There are a lot of ways to define “politics.” Each of them is meaningful to understanding the structure of medicine. So far in this series I’ve looked at the “office politics“ and “organizational politics“ that guide and shape the practice of medicine. However, medicine is also a cultural institution that exists within the prevailing political viewpoints of the time. Many of my own viewpoints of societal politics could be summarized as follows: Human beings are inherently tribal and instinctually seek to segregate themselves into tribes. At the same time, most humans (at least within Western societies) share the same values and on the majority of issues actually agree with each other. The upper class always seeks to dominate the lower class, and one of the most frequent tactics used for the objective is to break the lower class into tribes and then encourage these opposing tribes to blame each other for all of their problems so that the ruling elite is absolved of all responsibility for exploiting the rest of the population. The degree of tribalism and polarization within a nation fluctuates as a function of time, and typically will maintain a general equilibrium where it does not become too polarized. However, in certain times there can be periods of hyperpolarization and extreme tribalism. These can often herald either a broad societal change to a new societal paradigm or violent conflict within the nation. In the last ten years, the polarization in the country has significantly increased. This is typically attributed to the Trump years, however I believe he was riding a wave that Obama started. Wall Street engaged in criminal financial activity during Bush’s presidency that resulted in trillions of bank bailouts being given by Bush and Obama to the banks. Because the bankers who did all of this were never punished (rather Blackrock was allowed to buy out a large portion of the economy), it incentivized the criminal activity to continue to do this day and shifted a large portion of the country’s wealth to the 1%. The Occupy Wall Street Movement (which I strongly supported) came about as a protest to this, and gradually brought awareness to this issue. To contain this protest movement, a top-down policy reusing a classic strategy was enacted that redirected this popular sentiment from being a class issue to a race issue (essentially everything was reframed so that white people rather than the 1% were responsible for all the issues the country was facing). The media and President Obama inflaming the Treyvon Martin case (which happened less than a year after Occupy Wall Street started) that brought Black Lives Matter to mainstream attention, and a variety of establishment news outlets such as the New York Times suddenly publishing large numbers of articles on White Privilege are two such examples. This approach was successful and the focus on the parasitic 1% was displaced by a focus on divisions over identity politics. Since that time, wealth inequality has continued to grow to unprecedented levels, and nearly everyone except the 1% has suffered. The best metaphor I have seen for this situation occurred during George W. Bush’s presidency, where large numbers of people were strongly motivated to protest his oversees wars. Bush somehow was able to get away with creating “free speech zones” where individuals were allowed to protest, but only within fenced off areas that had been designated for protest. Modern protest movements also work within free speech zones. Certain protest movements (those which do not threaten the 1%) are encouraged across the board, while the other movements are criminalized, and the tech platforms provide comfortable spaces for individuals who support the sanctioned protests to meet their need for activism by harassing people online (resulting in those potential protestors rarely doing anything else and many activists have postulated along with the digital erosion of privacy have basically ended effective progressive activism in the country). What was particularly sad about all of this is that the left of the country has traditionally opposed the corporate overreach and wealth inequality we are seeing now. In our current timeline, the progressive movement been hijacked and made to turn their hatred and frustration over the injustice in the world towards their fellow countrymen (with many progressives actually identifying with the corporations responsible for much of this mess due to their PR messaging on behalf of social justice). Because of the changes created by Obama, widespread polarization began appearing throughout American society. Trump in turn rode that wave to the White House, which, egged on by the corporate media, grew throughout his presidency and has continued to grow since he left office. From looking at the issue of bigotry (I believe that term is more comprehensive than “racism”), the underlying issue always seems to be mental laziness. Being fully present to the individual complexity of another human being takes a large amount of mental work. Painting a large group of people with a brush and viewing them collectively as a homogenous group takes much less effort, and is the default mode of processing for many in a society that encourages mental laziness. The key point within my political soap box is very simple. Hyper political polarization is always incredibly damaging to a functioning democracy. Outside of situations where an actual hot war is occurring and your life depends on eliminating the enemy, the best solution is always to accept your differences and find common ground with the other side to reduce the existing polarization. While there definitely are some people in this current era who have lost their minds, in most cases if you create a space for that exchange to happen, it will happen. Most members of the 99% within the United States have much more in common than what is different, but the entire corporate media day in and day out agitates the population over and over again to focus on where they differ so they can never come together as brothers (or sisters). https://amidwesterndoctor.substack.com/p/the-politics-of-medical-gaslighting?s=r
