The future is in our past -
Yesterday, a person in the street asked me if I were going to write about the 'sexy cancer' story. It hadn't been my intention, but she was so outraged that a federal minister would call cancer sexy, it made me wonder why the story had dropped off my radar?
If you don't know the story, a heavy water leak at the Chalk River nuclear reactor has led to a shutdown of the facility. This results in a shortage of radioisotopes, which doctors use to diagnose and treat cancer patients. According to an audiotape obtained by the Chronicle Herald, Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt called the medical isotopes crisis "sexy" and said she wanted to take credit for fixing it.
As bad as it sounds, that's how many politicians think. Any incident that will keep them in the public eye and directly appeal to the public, as does cancer, can be considered sexy. Such is politics and advertising. Politicians rarely have the luxury of thinking past the moment and the long term effects of their decisions on ordinary individuals can hardly ever be considered. Politicians are unable to survive in their dog-eat-dog environment any other way.
As this event is playing out, it is hard not to think of the fishery. She's gone b'y she's gone has been a favourite refrain of fishers in my lifetime and probably long before that. No one ever expected the fishery to really go though. But first went cod, and now all other species are in danger of being gone. Never mind the prices, the catches of lobster this year are pitiful. And we won't even factor the seal hunt into this long fishery saga.
They were lone critical voices in the Newfoundland wilderness when the federal government didn't raise a squeak as foreign draggers scooped up the fish offshore. Give away the fish b'y; fish is not sexy. Newfoundland is not sexy.
And we have yet another bailout for this sad industry, which in an alternate universe would be the mainstay of the entire country and booming. The bailout makes me happy but one can't help but smile when the fishers become angry because the auto industry is getting more bailout money. They conveniently forget that it's the fishery that has always been the beneficiary of bailouts. Cars are the new sexy?
It's normal for the government to think in terms of numbers and the sexiness of issues. Political parties even think attack ads are sexy. Yet when push comes to shove, we, Canadians, expect the government to see us as individuals. In spite of the reality of the eye opening Eastern Health ongoing cancer story, we have not been disabused of the idea that we are individually important and should be treated equally.
Let's be realistic. The present culture that we display proudly as democracy says we are valuable individuals but acts as though we are numbers. Isn't it time to ignore the rhetoric and begin to see things as they really are? We are numbers and as Rick said to Ilsa in Casablanca, "The problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans."
And that brings me to the Swine Flu. Why on earth is the World Health Organization so uptight over a strain of flu that appears to be very mild when stacked up against ordinary flu that kills thousand annually?
Every year, as regular as clockwork, different strains of the flu kill people. There is no outcry, no publicity and no concern except for making money with flu vaccines. There is only one clear point to be made about ordinary flu. It kills the children and the elderly and rarely affects those in between adversely.
Then along comes a different strain, which is hitting young healthy adults. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand why governments would panic over the deaths of young healthy adults. If young healthy adults are in danger, what effects will that have on society? Young healthy adults are the slave labor that keeps the pockets of the rich lined and the economy ticking. It's not about the individual! It's about retaining status quo! And the children and elderly are not so sexy.
Have you ever asked yourself why would we accept Rick's statement? It is the unquestioning acceptance of this idea that allows Ministers such as Lisa Raitt to ignore individual cancer cases and call the isotope crisis sexy. It is why Eastern Health was more concerned about keeping its reputation intact than it was about individual patients. It is why the Newfoundland government ordered Eastern Health to release the latest information about flawed tests before all individuals had been notified.
Why don't we care about being in the Borg before it affects us individually? If we accept being a number, without question, why are we outraged about flawed cancer tests and Ministers milking cancer for all it's worth? If we are willing to accept dutifully being a number, we shouldn't be surprised when we are treated as numbers... except if we are sexy of course.
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