Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Fafblog is back! Yay!
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My doctor went into a mini-rant when I saw him for my physical on Friday, about how medicine should be about science, not politics. We were actually talking about my prescription plan - the one I bitched about in this here blog earlier this year - but I wondered if he'd also been watching last week's Frontline program about the history of AIDS.
What struck me about that show was the irony of this one congresscreature proudly saying that by refusing to fund any AIDS-prevention program that mentions condoms, he was resisting pressure to be "politically correct" - when in fact he and his ilk are just pushing their own brand of political correctness. Condoms work at reducing the spread of STDs. Needle-swap programs work. Educating prostitutes works. Yeah, abstinence works to a certain extent, for people who have that luxury. This kind of mealymouthedness has squat to do with science. Or morality, for that matter.
Look at it this way: Most people who are vegetarians make the choice not to eat meat based on moral or religious grounds. It's also no secret that some of the biggest health scares in recent years are the direct result of people eating meat, or raising animals for meat or other products (such as eggs). Mad cow, for example. Bird flu. Now, I'm a vegetarian, but it's painfully obvious to me, and I think to any but the most fanatical sprout-chomper, that telling people they shouldn't be eating chicken would not by itself be an effective means of stopping a worldwide pandemic of bird flu. Nor will you see me arguing that the USDA dismantle its meat-inspection programs because those immoral people who eat meat know what risks they're taking, and if they get trichinosis or e. coli, it's because of a lifestyle choice.
Why? Because that's dumb. It wouldn't work. And I don't believe in a vengeful vegan Goddess punishing naughty people with mad cow disease.
0 comments
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My doctor went into a mini-rant when I saw him for my physical on Friday, about how medicine should be about science, not politics. We were actually talking about my prescription plan - the one I bitched about in this here blog earlier this year - but I wondered if he'd also been watching last week's Frontline program about the history of AIDS.
What struck me about that show was the irony of this one congresscreature proudly saying that by refusing to fund any AIDS-prevention program that mentions condoms, he was resisting pressure to be "politically correct" - when in fact he and his ilk are just pushing their own brand of political correctness. Condoms work at reducing the spread of STDs. Needle-swap programs work. Educating prostitutes works. Yeah, abstinence works to a certain extent, for people who have that luxury. This kind of mealymouthedness has squat to do with science. Or morality, for that matter.
Look at it this way: Most people who are vegetarians make the choice not to eat meat based on moral or religious grounds. It's also no secret that some of the biggest health scares in recent years are the direct result of people eating meat, or raising animals for meat or other products (such as eggs). Mad cow, for example. Bird flu. Now, I'm a vegetarian, but it's painfully obvious to me, and I think to any but the most fanatical sprout-chomper, that telling people they shouldn't be eating chicken would not by itself be an effective means of stopping a worldwide pandemic of bird flu. Nor will you see me arguing that the USDA dismantle its meat-inspection programs because those immoral people who eat meat know what risks they're taking, and if they get trichinosis or e. coli, it's because of a lifestyle choice.
Why? Because that's dumb. It wouldn't work. And I don't believe in a vengeful vegan Goddess punishing naughty people with mad cow disease.
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