Re: American health care best? No...Most expensive? Yes...Ranked 12th

From: Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD (andrew_at_heartmdphd.com)
Date: 07/03/04 

Date: Sat, 03 Jul 2004 07:29:44 -0400

Steve Harris sbharris@ROMAN9.netcom.com wrote:
>
> nospam5@heartmdphd.com (Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD) wrote in message news:<9fcab6f7.0407020409.1a7381dc@posting.google.com>...
> > > And besides, what does American "over indulgance" have to do with
> > > American medicine?
> >
> > It does if one believes that American medicine should be educating the
> > public about the adverse health consequences of over-eating.
>
> COMMENT:
>
> Dr. Chung, the American obesity epidemic has nothing to do with
> American medicne's failure to educate the public about the health
> consequences of obesity.

Agree.

Imho, it has more to do with the success of MLM (multi-level-marketing)
to convince people they "gotta eat" and "drink Fanta" (most guys would
buy whatever the Fanta girls are selling :-)

However, imho, we could (and probably should) do more to counter the
above.

For example:

http://www.heartmdphd.com/wtloss.asp

> Any more than the 20 to 25% of adults who
> still smoke are due to failure to get the word out that smoking is bad
> for you.

Yes, it's Joe Camel's fault :-)

> There will always be deniers, but they aren't "educatable."
>
> Say, maybe we could so something about the violent crime rate by
> getting folks with white coats and stethoscopes to let our youth know
> that getting shot really hurts, and also is harmful for animals and
> other livings things. What do you think?

Christ's second commandment would be more effective.
 
> > > Hey, the fast food and movie industries are big businesses, not
> > > necessarily good for the general population. Capitalism gives people
> > > what they want, not what's good for them in terms of some parental
> > > model.
> >
> > Capitalism also convinces people that it has what people want.
>
> COMMENT
>
> I think you have capitalism confused with advertising. Advertising is
> just our word for the wares-display often seen in capitalistic
> systems, sure, but advertising is also a part of communism (where it's
> merely called something different like "public information": or
> "propaganda"),

Sorry, Dr. Harris, propaganda in a communist environment does not create
markets when there is no free market.

> and of course it's a part of socialism, etc. And it's a
> part of the dating scene (where it's called make up, fashion, flirting
> or Personals writing). And part of politics (where it's called spin or
> campaigning). And the courtship and fighting behavior and rituals of
> animals (where it's called "display").
>
> Capitalism has nothing essential to do with advertising per se as part
> of its definition-- that's a leftist piece of nonsense. Capitalism is
> the system where the means of production are owned privately, end of
> story.

Free marketeering is part of capitalism, Dr. Harris.

> Any advertising added on is just the information presentation
> and processing which happens, and MUST happen, in ANY complex economic
> or ecological system, including (as we said) Communism and Socialism
> and you name it-ism. And which has NOTHING whatever to do with the
> system per se, except that it's a necessary component to information
> transfer in all of them. All complex cybernetic feedback-driven
> systems need it. Including capitalism, but also including every other
> complex adaptive system on this planet, both man-made and natural.
>
> Look: when a foreign protein enters your body, you can't deal with it
> immunologically until some very specialized cell like a Langerhans
> cell, busts it up, and then presents it on its surface *selectively*
> and in a special contect, so that other cells in your body can
> evaluate and react to it. This is selective presentation. It is
> selective display. It is advertising. If you think this process is
> "capitalism," you are nuts.

Though it does not define it, you have to admit that it is a feature of
American-style capitalism. FWIW, I am a capitalist and a flag-waving
American. However, I am also Christian.
 
 
Servant to the humblest person in the universe,

Andrew 

--
Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD
Board-Certified Cardiologist
http://www.heartmdphd.com/
**
Who is the humblest person in the universe?
http://makeashorterlink.com/?L26062048
What is all this about?
http://makeashorterlink.com/?R20632B48
Is this spam?
http://makeashorterlink.com/?N69721867

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