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Author Topic:   Why Progress Is Slow
Valus
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posted June 07, 2010 04:54 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Valus     Edit/Delete Message
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MysticMelody
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posted June 08, 2010 12:00 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for MysticMelody     Edit/Delete Message
This is REALLY good.

"When certain methods become universally accepted, or accepted by an overwhelming majority of people, they become institutionalized; a part of the social and economic fabric of civilization. Consider the American medical industry's Cancer treatment, with its dependence on drugs (prescription medication), mutilation (surgery), and radiation (chemotherapy). These methods have become so entrenched in society, it's now literally illegal to claim that other methods are equally or more effective. The universities teach only these methods and are the only means to become an accredited physician in this country. If you meet an accredited physician, he/she will be trained in these methods, and may very well be ignorant of all others. Billions of dollars are invested, and fortunes are being made every day...

Now, suppose an innovation comes along.

Suppose a great medical mind comes into the world and proves, without a shadow of a doubt, that the accepted methods are in fact harmful and that an infinitely better way has been found. Suppose this person proves that the medical industry, as we know it, is actually preying on the sick, and doing them more harm than good. Surely, this medical genius and his/her discoveries will be instantly embraced, and the entire system will reorient itself, right? Hospitals will be revolutionized virtually overnight, doctors will be re-educated before being allowed to continue their practice, universities will gut their medical departments and hire new professors educated in the new methods, degrees will mean nothing, millions of dollars in college tuition will be refunded..... right? Or, will the wealthy use their clout to inhibit and suppress the new discovery? And will all, or nearly all, the people who have a stake in the old regime be quick to deny the new discovery, and to dig their heels in, and fight to preserve the old ways? You bet they will. And they'll do it all unconsciously. -- But that's another story."

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katatonic
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posted June 08, 2010 12:54 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for katatonic     Edit/Delete Message
you are right in most cases. geniuses (genii?) are like scout planets. they stand alone and in front of the rest.

but there is a particularly smart type of genius who is not so wrapped up in his invention/discovery that he presents it to people in a way that does not scare them off...this man is a genius in communication as well as in breaking ground.

the cancer scenario you mention has happened, not once but many times and very recently; dr simoncini in italy was jailed for asking for trials for his benign and apparently successful cancer treatments. andrew wakefield in britain was struck from the medical register in britain for suggesting treatment for the autism and digestive problems many kids suffer after mmr vaccine...today as always money talks and nobody walks without convincing the money it has nothing to lose and something to gain from listening/changing.

however edison managed to sell his genius to the people who could make it happen, and i don't recall any stories about his suffering in his garrett while his genius went unrecognized (like tesla did from time to time, watching his creations claimed by others). he had, shall we say, the gift of the gab as well as of the fab? and andrew weil is managing to lend support to these other doctors without bringing the fortress down on his head. he even managed to write a book about the merits of marijuana, from a medical point of view, when such ideas were anathema to the establishment, without any censure at all as far as i know...

so the question to me is, is it the genius that draws the flack and fear out of the "establishment"...or is it naivety or, worse, arrogance that expects everyone to lap up something new and strange without an enticing wrapping?

i was once in the former court, thinking the "masses" were just too dumb to keep up with the bright stars among them, and that big money and power had a vested interest in keeping things as they were. but after many years of observation i came to a couple of conclusions quite different. one is that a) genius is often hindered by a lack of "people skills" or maybe that should be "sales skills"...and that the genius who gets through to people and breaks down those barriers is also wise enough to know he must be a teacher, performer, or some combination of talents that make it possible for him to convince the masses or the "maker/breakers" that what he has will surpass what they are used to.

often the idea, which is commonly agreed with, that genius cannot be understood by the hoi polloi and is therefore frightening or worse, is a self-fulfilling prophecy. the flaw is in not taking the time to study the audience and "pitch" to them in a way they can understand..

in other words, while tesla supposedly invented the radio, telephone and our modern means of electricity, it was edison who was able to catch the imagination of the big bucks who lapped it up when he served it.

of course some ideas are so alien or require so much adjustment that yes, a period of introduction, explanation and marketing is necessary before the "sheep" and "the sheepfarmers" will give up what they have always done and found worked for them.

so if the great medical mind refuses to indulge in blaming the establishment for harming patients, but instead concentrates on making the better way also more profitable, more likely to win people's confidence, etc, he creates a win-win situation where the establishment can take up his superior methods and cease the harmful ones....like the brilliant plastic surgeon who invented the water bed for burn patients. there was not one peep from the bed suppliers whose orders might have been affected...because she pointed out that not only would hospitals order these strange things, but they could be sold to the general public as the latest groovy trend..

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Valus
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posted June 08, 2010 08:48 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Valus     Edit/Delete Message
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Valus
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posted June 08, 2010 09:06 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Valus     Edit/Delete Message

A word on Dr. Gerson.

The manuscript for his book was stolen and he suddenly became very ill. At death's door, he was able to heal himself, using his own treatment. Gerson fired his new secretary, who he suspected had stolen his book and poisoned him. He rewrote the book from scratch. Once again, he became deathly ill. He tested himself -- positive for arsenic poisoning. This time, unable to heal himself, Gerson died. He never wrote another book.

