Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Invention of the "Medical Consumer"
Long article but thought provoking
This article is from the archives of the Public Library of Science, an open-source publication that does not accept money from corporations. For this reason, it is possible to find information at the site that is not colored by donations and support from big business or industry.
This particular article gives background on the invention of the "medical consumer." That would be us, folks... Did you ever think of yourself in those terms? I didn't until I read through the article. What else would we be considered to be?
Consider the nigh-on endless pharmaceutical ads on television. I have considered totting all the ads in an hour's programming, noting what they are selling and to whom they are flogging.
If I get around to doing this some day, I'll post my findings. Won't be a scientific study but might be interesting.
Are all those "male enhancement" and ED ads on-air at times when more males will be watching? Do those products work for gay men, too? What is the demographic for cardiac and cholesterol products? How about those osteoporosis products?
I also find it interesting that the side-effects of many of those products are worse than the disease they claim to treat.* Would a person rather die than have psoriasis? Does Enzyte turn you into a nerdy jerk? What male in his right mind would want to go around like that "Smiling Bob" creature? The smarmy dudes on the other prescription ED ads are bad enough, but that guy?
Be that as it may, the article makes the point that the pharmaceutical companies are the "snake-oil salesmen" of our time. Flacking suspect products to people who want to stay young forever. People who, because of poor health, poor lifestyle choices, or a host of other causes, can't "get it up" like they could when they were 17. Women who are scared half out of their wits of "bone or breast health" issues. What was that percentage? Less than 50%? How much less than 50% of the female population is "likely to have...?" Allergy sufferers who are now looking forward to being "*******-clear." (I wonder how many of our allergy problems are due to the amount of environmental poisons our bodies are trying to deal with? Then add pharmaceuticals to that chemical load... ) Sleeplessness is miserable but why take a drug that "helps you sleep" but you're still tired the next day? Isn't that why you took the drug in the first place, so you wouldn't be tired the next day? I am curious to know if tired from lack of sleep and tired from side effects of a drug are the same kind of tired?
How close can the flawed human body come to perfect health? Do we think that if we exercise enough, take enough drugs, do this or that or the other, we will live forever? Do we believe as Lord Henry Wotton, a character in Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray**," that beauty and the fulfillment of the senses are the only things worth pursuing in life?
(will get back to this later....)
*I will note down some of the side effects and comment further on them.
** The Picture of Dorian Gray
This article is from the archives of the Public Library of Science, an open-source publication that does not accept money from corporations. For this reason, it is possible to find information at the site that is not colored by donations and support from big business or industry.
This particular article gives background on the invention of the "medical consumer." That would be us, folks... Did you ever think of yourself in those terms? I didn't until I read through the article. What else would we be considered to be?
Consider the nigh-on endless pharmaceutical ads on television. I have considered totting all the ads in an hour's programming, noting what they are selling and to whom they are flogging.
If I get around to doing this some day, I'll post my findings. Won't be a scientific study but might be interesting.
Are all those "male enhancement" and ED ads on-air at times when more males will be watching? Do those products work for gay men, too? What is the demographic for cardiac and cholesterol products? How about those osteoporosis products?
I also find it interesting that the side-effects of many of those products are worse than the disease they claim to treat.* Would a person rather die than have psoriasis? Does Enzyte turn you into a nerdy jerk? What male in his right mind would want to go around like that "Smiling Bob" creature? The smarmy dudes on the other prescription ED ads are bad enough, but that guy?
Be that as it may, the article makes the point that the pharmaceutical companies are the "snake-oil salesmen" of our time. Flacking suspect products to people who want to stay young forever. People who, because of poor health, poor lifestyle choices, or a host of other causes, can't "get it up" like they could when they were 17. Women who are scared half out of their wits of "bone or breast health" issues. What was that percentage? Less than 50%? How much less than 50% of the female population is "likely to have...?" Allergy sufferers who are now looking forward to being "*******-clear." (I wonder how many of our allergy problems are due to the amount of environmental poisons our bodies are trying to deal with? Then add pharmaceuticals to that chemical load... ) Sleeplessness is miserable but why take a drug that "helps you sleep" but you're still tired the next day? Isn't that why you took the drug in the first place, so you wouldn't be tired the next day? I am curious to know if tired from lack of sleep and tired from side effects of a drug are the same kind of tired?
How close can the flawed human body come to perfect health? Do we think that if we exercise enough, take enough drugs, do this or that or the other, we will live forever? Do we believe as Lord Henry Wotton, a character in Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray**," that beauty and the fulfillment of the senses are the only things worth pursuing in life?
(will get back to this later....)
*I will note down some of the side effects and comment further on them.
** The Picture of Dorian Gray
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