In a recent National Football League game, Tampa Bay Buccaneer
quarterback Chris Simms suffered a ruptured spleen. Simms was rushed to the
hospital, his spleen was removed, and he is now on the road to recovery. This
much talked about injury inspired Robert N. Jenkins of the St. Petersburg Times
to declare that Simms, in reality, "didn't need his spleen." In an
article called "Humans have body parts to spare," Jenkins went on to
pronounce that we also do not need our appendix, gall bladder, tonsils,
esophagus, stomach, and adrenal glands because those organs, according to
conventional wisdom, are "vestigial."
I'm not here to debate what-if any-human organs are superfluous. What
interests me more is the fact that most folks would read Jenkins' article and
accept the premises therein without question . . . and this includes the most
cynical lefties you'll ever meet. I know people skeptical enough to think the
Foley sex scandal was leaked by Republicans to distract the public from the
fiasco in Iraq. But tell those same people that some scientist has declared
their spleen obsolete and they're not likely to rush off to post a rebuttal on
their blog.
Tell them that Israel attacked Lebanon because two of its soldiers were
kidnapped and they'll debunk that story in a flash. But how many of them
question, say, the need for humans with a functioning immune system to get
vaccinations (laden with formaldehyde, mercury, aluminum, cells from sickened
animals, and genetically-altered materials, no less)? Vote counts are routinely
disbelieved but nary a peep is heard about the efficacy of animal
experimentation (in fact, to focus on such a topic is to invite being labeled
"anti-human" by progressives). Folks who don't even think there were
humans on the planes that hit the World Trade Center have no problem eating a
tomato spliced with flounder genes. Of course, genetically modified foodstuffs
are safe. The experts tell us so.
The most jaded, suspicious, disbelieving radicals turn timid upon
entering the realm of science and medicine. They readily accept the fluoride in
our water, the mercury in our teeth, the animal flesh on our plates, and the
electro-magnetic radiation in our cell phones as safe. They trust that Western
medicine knows best: Our infallible doctors and scientists know how to fight
cancer and diabetes and heart disease, they know what causes diseases like
AIDS, and when a man in a white coat writes them a prescription, they swallow
both the pill and the rationale. Even the New York Times -- the propaganda
organ of Corporate America -- admits "harmful reactions to medicines,
usually attributed to accidental overdoses and allergic reactions, send more
than 700,000 Americans to emergency rooms each year." But where are the
revolutionary types coming out in support of prevention, healthier lifestyles,
and alternative therapies?
Now save yourself the trouble of sending me scathing e-mails to explain
why I'm "wrong" about pharmaceuticals or cell phones or any of the
above. That's not the point. My very simple question is this: If the heart of
being a dissident in America is to reject conventional wisdom and cast doubt on
the corporate propaganda being foisted upon us at every turn, why do so many on
the Left accept -- without protest -- the scientific and medical company line?
Makes me wonder if it's the brain that's vestigial.
Mickey Z. can be found on the Web
at www.mickeyz.net.