Medical Hierarchy

Even though we've been following the clues for decades, we've not commented on the huge amount of hierarchy in the Western medical system.

Here's some examples of clues:

1.  A very large amount of resources goes to the top of the system – to physicians, insurance company CEO's, and drug companies.

2.  There are higher people who can receive health care but many people who cannot afford it.

3.  We become dependent on medical institutions when we agree to over-medication and must keep coming back into the system to keep the prescriptions current.

4. The western medical system is physician-centered with the physician being viewed by some like a deity. There is much less emphasis on individual people taking control of their own health and believing the body can heal itself with appropriate care and time.

The medical hierarchy, just like any hierarchy, can be hazardous to your health. Danish researchers have found that annual physical examinations might actually have a negative impact on your health. Using a large study group of 183,000 people, they found that those who received regular check-ups were no less likely to die of cancer or heart disease than those who only saw their doctors when symptoms occurred. People who saw their doctors regularly were more likely to be diagnosed with diseases and to take prescribed medications - but those visits did not improve their health, and did increase unnecessary biopsies, surgeries, and other treatments.

Another study has found that mammograms have not been effective to catch deadly breast cancers. and more than a million women have been treated for cancers that are not life threatening. The article below, "spotlights a reality that is tough for many Americans to accept: Some abnormalities that doctors call "cancer" are not a health threat or truly malignant. There is no good way to tell which ones are, so many women wind up getting treatments like surgery and chemotherapy that they don't really need."

Because the medical system often operates as a hierarchy, we may want to use hierarchical tools to navigate our way through it. We can ask, "WHO'S BENEFITING?" when we are encouraged to hand over decisions about our body to someone else. We can do our own research and expect to be able to ask questions about the services we are paying for and being advised to accept. We can also seek out health professionals who aren't on top of the medical hierarchy, including those practicing alternative medicine.

http://women.webmd.com/news/20121012/health-checks-may-not-be-beneficial.

http://www.examiner.com/article/danish-study-disputes-need-for-annual-physicals

http://hosted2.ap.org/OREUG/health2/Article_2012-11-21-Breast%20Cancer-Mammograms/id-8817566f0c2e4faf959cf6f127915bc4

Men's Health

"I consider that there is a men's health crisis going on is this country," says Jo Davies,  a staff psychologist at the University of Oregon. Davies is the co-founder of the UO Men's Center, which is dedicated to promoting the physical, emotional, and social health of young men. He says, "We need to help men realize that it can be liberating to give up power and control – that choosing not to exercise power does not mean powerless."

Over that last half-century, women have established many centers to help them expand their options and to be more healthy.  It's wonderful to hear of men who are establishing centers to help men find the freedom from their restricted hierarchical roles.

http://www.registerguard.com/web/living/healthandfitness/28940252-57/davies-health-women-center-male.html.csp

Succession Solves the Budget Crisis?

While Romney claimed that Obama supporters are moochers, the fact is that in most of the red states that backed Romney, the amount of federal money they receive is more than what their residents pay in taxes.

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/opinion/milbank-secession-has-its-upsides/nS7QQ/

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/11/states-federal-taxes-spending-charts-maps

Hierarchical Programming

To keep people in their lower ranks of hierarchies, fear and unquestioned loyalty are essential.  Recent research shows a link between these two elements and political conservatives including the Republicans - the ones who are most actively supporting hierarchies.

Researchers have found that children whose parents believed that children "should always obey their parents," and people whose parents described them as being fearful and cautious were likely to vote conservative/Republican. Children whose parents believed that "children should be allowed to disagree with their parents" and who were active and restless as young children tended to prefer Democratic party policies later on.

Authoritarian attitudes and fearful temperaments produce conservatives who in turn produce hierarchies. Looks like it is a simple and predictable path.

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/parenting-and-temperament-in-childhood-predict-later-political-ideology.html

Clueless Death Struggle Gains Traction

This week, we've seen two national columnists who use the word clueless when describing what we call hierarchy conservators and also describe the top as appearing to be in a death struggle.

"In its delusional death spiral, the white male patriarchy was so hard core, so redolent of country clubs and Cadillacs, it made little effort not to alienate women," writes Maureen Dowd. "And shocking as it may seem, his strategists weren't blowing smoke when they said they were going to win; they were just clueless."

Kathleen Parker describes the Republican convention: "If the latter sounds like something in the final stages of life, you're not far off." Later in the article, she writes, "More to the point, the GOP seems willfully clueless."

This website predicted this death struggle two years ago, based on social and political trends and hierarchy theory. The numerous articles about last weeks election, specifically the widespread discussions about the weakening of the white male patriarchy, is very encouraging. We're looking forward to continuing our work to make sure we move forward.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/opinion/sunday/dowd-romney-is-president.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/kathleen-parker-republicans-undermined-their-own-candidate/2012/11/09/e858bb64-2a9f-11e2-96b6-8e6a7524553f_story.html

Angry White Guys

“We’re not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term,”  is how Senator Lindsey Graham describes the demographics race that the Republican party is losing. These angry white guys are upset because their hierarchies are crumbling beneath them - they don't have the large percentages of followers that they had in 1950.

Loth's article states that for four decades national Republicans have pursued a strategy, often successful, of racking up huge majorities of white male voters and winning just enough others to carry the day. The orthodoxy is deeply set by now. George W. Bush, John McCain, and more recently, Rick Perry were blasted for making overtures to immigrants that might antagonize the party’s base. Obviously they realize that this strategy has come on hard times because of the 34 states introducing voter ID bills last year, 33 had Republican-majority legislatures.

The angry white guy phenomena is good news for the death struggle of hierarchies. Let's just keep moving forward and try to avoid them as much as possible, and when we can't avoid them, set them up to look ridiculous.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2012/10/12/the-gop-demographics-problem/de33ayEwX4qT1prjuRRVGP/story.html

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2012/11/05/republican-party-dewayne-wickham/1680725/

Leaders of the Future

Bhutan is committed to becoming the first modern "hundred percent organic" nation.

Bhutan is a small nation nestled in the Himalayas between China and India. They pan to phase out agricultural chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides, etc. by 2022. That's a good sign as many people in the world continue to reject dependence on huge hierarchies.

"Bhutan has decided to go for a green economy in light of the tremendous pressure we are exerting on the planet," Bhutan Agriculture Minister Pema Gyamtsho told AFP. "If you go for very intensive agriculture it would imply the use of so many chemicals, which is not in keeping with our belief in Buddhism, which calls for us to live in harmony with nature."

Bhutan also brought us the idea that the "Gross National Happiness" is more important than the "Gross National Product."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/04/bhutan-organic-farming-chemicals-fertilizers-pesticides_n_1940029.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_national_happiness