Medicine is a culture of compliance, the people who wind up in the field have been thoroughly conditioned to reflexively obey authority - like most of the people in Nazi Germany, or in the various countries ruled by Communists, or in authoritarian religious cults. Those who would think for themselves, much less rebel, have been filtered out long ago in the process. A joke told amongst organic chemistry PhD students - "Why did the pre-meddie cross the road? Because, naturally, it was a requirement..."
YES. This is the current problem in all of our expert classes. In academia, tenure insures that only the most orthodox get hired and retained. Accreditation boards serve the same purpose at the higher level, insuring that the *institutions* are rigidly orthodox.
College debt has added an extra constraint in recent years. When college was free or affordable, it didn't enslave graduates quite as badly.
Outsiders think tenure is about "freedom", and think academia is about "free and open debate". Diametrically wrong.
True story, my second year of marine biology at UNC-W included an Organic Chemistry class, to separate the wheat from the chaff. First day of class, and I entered the auditorium room seating about 200, and exchanged the download about the new prof. from an Ivy League school. Right on time, he entered the room with a pile of books in his arms ... looked at us as if analyzing insects, and plopped a thick book on the podium saying we were to read and memorize this within the next week, another, even thicker, on top of that for the following week, and a third, looking like it was carved from a Sequoia, to be committed to memory by the third week. He then leaned on the pile of books and said, 'God made A's, I got B's. You get what's left over.' — and left the auditorium. You could have heard a pin drop, and the whoosh of students fleeing to the door to drop the course when they could. He came back in smiling at his joke. It was the only joke of the semester, and indeed, I barely got by with a C. Meh. Didn't want to be a doctor anyway.
The joke ... a B.S. is not Bachelor of Science. It is 'Bull Shit'. 'M.S.', you can guess. And Ph.D.? Piled higher and deeper. 😂
Sounds like my Physical Chemistry undergrad class, the prof had last taught the class 14 years before, when standards were apparently higher - as in stratospheric. The high score on the midterm was 35%, on the final, lower. Thankfully the prof graded on a curve. I somehow got a B minus... but I used my class notes to study for the written qualifier for the PhD in physical chemistry at the University of Florida a couple of years later. I tied with this guy who had been there for three years for second place, but out of the 15 people taking it, they only passed one guy. And by the time a year later they offered the qualifier again, I'd passed all three qualifying exams for the PhD in organic chemistry - and the rules were one or the other but not both...
(sigh). Like trying to climb Wittgenstein's Ladder, but with Lucy van Pelt waiting at the top and continually raising the bar. Make that Escher's Ladder. 🤣
One of many of my big mistakes was being admitted into a doctoral cohort for an Doctorate in Education at Temple University Japan (where I was also teaching at the time). About half-way through the program, I fell into a 'tenured' position at a modeslty ranked Women's College, and was getting so busy with work, I dropped the doctoral degree. For that matter. most tenured professors in Japan have an ABD (All But Dissertation) 'doctorate'. Big mistake. I didn't realize that work contracts, even tenure, and especially for foreigners, are not worth the paper they are written on. Under conditions that would warrant a massive lawsuit in the U.S. (in fact a Japanese lawyer said I would win a long, drawn out battle against institutional sociopaths, but it would be a costly Phyrric victory at best), I resigned in prorest. RIP.
I went back to my doctoral advisor expressing a desire to continue and he said 'Sure. IF you can be readmitted into the next cohort'. I could read between the lines. Once, an Associate Professor, now I am 67 and supplementing a modest pension with minimum wage contract work as a language assistant at public schools until this coming March, when I will be unemployed again.
The thing that separated those who got the PhD - the year I showed up at UF there were 180 people, after the first week there were 60 - another story - and of that 60 I think ten of us got the PhD. And it's always a big temptation to get sidetracked, that's what happened to a lot of people. At least you have a pension and emeritus status to go with it. It was sheer grit and persistence, a real meat grinder of a program, destroyed every marriage that came into contact with it, the only people who finished really were obsessed with the work and so none of the crap mattered. The sheer grit and persistence will be what matters in the fight ahead...
