Stay F---! | 10 November
Carrie McLaren
stay.free at verizon.net
Wed Nov 10 00:04:59 EST 2004
Posted at:
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/public/index.html
----
If you are a paid subscriber and are getting this twice, email
stay.free at verizon.net and I'll make things right.
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I'm finally getting around to adding material from Issue #22 to the
website. We begin with "World View," our random newsbytes section:
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/22/worldview.html
(Sorry, no photos on the site. I'm lazy.)
WORLD VIEW: MARKETING NEWS AND OTHER SICK STUFF
Patients undergoing cardiac surgery can now look forward to hearing
new age music and calming voices while under the knife. Doctors at
prominent hospitals are increasingly recommending the use of guided
imagery tapes, which are played through earphones while patients are
under anesthesia. A calm female voice beckons patients to "feel new
strength flowing through you, through arteries that are wider and
more open . . . than before."
To assure patients that their doctors are reliable, the voice coos
that medical devices "will be removed by wise and sure hands at just
the right time, when your body is ready, no sooner, no later." While
there is no real evidence yet that the tapes have any effect, they
are marketed as a way of improving patients' recovery. Audio samples
of these tapes can be found on the Ohio-based Health Journeys
website, including affirmations for other conditions like irritable
bowel syndrome, depression, and menopause. (Wall Street Journal,
2/10/04)
* * * *
The photo developing departments at several national chain stores
routinely censor customer orders. A Walgreen's in Ohio, for example,
removed a photo of a shirtless man wearing a nipple ring from
customer Calvin Johnson's roll--and threw away the negatives.
An assistant manager told Johnson that film developers are under no
obligation to print photos they deem offensive, "If someone doesn't
approve of the subject matter," he said, "each employee has the right
[to discard photos] as they see it."
CVS, Eckerds, and Rite-Aid have similar policies. Wal-Mart's policy
is even more sweeping: if employees come across any photographs
containing nudity of any kind--kids in a bathtub, for instance--they
are required to call the police. (Clevescene.com, 4/14/04)
MORE WORLD VIEW STORIES AT:
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/22/worldview.html
::::::::
Meanwhile, outside the Stay F---! web universe, there's:
HOW TO THINK ABOUT PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
By Malcolm Gladwell
http://newyorker.com/critics/atlarge/?041025crat_atlarge
Let me preface this by saying that I think Malcolm Gladwell
(http://gladwell.com) is a bit of a charlatan. His modus operandi is
to put forth a counterintuitive argument, then cleverly select points
that advance his thesis while ignoring and obscuring those that
don't. Still, he raises a good point here: one reason prescription
drugs costs are skyrocketing in America is because Americans are
taking a lot more drugs. The rest of his argument is, however, pure
hokum.
"The emphasis of the prescription-drug debate is all wrong," Gladwell
writes. "We've been focused on the drug manufacturers. But decisions
about prevalence, therapeutic mix, and intensity aren't made by the
producers of drugs. They're made by the consumers of drugs."
See, friends, it's not the drug company's fault that your colitis
medication is almost $600, it's YOURS. What's especially weird is
that Gladwell himself acknowledges the power of deceptive marketing
and patent-law abuses--practices that the average consumer is, for
all practical purposes, helpless against. But in Gladwell's fantasy
world, doctors, health insurers, and consumers should take
responsibility for drug company shenanigans. In making his case,
Gladwell conveniently ignores the fact that drug companies have done
everything they can to prevent studies comparing competing drugs to
one another, and to prevent the reporting of negative data from
clinical trials.
How come, when I'm prescribed a drug, there is no way for me to
report the drug's effectiveness: did it help? did it hurt? If there
were some reliable, independent resource that collected this data--a
sort of "Consumer Reports" for pharmaceuticals--then maybe patients
would have a tool to balance corporations' marketing muscle. (Such a
resource would also help in filling out the shortcomings of clinical
trials.) But with nothing of a kind, and with only flashy--and often
misleading--advertisements to fill the gap, neither the little old
lady in Omaha nor the hyperinformed New York journalist has much to
go on.
----------------- ADVERTISEMENT -------------------
NEWSDESK.ORG
Serious, noncommercial, online journalism.
Get the real scoop on labor, environment, health, civics, & more.
http://www.newsdesk.org
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DIEBOLD & ELECTRONIC VOTING
Today I got bored with myself and posted a few links about electronic
voting up at Deebold.com (a domain I registered a while back). One
noteworthy item is a video excerpt of MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith
Olbermann," which does a hard-hitting roundup of voting inaccuracies
in last week's election. Several counties in Florida and Ohio, for
example, had more votes than voters! See
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/diebold/ (aka deebold.com)
.....
"MARRY AN AMERICAN"
In the wake of the Presidential election, our friends in Canada have
stepped in to lend a hand by offering "desperate" single Americans a
pathway to freedom:
http://www.marryanamerican.ca/
.....
TIRED JAPANESE BUSINESSMEN
Neato photo archive of overworked Japnese business men sleeping (or
passed out) on trains, sidewalks, and even staircases:
http://masamania.com/archives/2004/09/japanese_busine.html
(via BoingBoing.net)
that's all for now,
carrie
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