Saul Alinsky control healthcare and you control https://www.dogpile.com/serp?q=Saul+Alinsky+control+healthcare+and+you+control
"Control healthcare and you control the people" Saul Alinsky https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/the-politics-of-medical-gaslighting.366936/#post-5624836
Wednesday, July 20, 2022 GreatGameIndia Coronavirus COVID19 Publications Support GGI Economy Comparing The Cost Of Living Around The World July 19, 2022 Cost of living has been a major concern for many people worldwide due to rising inflation and higher pricing for consumer items. Let’s take a look at the comparisons in the cost of living around various parts of the world. EXPLOSIVE: Here’s what was uncovered in Hunter Biden’s iCloud Hack MAJOR PEER REVIEWED STUDY: Moderna Vaccine Increases Myocarditis Risk By 44 Times In Young Adults MUST READ: High Level International Bankers Simulate The Collapse Of Global Financial System BIG STORY: Wuhan Lab Isolated Monkeypox Strain In 2020 EXPLOSIVE: Ukraine Biolabs Used Fever Carrying Mosquitoes To Spark Dengue Pandemic In Cuba From city to city, the amount of money required to cover daily costs like rent and food varies substantially. Additionally, some cities, such as New York City, are renowned for having particularly high housing costs. In light of this, how expensive are daily expenses in New York City in comparison to locales like Bangalore, India, or Beirut, Lebanon? This chart by Victor Dépré (hypntic.data) compares the cost of living and purchasing power in 578 various places throughout the globe utilizing statistics from 2022 from Numbeo, using New York City as a baseline for comparison. The Cost of Living Index Although New York City is renowned for being one of the most expensive cities in the world, as Carmen Ang of Visual Capitalist explains below, there seem to be a number of cities that are significantly more expensive than the Big Apple, according to Numbeo, the world’s largest registry of user-contributed information on cities and countries. Subscribe to GreatGameIndia Enter your email address to subscribe to GGI and receive notifications of new posts by email. Email Address Here is a comparison of the cost of living amongst 578 cities. To put things in perspective, if a city has a cost of living index of 121, that indicates that, on average, its daily costs are 21 percent greater than those in New York: The cost of living in Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda, is the highest on the list, surpassing New York’s by about 50%. Why does Hamilton cost so much? Prices in the territory are probably high as a result of the fact that almost everything—including clothes, groceries, and gas—must be imported onto the small British archipelago. The second-highest cost city after New York City is Zurich, Switzerland, where costs are nearly 30% higher. The statistics shows that the cost of food and drink is particularly high in the area, with restaurant pricing being 55 percent higher and grocery being 58 percent more expensive than in New York City. Although Zurich has a high cost of living index, it is important to remember that the city also has a high purchasing power, which we shall explore in more detail in the following section. The Local Purchasing Power Index The quantity of goods and services that a person with an average salary may purchase in a given city is measured using the concept of purchasing power. Returning to Zurich, despite having higher costs, customers there have around 30% more purchasing power than inhabitants of New York City have generally. In comparison, Hamilton, Bermuda’s typical customer has a comparatively low level of purchasing power. Consumers can afford around 30% less than those in New York City, based on the city’s average net pay. Inflation Continues to Drive Prices Up Cost of living has been a major concern for many people worldwide due to rising inflation and higher pricing for consumer items. The COVID-19 pandemic, along with supply chain concerns, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and pent-up demand as a result, have all contributed to the global cost of living crisis that has been going on since late 2021. But according to UBS Chief Economist Paul Donovan, we have probably already seen the worst of it, and in the second half of the year, inflation will probably start to decline globally. GreatGameIndia is being actively targeted by powerful forces who do not wish us to survive. Your contribution, however small help us keep afloat. We accept voluntary payment for the content available for free on this website via UPI, PayPal and Bitcoin.