Theresa, there was a lot to digest in your most recent post. I thought both the text and the illustrations you chose were perfectly paired to illustrate what you said. I was particularly interested in the part regarding elites, because that underlies much of the difficulty seen in accepting scientific facts: the mistaken believe that among Americans, there are those in the community with specialized knowledge, but since we are all "equal", that knowledge confers no credibility in discussing society-wide concerns. In my opinion, that represents a profound misunderstanding of the phrase "all men are created equal..."; we are not equal in terms of our learned experience or expertise, but rather America has no official lines of royalty. I have struggled with responding to my fellow citizens who use "equality" as a basis for ignoring people with specific expertise, but I also struggle with those experts who present knowledge in a way that is off-putting for people outside of their peer group. I guess the bottom line is that there is a great need for humility on the part of those individuals who present important information to the society at large, whether that's the science of vaccination, efforts at tobacco cessation, or recommended preventive health measures.
Sorry to ramble on a bit, but you have hit upon an important issue in the daily work of healthcare, and I appreciate the opportunity to comment further...
Hi Lou! Thank you for this thoughtful comment. I didn’t respond sooner because I’ve been quite ill with a nasty Spanish virus (the Spanish flu?), but am now on the mend. You make such a smart point about “equality” being used as an argument for the democratization of knowledge, when having that actually happen is truly a recipe for disaster. I’ve been thinking about that question while visiting the amazing churches, cathedrals, Islamic palaces (the Alhambra in Granada) and one Roman aqueduct, here in Spain. These amazing structures were built with no power tools, no machine operated hoists—only local materials and an amazing amount of human ingenuity and effort, and structural engineering. I hope that no one today would decry the knowledge of engineers—how to build a bridge is not a matter of opinion. And yet, expertise in basic science and health care is denigrated as “elitist.” I’m sure you’re right that the messengers are part of the problem. And I love your recommendation of humility. Yes! We can be right while still being humble and respectful, and humility makes it more likely that people will listen. Thank you so much for sharing your ideas here.
I loved this one, Theresa. Your first section, on “natural” takes me back to a college friend who studied biology. He taught me about the naturalistic fallacy—as you note just because something is natural doesn’t mean it is good! Sadly, RFK Jr seems incapable of grasping this concept.
The word I would love to see used less, or maybe used differently, is “success.” We have such a crabbed and narrow view of what constitutes success in our culture—a view that benefits big corporations who profit from overworking people desperate to succeed. I think we need to get rid of the belief that success equals money and status, and focus instead on the success of a happy, connected, and useful life.
I like this a lot, Mari, and agree with you about our views of success. I struggle with that myself--the idea that success means always accomplishing more, when happiness can be hard to achieve and be much more solidly rewarding. Let's hear it for a successful life being a contented one, however the person defines contentment.
Theresa, there was a lot to digest in your most recent post. I thought both the text and the illustrations you chose were perfectly paired to illustrate what you said. I was particularly interested in the part regarding elites, because that underlies much of the difficulty seen in accepting scientific facts: the mistaken believe that among Americans, there are those in the community with specialized knowledge, but since we are all "equal", that knowledge confers no credibility in discussing society-wide concerns. In my opinion, that represents a profound misunderstanding of the phrase "all men are created equal..."; we are not equal in terms of our learned experience or expertise, but rather America has no official lines of royalty. I have struggled with responding to my fellow citizens who use "equality" as a basis for ignoring people with specific expertise, but I also struggle with those experts who present knowledge in a way that is off-putting for people outside of their peer group. I guess the bottom line is that there is a great need for humility on the part of those individuals who present important information to the society at large, whether that's the science of vaccination, efforts at tobacco cessation, or recommended preventive health measures.
Sorry to ramble on a bit, but you have hit upon an important issue in the daily work of healthcare, and I appreciate the opportunity to comment further...
Hi Lou! Thank you for this thoughtful comment. I didn’t respond sooner because I’ve been quite ill with a nasty Spanish virus (the Spanish flu?), but am now on the mend. You make such a smart point about “equality” being used as an argument for the democratization of knowledge, when having that actually happen is truly a recipe for disaster. I’ve been thinking about that question while visiting the amazing churches, cathedrals, Islamic palaces (the Alhambra in Granada) and one Roman aqueduct, here in Spain. These amazing structures were built with no power tools, no machine operated hoists—only local materials and an amazing amount of human ingenuity and effort, and structural engineering. I hope that no one today would decry the knowledge of engineers—how to build a bridge is not a matter of opinion. And yet, expertise in basic science and health care is denigrated as “elitist.” I’m sure you’re right that the messengers are part of the problem. And I love your recommendation of humility. Yes! We can be right while still being humble and respectful, and humility makes it more likely that people will listen. Thank you so much for sharing your ideas here.
I loved this one, Theresa. Your first section, on “natural” takes me back to a college friend who studied biology. He taught me about the naturalistic fallacy—as you note just because something is natural doesn’t mean it is good! Sadly, RFK Jr seems incapable of grasping this concept.
The word I would love to see used less, or maybe used differently, is “success.” We have such a crabbed and narrow view of what constitutes success in our culture—a view that benefits big corporations who profit from overworking people desperate to succeed. I think we need to get rid of the belief that success equals money and status, and focus instead on the success of a happy, connected, and useful life.
I like this a lot, Mari, and agree with you about our views of success. I struggle with that myself--the idea that success means always accomplishing more, when happiness can be hard to achieve and be much more solidly rewarding. Let's hear it for a successful life being a contented one, however the person defines contentment.