And your story reminds me of the guy I wound up doing undergrad research for, who told his class that half of them would get Fs, and by god they did, but not before half the people he started with dropped the class. After a massive uproar in the Legislature, his undergrad teaching load was cut to zero. Anyhow, I set an appointment with this prof to discuss research, and he gave me an article in English and asked me to explain it to him, then an article in French - which I did, easily. Then he handed me an article in Germab, and I said I couldn't read it, and he jumped up and shouted "WHAT? YOU CAN'T READ GERMAN? HOW IN HELL DO YOU EXPECT TO DO RESEARCH IN CHEMISTRY?" and then he sat down and said "I'm calling the chairman of the German Department and enrolling you in first semester German..." and so I did that, and at the end of the semester he asked how I did - I got a B+ or an A-, and he said "That's fine, now I'm enrolling you in Scientific German" which normally required four semesters of German and the permission of the department chair... Well, I got the top A in that class, probably aided by the constant flow of German journal articles, and a book, Namenreaktionen Des Organischen Chemie - 1500 name reactions, which I had two weeks to memorize, and which he would quiz me on every week, viva voce. You'd be surprised what you can do in the proper circumstances. So after I got the German down, he hands me an article in Russian, and I say "Come on..." and he says "You know French and German, right? And of course you know the Greek alphabet?" and I said "yeah", and he said that Russian was based on the Greek alphabet and was mostly borrowed words from French and German - at least for science. "I'll give you half an hour to translate the article, now go up to the lab and get to work" and lo and behold, I found that he was right, came down, read it off to him, he said "That's right, you got it" - then hands me an article in Japanese... and after seeing the look on my face, bursts out laughing, said "It's just a joke, I don't expect you to know Japanese..."
I don't know how you did it as Russian is not based on the Greek alphabet, some letters were perhaps borrowed but it has its own alphabet. Very admirable!!! :)
Reading your stories reminds me why I hope to never return to traditional academics. I feel sick. I had an organic chem prof from University of Montana (I was at Colby College, he had just started tjere). He was so amazing, organic chem was so much fun (I almost failed out of intro bio, my major, but got an A- in organic chem), I almost switched my major to Chemistry. He convinced me otherwise telling me most chem profs aren't this engaged, don't do it. He believed that learning and engaging with the learning was the goal and grades shouldn't be in the toilet. I will never forget that experience. I have no desire to go back to anything but learning for learning's sake. Education at some levels should contain that principle IMH experience and opinion.
I quit linguistics because I became disappointed in life disconnected from reality, in the perpetual petty but mean fights over academic perks and grants. I was idealistic, thought it was all about gaining knowledge and figuring things out, and there is a lot of that, but the atmosphere was so stale and petty, I was over it pretty fast.
Yep ... same in Japan for applied linguistics. I once read that academic fighting and back stabbing is vicious because the stakes are so low (few). Maybe about 15 years in that tenured position, and out of literally hundreds of committee meetings and academic assemblies, not a single one addressed the meaning and direction of a curriculum from educational ideals. I had more informative talks over beer with one of the cleaning ladies.
Dec 27, 2022·edited Dec 27, 2022Liked by Tessa Lena
Hi Tessa,
Haven't heard the interview yet, but read the post. Yep, the creation of layers of unaccountable committees with perverse incentives seems par for the course regarding how such docile compliance is ensured in Japan Inc.
