This meme reveals one of the major flaws of infographics. The author is trying to paint a picture but it's not clear at all. The title says "conquest" of science. Some of the data points are clearly nefarious in terms of how they're worded, but what we need here is an actual narrative. Someone needs to explain the how and why.
This is coming from an anon who deals in medication for a living and who has an interest in history. I know this history. I also know how it's typically presented. I know a lot of these data points as potentially good things for humanity. Trying to cite injectable insulin as a bad thing when in fact it was a life-saving revolution in medicine is horse manure. Digoxin had been known and used widely by physicians long before the 1930s. Citing the Flexnor Report without context is always going to be a flaw. Eradicating smallpox was one of the greatest gifts medical science has ever delivered to mankind. The alleviation of suffering involved is immeasurable. But mixed in with this, we have the hint of some sort of nefarious activity. Hinted, but never explained.
Anyone with an appreciation for the enormous good that the pharmaceutical industry has done for humanity understands the necessity to operate with a scalpel here instead of a wrecking ball. We need this industry. We depend on it to live longer, healthier lives. What we don't need is the profiteering and the exploitation. This is analogous to the discussion of our political system. No patriot wants to light the Constitution on fire and rebuild the country from the ground up. We recognize the unbelievable value and enormous good that it has done for us, just as we recognize the rampant corruption that threatens to destroy not only our country, but the entire collective West. You don't fix it by destroying the foundation you so desperately need to rebuild. You have to preserve that, gut the rotted parts, and repair them.
So when we talk about pharma, we need to do it respecting that. This meme doesn't get it done.
This meme reveals one of the major flaws of infographics. The author is trying to paint a picture but it's not clear at all. The title says "conquest" of science. Some of the data points are clearly nefarious in terms of how they're worded, but what we need here is an actual narrative. Someone needs to explain the how and why.
This is coming from an anon who deals in medication for a living and who has an interest in history. I know this history. I also know how it's typically presented. I know a lot of these data points as potentially good things for humanity. Trying to cite injectable insulin as a bad thing when in fact it was a life-saving revolution in medicine is horse manure. Digoxin had been known and used widely by physicians long before the 1930s. Citing the Flexnor Report without context is always going to be a flaw. Eradicating smallpox was one of the greatest gifts medical science has ever delivered to mankind. The alleviation of suffering involved is immeasurable. But mixed in with this, we have the hint of some sort of nefarious activity. Hinted, but never explained.
Anyone with an appreciation for the enormous good that the pharmaceutical industry has done for humanity understands the necessity to operate with a scalpel here instead of a wrecking ball. We need this industry. We depend on it to live longer, healthier lives. What we don't need is the profiteering and the exploitation. This is analogous to the discussion of our political system. No patriot wants to light the Constitution on fire and rebuild the country from the ground up. We recognize the unbelievable value and enormous good that it has done for us, just as we recognize the rampant corruption that threatens to destroy not only our country, but the entire collective West. You don't fix it by destroying the foundation you so desperately need to rebuild. You have to preserve that, gut the rotted parts, and repair them.
So when we talk about pharma, we need to do it respecting that. This meme doesn't get it done.