Re: In Praise of Lyme Activists

GregGerber_at_hotmail.com
Date: 12/30/04 

Date: 30 Dec 2004 02:06:30 -0800

derdrittemann2003@yahoo.com wrote:
> Why antagonize people with this sort of thing?

This is the problem in a nutshell -and not just in this limited vein
vis a vis reds and blues. Look, Weisman, you do have interesting points
but you paint things with too broad a brush and leave out the grays.
You take things that happened and build your case without a nod to the
evidence against it, as if you are a high school debate team president
trying to score a point instead of a seeker of all the truth. Even as
you strive to deliver a complex argument you continually oversimplify
by presenting only part of the evidence --the part that supports your
argument-- while leaving out the rest.

For instance regarding Phyllis, she protested strongly and vociferously
to the Klempner results in the end. She was a tremendous aggravation to
NIH when the reality of what went down hit her --it just took awhile,
it was a learning curve, something Phyllis has spoken about with great
honesty and humility. Anyone who notes that Phyllis did not speak out
in the beginning of the Klempner committee must acknowledge that she
spoke out very loudly at the end. It is unfair and misleading to focus
on the beginning of her service without mentioning the end --and to
lead people unaware of the situation to conclude Phyllis went along
when in fact she became one of the most outspoken critics we have as
time went on.

You cannot get at the truth if you leave out the part of the reality
that undercuts your thesis --this kind of arguing undercuts credibility
and alientates those who would agree with you if you were only more
nuanced.

People who make mistakes have often also done good --those who were too
trusting wise up. But but you rarely make a concession to the changes
people go through, or the upside of their service, or their victories.
It is all about good and bad to you, and you see no in between. It is
all black and white to you, and the real aspect --the gray or the
"purple" of the situation and the individual and the event-- gets lost
in what often sounds like rhetoric.

GG

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