A couple of weeks ago, I called for a meeting with the City Board of Education regarding my minimum wage yearly contract work as an Assistant Language Teacher for public schools ... 3 Jr. Highs, 8 elementary schools, and a special needs school. The kids are cool, but some of the teachers practice only 'chain of command' pedagogy, with me as a non-human extension of their teacher centered 'curriculum'. Even though I've lived here 40 years, and speak Japanese, a couple of teachers insist that I play the role of 'dumb' foreigner and leave all untangling of communication problems to the Japanese teacher ... even when the Japanese teacher is ignorant and/or incompetent. Ethno-centric chain of command.
So even though one of the requirements for being hired two years ago was native or near-native Japanese speaking ability, I asked the Board of Education Committee to conduct the meeting in English only, as was commanded of me in some Jr. Highs. As they are barely competent in even basic English greetings, they were aghast ... and so I relented and said gave them the okay to go at it in Japanese only.
They began by asking for my intentions regarding the next academic year. I answered honestly that despite the lack of any English curriculum or quality control of public school teachers, my salary is not paid by the City Board of Education. It is paid by taxes from the parents of the kids living in the local community ... and it was my 'due dilegence (thanks Sasha) to serve them to the best of my ability. By chance, yesterday's MSM govt. news announced a record number of public school teachers had taken more than a month of consecutive leave absence for mental health issues ... a little less than 1% of all public school teachers in Japan ... and the Board of Education knows from my resumé that I had been a teacher-trainer in Japan before most of the committee members or public school teachers had even been born.
They thanked me, ever so politely, but said due to my poor performance as evaluated by the three Jr. High principals (who have never seen my class, and according to teachers, never consulted with them), my contract would not be renewed. Upon asking why, in perfectly polite Japanese, they explained it was because I responded to confused students ... in perfectly polite Japanese. I laughed out loud.
My education, experience, and values were irrelevant. I was just not quite 'foreign' enough for their needs, and foreigners are easily replaceable / disposable parts of the Mammon machine. This is particularly because the Japanese model of public education is pretty similar to the American style or elsewhere in the world ... and geared towards creating a culture of divide-and-conquer competition and blind compliance to authority. Enough to make Kafka tumble up an Escher staircase.
Hi Steve, I am so sorry that they didn't extend your contract!! Sounds like you are not on the list of obedient machine operators!!! I hope you find something that is much better!!! Hugs to you!!!
Dec 27, 2022·edited Dec 27, 2022Liked by Tessa Lena
Meh ... I've always wanted to be a ballerina anyway. 🤣
I've got an end of the year party with some dissident public school teachers in a few days. So who knows?
But you are also giving me inspiration with your podcast chops. Rather than my face, though ... maybe a waltz among the nature-enshrouded shrines over here. Great eye candy.
Steve, I think this is very similar to China, Thailand and other Asian countries. Speaking the language well, is too polished, too unexpected and not the accepted protocol. Inclusive societies, tribal, and conservative don't want to change. They protect their culture in that manner. No doubt if you have been living and teaching in Japan for 30 years, you might know this.
Did you work in China? I've been to China twice, once for a conference, and once on my way to and from Tibet (which is technically China but not really), lots of very different memories.
Hillary has! So many stories to share. I'd love to hear about those memories Tessa ... but only if and when it doesn't detract from the battles we have ahead of us. But come to think of it, I can imagine framing my memories as fractals of what is happening now, and what is likely to come. Life ... a constantly emerging (submerging?) Mandelbrot set. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDU40eUcTj0
Yeah. Actually 40 years. Over half my life and all of my professional life ... including a tenured position as an Associate Professor in a Japanese college, nearly 20 years as biology lab director, one of only two native speakers of English (at any given time) in the country working for the Ministry of Education as a cultural advisor, teaching in Japanese 'Ivy League' schools, and lots of volunteer-community outreach work. But that is the problem.
You are correct ... depending on who is doing the accepting and who places protocol over problem solving. But yes, blind compliance to authority ... not matter how inept, corrupt, and cognitively dissonant that authority is, is probably the most deeply ingrained value in their formative years of adolescence.
