Among all this discussion about “not trusting the establishment” I have a question: what happens when the establishment is right?
When people start telling me not to trust the establishment, my retort is: “do you drink milk?”
During the 19th century, raw milk was killing thousands upon of people, but people resisted the establishment’s recommendation that they only drink pasteurized milk because they thought that the govt was trying to dictate what they were putting in their bodies (sound familiar?), believed raw milk was better for them and that they knew better. It was only in 1915, when the govt passed a law that all milk should be pasteurized that the death rate went down and people accepted the view.
There’s countless other examples of this: vaccines, toilets and sewer systems (cholera), water purification, artificial fertilizer (to feed all those people who were living longer because of vaccines and toilets) All these advancement have contributed to doubling the life expectancy between 1900 and 2000 (or is that not true too?). These changes were not brought about by individuals, but by the establishment (I.e. drugs didn’t cure cholera, the government building sewers did).
What’s incredible about all these medical miracles is not their discovery but the public health initiatives run by the ESTABLISHMENT that implemented them into society.
You can read about this in Steven Johnson’s excellent book, An Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer.
I guess I take a little bit of a different view than most people in this group. I don’t think the establishment is always right (god knows it’s been wrong countless times!), but sometimes we should be listening with a critical mind and a discerning heart to what it’s saying. Just my two cents. 🤷♂️
Among all this discussion about “not trusting the establishment” I have a question: what happens when the establishment is right?
When people start telling me not to trust the establishment, my retort is: “do you drink milk?”
During the 19th century, raw milk was killing thousands upon of people, but people resisted the establishment’s recommendation that they only drink pasteurized milk because they thought that the govt was trying to dictate what they were putting in their bodies (sound familiar?), believed raw milk was better for them and that they knew better. It was only in 1915, when the govt passed a law that all milk should be pasteurized that the death rate went down and people accepted the view.
There’s countless other examples of this: vaccines, toilets and sewer systems (cholera), water purification, artificial fertilizer (to feed all those people who were living longer because of vaccines and toilets) All these advancement have contributed to doubling the life expectancy between 1900 and 2000 (or is that not true too?). These changes were not brought about by individuals, but by the establishment (I.e. drugs didn’t cure cholera, the government building sewers did).
What’s incredible about all these medical miracles is not their discovery but the public health initiatives run by the ESTABLISHMENT that implemented them into society.
You can read about this in Steven Johnson’s excellent book, An Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer.
I guess I take a little bit of a different view than most people in this group. I don’t think the establishment is always right (god knows it’s been wrong countless times!), but sometimes we should be listening with a critical mind and a discerning heart to what it’s saying. Just my two cents. 🤷♂️