Dear Axil, A very interesting metaphor- I think the arrogant doctors are the equivalent of the LENR+ skeptics today. Actually it is a case of people who*know *vs the people who *learn* and, unfortunately this dichotomy is present even inside the CF/LENR community. In the Garfield story was there some opposition to the medical "best practices" that were actually dreadful malpractices? I am convinced that popular medicine instinctually knows about the danger of dirt- germs.
I think that a very nice metaphor was used by John Hadjichristos in the interview- the Trojan Horse Metaphor: "Odysseus tricked Trojans, disguising his proton warriors into a neutron gift". I have studied metaphors, know well the websites dedicated to them, have taught my students in management of technology about how to use them e.eg. in innovation, creativity. John's metaphor- extended is a very good one- it carries all the 4 basic functions of an useful metaphor: expressive, exegetic, explanatory, and exploratory. Thank you for the Garfield story- in our area the story of Ignazius Semmelweiss is the best known. Peter On Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 6:38 AM, Axil Axil <[email protected]> wrote: > Recently, after reading a book about the Garfield assassination, I was > struck by the parallels to how President James Garfield received atrocious > medical care after he was shot on July 2, 1881 to the current cold fusion > dilemma. > > It’s all about intellectual arrogance and how destructive that cardinal > vice can be. > > Garfield would have easily survived the bullet, but died weeks later from > infection after being exposed to gross medical malpractice from the best > doctors of that time. Most American doctors of that period dismissed the > "germ theory" pioneered by non-American scientists, such as British doctor > Joseph Lister. > > The arrogance of American physicians of that day and their disrespect of > the work of foreign scientists resulted in their rejection of modern > surgical sterile techniques that had been well-established in Europe. > > It was an early edition of the intellectual arrogance and the prejudice of > "American exceptionalism," the belief that America and Americans were > inherently superior, even divinely exalted. > > Because they couldn’t see them, American doctors ridiculed belief in > bacteria, comparing it to the silly, contemporary belief in fairies. > > Doctors even took pride in their filth, carrying blood, pus, and dirt from > one patient to the next. In 1881 American country doctors were still > applying hot cow manure to open wounds. The doctors treating Garfield > routinely performed surgery in their practices without changing their > clothes or washing their hands and held instruments in their teeth for > convenience. > > Much like the Garfield assassination, arrogance of the critics of Italian > and Greek developed Cold Fusion have closed their minds to its possibility. > > Our current response to the "fever" and "infection" spreading through the > American scientific community is to allow the most ignorant and > disingenuous of us to bully the rest of us to inaction and disbelief. The > level of scientific sophistication of this reactionary group are applying > to the task is on a par with Garfield’s doctors in 1881. You can’t see > chemically induced nuclear reactions; therefore it must not be happening. > But transmutation of elements is natural and is happening all the time in > the world around us, in the same way that bacteria are all pervasive. > Therefore, linking nuclear chemical reactions to cold fusion must be a > hoax. > > The embrace of American exceptionalism in its entrenched scientific > community, including academic, corporate, and governmental groups have only > grown since Garfield’s time, permeating our general discourse, common > opinion, culture and politics. American scientific entitlement and > perceived superiority is the red flag being waved and the idea that > American science is not bound by either the laws of nature or conciliation > with work done in other nations is in full bloom in the American energy > development plan. > > Dancing to the tune of its energy-billionaire corporate backers, the > American science establishment panders to our basest and most selfish > instincts, luring us to utterly surrender our energy future to fossil > fuels. > > As with the arrogant and ignorant doctors in 1881, established science is > committing malpractice in the extreme, as primitive, as scientifically > offensive, and ultimately as lethal as putting hot cow manure on our open > wounds -- Dr. Peter Gluck Cluj, Romania http://egooutpeters.blogspot.com