It is heart breaking to see the sparkle of natural curiosity and energy drained from the youngsters during their 'juken senso' (exam war) years in Jr. high ... reduced to a hostages in a chain of command, competing for standardized tests of brute memorization and trained above all, to be compliant to authority.
Ha. I sound like Frank Zappa talking about American public education.
My education, experience, skill, professionalism, or educational ideals comes down to 'just another exploitable, disposable foreigner'.
The biggest shock for most Westerners in this 'not so great reset' ... is that they are now being conditioned to accept the same dehumanization and marginalization by the ruling class, as I have been pushed into accepting as a permanent, professional foreigner.
The ruling classes, East or West, treat citizens like the working class Japanese treat foreigners in general ... value for the sanctity of the individual in the West or values for harmony in the Far East have long since been reduced to ritualized lip service to a sociopathic ruling class.
Two books, by oxymoronic title alone, show how the ruling classes nudge populations West and East ... Chomsky and Herman's 'Manufacturing Consent' and Stephen Vlastos's (editor) 'Invented Traditions of Modern Japan'. One feeds off the cultural conceit of individual choice, the other off of the conceit of harmony.
Sasha Latypova's substack (yesterday) featured a discussion between two sociologists that did a pretty good job of outlining the situation from my perspective, and a book I am now reading, A. Lobaczewski's book, 'Political Ponerology; The Science of Evil. Psychopathy, and the Origins of the Totalitarian State' gives a good breakdown of how Cluster B / dark-triad personality traits that can be found in the family, community, and populations of scale lead to societal decay and collapse.
A dark passage I remember from a few years ago and saved on my Kindle reader ...
''Thus, Norse society’s structure created a conflict between the short-term interests of those in power, and the long-term interests of the society as a whole. Much of what the chiefs and clergy valued proved eventually harmful to the society. Yet the society’s values were at the root of its strengths as well as of its weaknesses. The Greenland Norse did succeed in creating a unique form of European society, and in surviving for 450 years as Europe’s most remote outpost. We modern Americans should not be too quick to brand them as failures, when their society survived in Greenland for longer than our English-speaking society has survived so far in North America. Ultimately, though, the chiefs found themselves without followers. The last right that they obtained for themselves was the privilege of being the last to starve.''
But again, this self destructive behavior is not limited to the West. Just yesterday, NHK Government televised news devoted about 30 seconds to announce a new record had been set. Roughly 1 out of every 160 public school teachers have taken a month or more of consecutive leaves of absence due to severe depression or other mental-emotional health related problems. Young mothers, the elderly, and the handicapped are similarly being further marginalized as the middle class is being hollowed out ... as are local shops and businesses.
It will not be many years before the working class Japanese will be in a digital panopticon ... and useful only during the working years as fodder for the Mammon Machine run by self-selecting sociopaths. My most educated Japanese friends tend to agree, but they are also nearing the end of their careers, and if they act on moral compassion beyond their immediate family and close friends, it is for the quickl dimming future of the young.
Today's news, the fourth of Kishida's cabinet since October was dismissed for corruption. I would argue that anyone attracted to concentrations of power is already corrupt.
End of rant. 😅
I guess part of what I want to say is that as there are Platonic ideals by which humans can be judged, societies too can be judged ... by how they treat the extremes of the caste continuum ... the best aiming to empower the marginalized and hold authority accountable.
Phewww ... I should have saved this for a substack post, but then again, most of my better thinking and writing is buried in comments. I tend to thrive in personal one-on-one interactions — not a good formula for typical definitions of 'success', but therapeutic and potentially transformative all the same.
Thank you for your personal one-on-one comment. I too elaborate my heart out on comments, and often think of writing on my substack page (astrology). But I feel it is extra special to meet face to face with a real human and I don't have that on my page.
I lived in Japan, and I lived in China, during 1984 and 5. I have lived in Thailand since after finishing a EdM degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education--that was 35 years ago.
