Reason and Freedom

There is a terrific article posted over at MSNBC regarding how drug companies are seeking to market drugs to people who are not sick. Since I don't believe the "mainstream" view of HIV and AIDS, this naturally fits into my bias: Manufacturers of "AIDS therapies" market their drugs to people who are not sick.

The article is an interview with Ray Moynihan, who has written a book on the subject of the selling of sickness. In the interview, he makes this very interesting quote:

"There’s an informal alliance between the drug companies and aspects of the medical profession and aspects of the patient advocacy world who all seem to have interests in defining more and more people as ill."

It's sad but true. Suppose we have a disease called "Syndrome X". Doctors treat this disease, drug manufacturers make medicine for this disease, and patient advocacy groups try and raise awareness for this disease. If more people start catching "Syndrome X", then are those three groups helped or harmed? I think we have such a huge need of thinking of those three groups as "good" that we don't allow ourselves to think that they might piggyback on a disease in order to improve their lifestyles. We give those groups far too much leeway over our lives. We permit creeping doom, if I can inject a nasty little bit of rhetoric.

Moynihan also makes this comment in the article:

"We’re seeing fear of disease, decay and death becoming a central part of life. I’d like people to investigate the psychic impact of being told 10 times a day you might actually be sick."

Perhaps they might also investigate the psychic impact of being told 10 times a day that you're a sinner and that you're going to suffer eternal, burning torture. It's the same misanthropic message in new trappings: "You're bad. You're broken. You're doomed. Give us money and we can save you."

This new Trinity (doctors, drug makers, patient advocates) is becoming a new religion all of their own. The god of this religion is Death.