Thread: Medicine

xman-> youtube (i assume that's what's in those blank boxes) is blocked by my work firewall, I'll watch and respond to them this evening, but for now I can't see 'em.

ok, I watched the videos on my iphone during lunch, so i can comment a bit:

1. this video wouldn't pull up, i have no idea why, i tried it 3 times. sorry. the other two came up fine
2. this is a video of some random guy on the beach venting about how he doesn't like social darwinism because a) spencer was a jerk (I agree, but this is an ad hominem) and b) the theory, in its initial form, was little more than a misappropriation of darwinian ideals to justify further class stratification. (these are my own words.) i agree with him on several points, but this has almost nothing to do with a) the modern-day intepretation of social darwinism and b) my own personal ideals on the subject
3. this lady seems to have done her homework to a much greater extent than the beach guy, but her main thrust is a) a defense of evolution and b) tying social darwinism to the national socialist party. i agree that the national socialist party's eugenics program was awful. they definitely twisted the ideals of social darwinism quite a bit to suit their own needs. but i don't think that just because a particular ideaology is abused and perverted by one group, no matter how sinister, it becomes instantly wrong. after all, the national socialist party perverted many of the ideals of the roman catholic church as well.

I will agree that some of the proponents of certain subsets have been inhuman monsters. no doubt about that. but in your own wikipedia link, the tenuous connection between the national socialist party and the core tenets of social darwinism is called into question.

perhaps if I self-identified as Objectivist instead of mentioning Social Darwinism, there wouldn't be so much objection, but to me the core ideas are the same.

Originally Posted by Whiggamore

Gugi, call it what you want. In Canada we call it health care. Medicine is the best term because it covers everything and anything that makes us healthy. And that is what we're talking about funding, that is what I'm talking about managing.

I suppose I'm so used to the division of powers between the judicial and legislative branches of government that I don't consider the Courts part of the State, no. The Courts defend us from the State, if anything. At least they ought to. You are right, the Courts do have an important role to play in medicine, just like they do in other aspects of our society. Bringing snake oil salesmen to justice, for example.

Well in Canada it's called health care and doesn't include pharmaceuticals nor dental nor a number of other things, unless of course you are on social assistance then it does cover drugs and very rudimentary dental.