As a Buddhist, I study and translate Dharma--Thai to English--and design curricula which is Dharma based, thus totally one-to-one, student centered, guiding the student inward, no matter what subject.
I started teaching in 1973 in Cave Junction, Oregon. Unlike you, I am freelance. At Harvard, I wrote a thesis Dharma for Teachers. Not as a religion but as a psychology and philosophy. When I applied for the doctorate there, I was turned down. I applied to a number of universities and to private schools with naive hopes of implementing Dharma principles into the curriculum. All rejections. But instead of waiting around for a position, instead of pouting over so many rejections, I left for Thailand to continue my studies, teach and translate.
Thus, teaching outside of the system I evolve with the student, and continually change my teaching paradigms to counteract conditioning and/or complement the very best cultural, biological, generational, and personal qualities about the student. . .
I empathize with what you go through. Nevertheless, may I be so bold as to encourage you to step away from You as a devoted educator, step away from the system you know so, so well, and reflect on the honorable person that you are. Realizing that the strong culturally centered belief system that is generations old, is suffering, just like it is in so many traditionally oriented parts of the world exposed to technologies, to trends and to "us". I give the Japanese, the Korean, the Chinese, the Thais, and other countries an applause, they are doing a lot better than the Amercian culture. They are desperate to hold on to their values. Where, we sacrificed them a long time ago.
Each day I am grateful that I might challenge someone, some student, some family member in some slight or profound manner. Sometimes that challenge becomes a threat to some people. I understand that, because of something I learned a good while ago. . . People only see you as far as they see themselves. Each person defines a reality. That reality might be a small box, completely influenced by--let's say--the state. Or maybe the local pub. Or maybe a big university full of administers, students and teachers. If your reality is way out in the cosmos--well those folks-- are likely to see just so much of you. The rest, they either push away, because that part of you is horribly intimidating, or they try to suck you into their boxed in reality. Fears of many forms develop--thus all of the ridiculously ignorant dis and misinformation gaslighting, as well as our common experience of feeling like we will never belong. Well, the Truth is, we won't no matter how fabulous we are in what we do.
You are so blessed to have been able to work, to be able influence your students, and survive the system, while "seeing" exactly what it is all about.
However, it is most important for you to save yourself, to see that all of who you are, and what you have attained is because you care. That care is what you leave behind when you walk away. And at that moment in your life, you must care for yourself with the same love, the same devotion and the same need for acceptance, this time self-acceptance.
I have found a gem in you, and a like minded one at that.
Thank you so much for putting so much time and care into your response.
It's pushing 1 am here in Japan, so I won't have the energy to dove-tail with your gracious comment ... but we have soooo much to talk about ... some connections with S.E. Asia (several trips as a volunteer activist to rural Cambodia) ... and among other intellectual-spiritual interests, a long running fondness for the Taoist side of zen (mostly from Suzuki Daisetsu) and the animist-pantheist thought that bridges Shinto with the likes of Spinoza, Emerson, and Einstein.
But that line ... ''and design curricula which is Dharma based, thus totally one-to-one, student centered, guiding the student inward, no matter what subject.'' really attracted me. If I could sum up my educational ideals it would be to nurture the growth of the student towards enough moral autonomy, so that they choose of their own free will, to spend their resources empowering the marginalized and holding authority accountable.
I attended a rival college as an open class student, and in a course about the history of volunteerism in Japan, was rather shocked to find the Japanese govt. came to officially recognize community-activist NPOs and NGOs from 1995, when it became apparent that the government had to depend on those groups to help with the Great Hanshin Earthquake. Even now, as in every country I guess, institutions have replaced communities to such an extent, that many 'volunteers' see their role as nothing more than a lateral, managerial move from their institution of work to another institution. JMHO, but it is the 'holding authority accountable' that is most problematic in Japan.
