[Ezerwoman’s note: The following is excerpted from the March 2021 edition of the AAPS News. The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) was founded in 1943 as a voice for private physicians. The purpose of the AAPS is to protect the patient-physician relationship. The AAPS encourages doctors and patients to speak out together. Unfortunately, the mainstream media seems silent on the research and work of the AAPS.]
The wokeness mob’s attempt to cancel six popular children’s books by Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) might push us toward a tipping point and an awakening. The motive is ostensibly to wipe out a virus of racism lurking in a few cartoons. These conceivably might be micro- (or nano or pico) aggressions.
An affiliate of the Southern Poverty Law Center declared the books racist, but Tucker Carlson says they were targeted precisely because they are not. Rather, they take a “race-neutral” approach. The Plain-Belly and the Star-Belly Sneetches’ ultimate “acceptance” of each other “doesn’t address the idea that historical narratives impact present-day power structures,” writes program associate Gabriel Smith (https://tinyurl.com/334sjhvp).
Ironically, Geisel was a leftist whose progressive views suffused his writings. “Generations of progressive activists may not trace their political views to their early exposure to Dr. Seuss, but without doubt this shy…genius played a role in sensitizing them to abuses of power,” writes Peter Dreier (tinyurl.com/yzne5aa7). Geisel was one of the earliest to fight anti-Semitism and racism.
Objections to implanting progressive or woke views into vulnerable children would be “fascist”—but they must be guarded against positive views of Western culture or American history.
The wokeness virus threatens to become incorporated into our cultural genome. Will persons born white be constantly trying to atone for “white privilege”? Will white physicians constantly have to document efforts to eradicate racial injustice in medicine (see JAMA 8/4/20)—originally perpetrated by the AMA?
Dr. Nathan Davis, considered AMA’s father, excluded women and blacks from the house of delegates. His bust has been removed from public view, and his name from an award, writes CEO James Madara (tinyurl.com/c7cnr3bf). Just recently, however, AMA honored Thomas Huxley (JAMA 8/18/20), though he once said that “no rational man…believes that the average Negro is the equal, still less the superior of the white man” (Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews, New York, Appleton, 1871, p 20). But Edward Livingstone, M.D., “who is White,” had to resign as JAMA deputy editor over a February 2021 podcast in which he questioned the concept of systemic racism and said, “Many of us are offended by the concept that we are racist.” Editor-in-chief Howard Bauchner, M.D., called the podcast “offensive” and “hurtful” (https://tinyurl.com/wr4ewrty).
In the wokeness culture, sticks, stones, and broken bones might be tolerated, but not words that might give offense—or those who use them. We must bid “goodbye to cultural icons, large and small—goodbye to all vestiges of the past, replete with their ‘bigoted’ value systems,” writes Ben Shapiro, so that individuals can “self-create” (tinyurl.com/4268zxtb).
What Is a Human Being?
Disconnected from cultural moorings, atomized individuals will not be liberated, but treated as vectors of literal or metaphorical viruses, who must be sufficiently vaccinated and tracked. Living a somewhat normal daily life is fast becoming a privilege. Will handing out electronic permission slips become a new function of physicians, asks Pat Conrad, M.D. (tinyurl.com/yrj7x5fc). Will medical boards or insurers require constant logging of a patient’s COVID status and documentation of vaccination counseling, as with controlled-substances data bases or smoking cessation? Will every communication be screened for subversive content?
Engineered Language
Viral memes, like the genetically modified COVID-19 products, are engineered. Merriam-Webster altered the definition of “vaccine” for the occasion. On Feb 5, 2021, the definition was: “a preparation of killed microorganisms, living attenuated organisms, or living fully virulent organisms, that is administered to produce or artificially to increase immunity to a particular disease.” As of Feb 6, a “vaccine” is: “a preparation that is administered…to stimulate the body’s immune response against a specific infectious disease…. (b) a preparation of genetic material (such as a strand of synthesized messenger RNA) that is used by the cells of the body to produce an antigenic substance (such as a fragment of virus spike protein).” Vaccines are generally viewed as long-established and safe, though they are biologic agents, subject to a less stringent regulatory regime than drugs. The COVID products are novel, bioengineered, genetically modified biologic agents. They are vaccines only by a socially modified definition. As with vaccines, their manufacturers are immune from product liability.
Is There a Freedom (or Logic) Virus?
There are signs of resistance. When an Israeli airline forced a father and an 18-month-old off a flight because the child would not wear a mask, all the other passengers deplaned also in solidarity (tinyurl.com/rrssf7p6). Mask-burning rallies in many Idaho cities trigger woke activists (tinyurl.com/rwnpb2ps). With Lockdown 3.0 descending on Britain, “only dissent can save us now,” writes Irish science journalist Peter Andrews (tinyurl.com/nsnmx3yw). “It is time to draw a line in the sand.” Physicians, such as Dr. Mark Trozzi of Canada, are “surrendering personal income and security” to speak out (tinyurl.com/2zczz9eh).
Fortunately, Yertle the Turtle and Horton Hears a Who! are still acceptable. The small can bring down the mighty—if Jo-Jo, the “smallest of all” the Whos, speaks out to save the entire community. What if doctors and patients spoke out together?
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