There is a wonderful idiom, several times used as the title to a movie and offering the comparative warning, “It shouldn’t happen to a dog.” It refers to some proposed act or omission that is so unpleasant to humans, it should not even be wished on a dog (being a mere animal, it might be expected to bear most things, but not this). Human culture has grown up with animals a part of...
Wherever you go on the internet, whichever newspapers and magazines you open, there’s a familiar marketing message. Apparently, it’s easy to lose those unwanted pounds. Yes, of course. The marketers target our insecurities. They show us “before” and “after” pictures and suggest we too can become a person in the right. All we have to do is to buy their product. “Just...
Keep it in your pants? Definitely not. With the new medical inventions that appear every day it is hard to stay ill or feel pain. Only those lazy ones that get up and get to the local pharmacy remain sick. As we all may have heard or seen on TV the problem of impotency has taken over the world. It doesn’t mean there is something wrong with men nowadays. It means we have become open with our...
Many people use alcohol to do something with stress or pain. It’s considered socially acceptable to go into a pub or stay home and drown sorrows in wine. The only apparent problem comes if the result of drinking is a breach of the peace. For some reason, society sees no problem with those who quietly kill themselves, but locks up anyone who is rowdy or aggressive. In reality, however, there are...
It’s very easy to overdo stories about the risks of obesity. Indeed, those who are overweight grow increasingly angry at the growing number of scientific studies telling them how to live their lives. In this, there are parallels with the campaigns to encourage people to quit smoking. For years, the tobacco industry suppressed evidence of the link between nicotine and cancer, and disputed articles...
You probably have heard a joke: When the patient asks for treatment, the doctors reply: “This is a time for mind over matter. We don’t mind and you don’t matter.” It may not be very funny joke, but it makes the point that many doctors have very poor people skills and frequently do not really care what happens to their patients. The notion of doctoring as a caring profession...