Maybe my biggest pedagogical influence was humanistics and values clarifications oriented (Gertrude Moskowitz), but because it was in institutional settings ... lots of non-zero sum game strategy to maximize student autonomy. Lots of other pedagogic tricks of the trade to chat about, but he essence might be summed up in having the students teach me (and others). My research area, presentations, and publications was mostly involved in what I called an 'Event-driven Curriculum'. In lieu of traditional tests, especially for something as personal as second language acquisition, who could resist? 😂
Thank you for offering advice, but until we settle down into a good groove, I'll just say that my brief academic bio is not all that I am. Lots more to my identity than my academic career, as I am slowly finding is the same with you. That's one reason I've gravitated from Quora to substack, though still a newbie.
But we have plenty of time to talk about that. Better yet, if interested, time to collaborate. Just a couple of days ago, I became a paying subscriber to Margaret Anna Alice because of the dramatic impact of her video collaboration with Tonika. And here we meet under Tessa's substack ... who is herself, a collaborative artist.
Another Whoa ... I intended to write only a few brief lines of gratitude for your response, and nearly 45 minutes have slipped by ... and just touching the tip of the iceberg.
Really getting droopy-eyed now, so I'll say good night for now ... and looking forward to reading you and more.
So glad to see you zero in on this very much underappreciated issue.
Medical licensing, in all of its guises, is the foundation for the worldwide medical monopoly, and all of the authoritarianism that goes along with such a beast.
Tessa, thank you for keeping us informed about the evil ‘medical boards’. Before all this, I don’t think most of us even knew they existed - I sure didn’t. The last thing I need is to have these evil people ‘protect my health’. What a lie and a sham. And, who is paying for these fancy dinners etc., anyway?
Thank you Cathleen!! I think you are right. Before all this, I suspected there was some corruption, thought most of it was in my original homeland while medicine in America, I thought, was primarily shiny and pure, with minimal corruption, and little did I know that it's international... :)
This interview was amazing and so informative. Thank you so much. Integrated medicine is the way to true health. Dr. Dooley's knowledge about immunology has given him great insight and credibility for such a discussion. I am intrigued by the fact that his wife is Russian and you are as well. It only took me a semester in the USSR to grasp the power of programming and propaganda and the evil of a system that crushes the dignity of the individual. My HUGE MISTAKE was to construct a world view that believed the USA and the "western world" had an immunity of the mind and spirit to the tentacles of totalitarianism. How WRONG was I! But I thank God for my stint living under a communist regime, under censorship, and Big Brother's ever watchful eye to develop a mind and a sniffer that was slowly waking, detecting the odor of a captured media in the 90's to being shaken awake by the smelling salt of the plandemic... Chemtah pachnyet! It was interesting to learn about the personality "type" that is chosen for medicine these days and that they will be used until the algorithms are "improved" enough to replace them with a machine. It's, as you so aptly coined the phrase, soft (poh teechonochku) "killing off" of the medical class. Stalin had the doctors murdered. The deep state of today will merely make them obsolete, in the name of public health and the public's health will be the ultimate victim. We will not comply.
Dec 27, 2022·edited Dec 27, 2022Liked by Tessa Lena
Hi again Tessa,
Watching the video now.
25:00 ... Where you recount the Soviet era 'praising the greatness' (of narcissists) ... yes, I am on chapt. 5 of Lobaczewski's 'Political Ponerology' ... a good breakdown of the micro/macro scaling of psychopathology and the totalitarian state ... particularly pathological narcissism.
59:00 ... Yes, Hubris. According the ancient Greeks, arrogant pride that is the sin from which all other sins are derived.
1:05:00 (sigh) ... You Tessa, the good doctor, and myself have long since entered a terminal stage of resistance to blind compliance to self-selecting, narcissistic authority.
