There was a lot to be concerned about in 2016, and it was no different for public health, the Zika virus, the bombing of hospitals in war zones, more diseases becoming resistant to antibiotics. Yet, there were public health good news too, and good news is good news, it’s important to underline it. There was the training of giant rats to detect tuberculosis. They had previously been trained to detect landmines, but were retrained to sniff out the mucus from people with tuberculosis and can be almost Continue reading “Good News In Public Health”
Category: Governance
About a Refugee Selling Sex
There’s a rundown large park in Athens, the Pedion Aeros Park, there a section of the park is known as a place to get sex. Mostly older men walk by at night in search of it. There too several refugees from Afghanistan and other countries, live in tents or however they can, and earn a living selling themselves. One 20-year old Afghan interviewed for the article I read said he was ashamed of what he did, but that was the only thing he could do. The alternatives were to steal, or deal in drugs and that seemed the least violent to him. He is in Greece illegally, cannot find any country that will have him and has no money to pay smugglers. In a place where sex can readily be had, the price goes down, so he gets Continue reading “About a Refugee Selling Sex”
Political Correctness and Sensitive Speech
One subject that Donald Trump has renewed conversation about is political correctness. He is not for it, and that has pushed many to also challenge it. Political correctness is now often allied with identity politics and that is seen by its critics as a cause of liberals. On the other hand there are those who still believe in the values inherent in free speech and political correctness even if their meaning is not always uniform. Yet, for others still free speech has come to mean being able to say what one wants without regards to notions of political correctness. Free speech came out of the free speech movement of the 60’s which itself ushered in or reinforced the civil rights movement, the women’s movement, and LGBT rights. The idea was to leave behind old ways and old patterns which were discriminatory, for example Continue reading “Political Correctness and Sensitive Speech”
Trump’s Victory and Trump’s Ideas
In this era of fake news, it’s even more important to think clearly. That’s why this Los Angeles Times Article on how Hollywood is trying to adjust to a Trump presidency, made me wonder how much we do. I write this not so much as an example of how to think clearly, but as one to question some of the things we read. In this case the issue is not being pro or con Mr. Trump, but of more correctly interpreting the meaning of his victory. The article read, ” –but his defeat of Hillary Clinton was a stinging repudiation of the political correctness, diversity and liberalism celebrated by much of the entertainment business at a time of bitter arguments over the nation’s ideals.” Placed in context of a few facts, how can that be? How can his Continue reading “Trump’s Victory and Trump’s Ideas”