very big risk to life and lifestyle);
2. Genetic Engineering? (Yes, we can almost ‘play god’; yes, it is a ‘pandoras box’ from which we can never turn back; no, potential corporate profits should not outweigh scientific prudence; no, we should not play god unless and until we have debated and resolved the ethical dilemmas as well as identified and mitigated the enormous risks);
3. Is our current culture (world, humanity) “sustainable”? (No, and some really big poop is expected to hit the proverbial fan in less than 70 years, perhaps only 20!)
But, hey, don’t take our word for it… learn for yourself.
UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS
2 Brattle Square
Cambridge, MA 02238
617-547-5552
E-Mail to: ucs@ucsusa.org
Copyright 2001 Eclectic Properties Corporation. All rights reserved.
Alter-Nation and Alter-Nation.com are Trademarks and Servicemarks of Eclectic Properties Corporation.
Used here by kind permission.