vegans do it better

May 26, 2010

piscesinpurple:

generic1:

ohheygreat:

Jay Parkinson MD and I had an exchange in the comment section on this post that I’d like to elevate to the blog proper. I had taken umbrage with his initial post. We had a conversation. Jay’s final comment is shown in the image above.
“I don’t always believe everything I write.”
Jay is looked to as an expert in both medicine and public health. He has an MD after his name, a sizable following on the internet, a steady stream of publicity, regular gigs speaking at events. He’s also a co-founder of a company that creates new healthcare solutions.
I find it deeply disturbing he would make damaging and potentially dangerous statements and then dismiss them as something he does not believe in.
There is an enormous gulf between writing with nuance and making an inflammatory, sweeping generalization like “anti-depressants are the modern snake oil” simply to “get people to think.” Especially when you fail to follow up with any nuance or by guiding people to help them understand. Posting an excerpt from a Newsweek article that further emphasizes your point - an article that itself was nuanced - is not the same thing.
You can write what you believe in without using fine detail and get people to listen to you. Hell, you can even write bullshit you don’t believe in - as long as it’s not damaging and dangerous, and as long as you aren’t an expert meant to help and guide people.
As a doctor, your primary concern should be caring for patients and doing what is best for them - not getting people’s attention by any means necessary, not busting up “Big Pharma,” not letting the bias come through from some consumer protection organization you worked for. People are fed up enough with the health care system, with people lying to them, with being unable to figure out how to navigate the system, with having the truth hidden from them behind smoke screens from one side or the other. If you want to build a system that works, if you really want to help people, if you want them to be well, then start by speaking the truth.

generic1:

ohheygreat:

Jay Parkinson MD and I had an exchange in the comment section on this post that I’d like to elevate to the blog proper. I had taken umbrage with his initial post. We had a conversation. Jay’s final comment is shown in the image above.

“I don’t always believe everything I write.”

Jay is looked to as an expert in both medicine and public health. He has an MD after his name, a sizable following on the internet, a steady stream of publicity, regular gigs speaking at events. He’s also a co-founder of a company that creates new healthcare solutions.

I find it deeply disturbing he would make damaging and potentially dangerous statements and then dismiss them as something he does not believe in.

There is an enormous gulf between writing with nuance and making an inflammatory, sweeping generalization like “anti-depressants are the modern snake oil” simply to “get people to think.” Especially when you fail to follow up with any nuance or by guiding people to help them understand. Posting an excerpt from a Newsweek article that further emphasizes your point - an article that itself was nuanced - is not the same thing.

You can write what you believe in without using fine detail and get people to listen to you. Hell, you can even write bullshit you don’t believe in - as long as it’s not damaging and dangerous, and as long as you aren’t an expert meant to help and guide people.

As a doctor, your primary concern should be caring for patients and doing what is best for them - not getting people’s attention by any means necessary, not busting up “Big Pharma,” not letting the bias come through from some consumer protection organization you worked for. People are fed up enough with the health care system, with people lying to them, with being unable to figure out how to navigate the system, with having the truth hidden from them behind smoke screens from one side or the other. If you want to build a system that works, if you really want to help people, if you want them to be well, then start by speaking the truth.