Can't really afford it, but cannot afford to let it go ... the combination of your critical thinking skills, moral spine, and infectious laughter have earned you another paying subscription ... if for no other reason, I can't reach out and give you a big hug. That makes three ... Mr. (? Big Surprise) Sage Hana, Margaret Anna Alice, and now ... you. The falling out between Mathew and Sage is a bummer because I like both ... but I guess that's a normal part of the social dynamics of we sometimes social primates. Bonobos are cool.
Stay healthy and fighting, but only occasionally happy. An old quote I am resurrecting in several posts and platforms today ...
''To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.'' — Gustave Flaubert
Thank you, Steve!! By the way, Mathew is a very good and honest person, and I do understand why he eventually got frustrated with his factual information being ignored in favor of perhaps more sensationalist takes. I was one of the first people who interviewed him on DMED, that was before Mathew had his own podcast, and I know he is not after personal branding but after factual truth He has a different battling style than me, I would probably be a little softer on the people I am frustrated with, but I know he is coming from a good place.
Dec 27, 2022·edited Dec 27, 2022Liked by Tessa Lena
Yeah, I think I saw that interview. And in my brief chats with him, he appears to be a straight shooter. I am not nearly up to Mathew's stats/math chops and can feel a bit like a small fish in the pond, but then again ... it is those prodigious chops that might sway the silent majority. Steve Kirsch would do well to recognize what Mathew has to offer, but Steve (and this Steve) has their blind spots too.
Though I like Sage ... I am feeling a bit unsettled now. I'm going to have to adjust my information-consumer habits a bit after the revelations from the last few days, and Rounding the Earth will be higher in my priorities. But then again, I guess we are constantly triangulating and growing ... or withering and dying.
Stealing and adapting a meme from not so long ago ... It is not peace that I am looking for. There's enough of that waiting in the grave. The opposite of war is not peace. It is creativity. It is just as much the artist in you that keeps me coming back.
That is also what makes Sasha a top priority. As I was confessing to Gary Sharpe, the Russian-Ukranian Combo of you two is an irresistible force to reckon with. Ha ... 'reckon with'? Closer to 'embrace'.
This one post has several important medical papers explained within it.
mRNA "vaccines" for COVID impair the immune response to COVID after the second injection, progressively over passing months, and they especially impair it after a 3rd "booster" shot. An arm of the immune response is activated which ignores the antigen being presented, in this case the "sike protein" of alpha COVID (1/2020 version).
That this is happening on city-wide scales is confirmed by very high COVID levels in sewage of much-"vaccinated" cities.
Another mechanism of immune-suppression is also activated, which suppresses immune surveillance to destroy cancer-cells in the body.
Thank you, John!!! Yep, this is extremely important. I was going to write about it but by now, luckily, several great Substacks about it have been posted, including the one you are linking to, and I will just share. :)
What a refreshing interview! Not once did I feel a jolt of anxiety. Just discussion with interesting information punctuated with humor and glorious smiles - a welcome relief from the worry-wrinkled urgency with which so many of our fellow travelers present themselves. And, I learned a lot: please talk with Bruce Dudley again soon. —You must have more to discuss with him? I hope? Thanks ~
Thank you Patsy, I am so grateful for your comment!! I make it a point to talk about even horrible things in an even-headed manner without freaking out. Freaking out makes one weak, regardless of the circumstance. So I make it a point, consciously, all the time, even though I know that sensationalism is "better" for immediate "brand growth." But it's not right to do it when we are facing an existentially challenge, right now, more than ever, we need to be even-headed and grounded in love (vs. fear or hatred). So, thank you, your comment made my evening. :) And yes, Bruce is absolutely wonderful!
I was on an exchange program with the State University of NY at Albany. We studied in Moscow at the language Institute Maurice Torrez. We stayed in a dorm called DAS in the Cheryomushka "oblast" of Moscow.
My Russian nickname is Katya. From Kathy.
My online name is SalPeenx. Transcription for a Greek word meaning the victory trumpet of the Lord. I don't speak Greek, but I am trying to emulate how the early persecuted church drew a fish in the dirt to find other followers of the Anointed One, the Christ. The word for fish in Greek, ichthus, is an acronym for Jesus. Christ. God's. Son. Savior.