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katatonic
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posted June 08, 2010 10:17 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for katatonic     Edit/Delete Message
perhaps edison/tesla was a bad example here where most people have heard of tesla through linda. who disseminated the story of how tesla's stuff was stolen by the government and locked up...this was apparently a rumour.

it's true that without tesla explaining the dangers of direct current edison would have produced an inferior brand of electricity. sometimes genius needs someone else to bounce ideas off of...but despite his rascal side edison invented a great many things besides the light bulb - the first at the age of only 16, and it was taken up by the railroad company he worked for because he could show them how much better they could operate with it.

tesla's information has been available all the while. his from-the-ground transmitters HAVE been developed by others since and it is true that GE has suppressed the use of same.

perhaps leonardo is a better example. he would not have been able to do as much as he did without the PATRONAGE of the powerful. in fact most of the geniuses of his time went the same route...found a wealthy magnate to work for - so they only had to pitch to one person successfully to get their genius out into the world.

i'm not arguing that big business and govt don't work together to keep the money coming in!! but i also think the 100th monkey syndrome applies here. until one has a map it is hard to find the road unless you are willing to explore each possibility. so it takes a certain number of people to grasp something new before it can be incorporated into the whole.

however i do believe that the most spectacular invention or work of art is like the proverbial tree falling with no one to hear, unless the genius is also able to convince at least one person that it has APPLICABILITY to others. this requires some understanding of the needs and desires of other humans.

your psychiatrist is admirable and many others like him. but you are talking about two different things. not all genius threatens the establishment, though by definition it comes up with something new. and i don't think by a long shot dr breggin is alone in his beliefs. i have been intuitively in the same camp for many years, as are huge numbers of people who are basically doing everything they can to provide alternatives to drugs in every field. but he is right, proper parenting which recognizes the strengths of add kids instead of insisting they fit into the existing structure makes all the difference. edison himself was an add kid whose mother's response to his troubles at school was to take him out and homeschool him. many parents today go the drug route because they are too busy working to do that, or because they are too busy working to challenge the so-called experts.

perhaps it is the assumption that something needs to be taken up by the masses that is in error. when you take an each-to-his-own stance we can all be geniuses and hang the establishment. but on the other hand assimilating change tends to take most people some time. consensus takes time. that is why there is nothing so convincing as an idea whose time has come, and usually it comes to more than one genius at a time!!

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Valus
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posted June 08, 2010 02:13 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Valus     Edit/Delete Message

Kat,

I agree with everything you said.

I would just add that, although Dr. Breggin isn't alone in recognizing and questioning the push towards overmedication, he is certainly an anomally in his field, and has been for the past three decades. Moreover, he's exceptionally rare for the "extremity" of his position; which is not that these drugs should be used more sparingly, -- but, that they should not be used at all (except durring the gradual process of weening a patient off of medication). The majority of his patients come to him for help getting off of prescription meds. I don't know another psychiatrist who can claim that. He's also the only public figure I know of (with the exception of Tom Cruise, who's a brainwashed Scientologist nut) taking a categorical stance against these drugs. And he's the only acredited psychiatrist I know of to make this his central focus. Many of us may agree, in part or in whole, with his findings, but how many of us have even started an thread or posted a link about it?


MEDICATION MADNESS
The Role of Psychiatric Drugs
in Cases of Violence, Suicide and Murder
by Peter Breggin, M.D.

http://breggin.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=55&Itemid=79

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Valus
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posted June 08, 2010 02:35 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Valus     Edit/Delete Message

And I hear what you're saying, about an idea whose "time has come". But the best ideas are long overdue. Too many people have died, and it's about time we listened to what they were telling us long ago. It's not that the idea's time has yet to come. Rather, it is we who are out of time.

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katatonic
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posted June 08, 2010 02:44 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for katatonic     Edit/Delete Message
he has my kudos. for my part i just work at making people better without drugs. and it was i who talked my psych-nurse sister off of prozac a dozen years ago. she was surprised to find she didn't relapse into suicidal depressions without it...and that her prescribing doctor supported her in doing so.

i'm not disagreeing with your premise either, just saying that not all the reasons for progress being slow are down to the cahoots of big business. to succeed change tends to need to be organic, or evolutionary if you like. revolutions may succeed in changing things but they also create so much resistant energy that they throw up new problems equal to or worse than the old before people find their feet and move forward again...in fact the earth and cosmos also behave this way. the slower, more incremental changes tend to endure, while revolution and explosive energies may wipe out the past but in destroying it also create a whole new evolutionary process of rebuilding anew. is it preferable to burn a house down to create a new kitchen, or to progress one appliance at a time? all depends, right?

i'm also saying that to expect ignorant reactions and resistance has a tendency to create them...attitude is as important in communicating genius as anything else. and the genius who is satisfied to create brilliance in an ivory tower, shunning the common people, is really isolating himself, not being isolated.

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Valus
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posted June 08, 2010 03:02 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Valus     Edit/Delete Message
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katatonic
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posted June 08, 2010 03:48 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for katatonic     Edit/Delete Message

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Lyra
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posted June 09, 2010 11:35 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Lyra     Edit/Delete Message
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