Bless your work. I learned of you as a "member" the C&C Army of Jeff Childers.
Thank you Kathy!! Wow, when you studied there, was it still the Institute of Foreign Languages, or was it MGLU? You'lll never guess what school I went to... :))))
Anytime I see the word "Federation" before a group's name, my spidey sense goes off the charts! It usually means a group of non-elected monsters that are deciding what's best for everyone with no exceptions. Today: Medicine. Tomorrow (if we don't say no): The World.
Medicine is a culture of compliance, the people who wind up in the field have been thoroughly conditioned to reflexively obey authority - like most of the people in Nazi Germany, or in the various countries ruled by Communists, or in authoritarian religious cults. Those who would think for themselves, much less rebel, have been filtered out long ago in the process. A joke told amongst organic chemistry PhD students - "Why did the pre-meddie cross the road? Because, naturally, it was a requirement..."
A good but very sad joke!!
YES. This is the current problem in all of our expert classes. In academia, tenure insures that only the most orthodox get hired and retained. Accreditation boards serve the same purpose at the higher level, insuring that the *institutions* are rigidly orthodox.
College debt has added an extra constraint in recent years. When college was free or affordable, it didn't enslave graduates quite as badly.
Outsiders think tenure is about "freedom", and think academia is about "free and open debate". Diametrically wrong.
Hi stream ...
Reminds me of one anecdote, and one joke.
True story, my second year of marine biology at UNC-W included an Organic Chemistry class, to separate the wheat from the chaff. First day of class, and I entered the auditorium room seating about 200, and exchanged the download about the new prof. from an Ivy League school. Right on time, he entered the room with a pile of books in his arms ... looked at us as if analyzing insects, and plopped a thick book on the podium saying we were to read and memorize this within the next week, another, even thicker, on top of that for the following week, and a third, looking like it was carved from a Sequoia, to be committed to memory by the third week. He then leaned on the pile of books and said, 'God made A's, I got B's. You get what's left over.' — and left the auditorium. You could have heard a pin drop, and the whoosh of students fleeing to the door to drop the course when they could. He came back in smiling at his joke. It was the only joke of the semester, and indeed, I barely got by with a C. Meh. Didn't want to be a doctor anyway.
The joke ... a B.S. is not Bachelor of Science. It is 'Bull Shit'. 'M.S.', you can guess. And Ph.D.? Piled higher and deeper. 😂
Cheers from Japan,
steve
Sounds like my Physical Chemistry undergrad class, the prof had last taught the class 14 years before, when standards were apparently higher - as in stratospheric. The high score on the midterm was 35%, on the final, lower. Thankfully the prof graded on a curve. I somehow got a B minus... but I used my class notes to study for the written qualifier for the PhD in physical chemistry at the University of Florida a couple of years later. I tied with this guy who had been there for three years for second place, but out of the 15 people taking it, they only passed one guy. And by the time a year later they offered the qualifier again, I'd passed all three qualifying exams for the PhD in organic chemistry - and the rules were one or the other but not both...
(sigh). Like trying to climb Wittgenstein's Ladder, but with Lucy van Pelt waiting at the top and continually raising the bar. Make that Escher's Ladder. 🤣
One of many of my big mistakes was being admitted into a doctoral cohort for an Doctorate in Education at Temple University Japan (where I was also teaching at the time). About half-way through the program, I fell into a 'tenured' position at a modeslty ranked Women's College, and was getting so busy with work, I dropped the doctoral degree. For that matter. most tenured professors in Japan have an ABD (All But Dissertation) 'doctorate'. Big mistake. I didn't realize that work contracts, even tenure, and especially for foreigners, are not worth the paper they are written on. Under conditions that would warrant a massive lawsuit in the U.S. (in fact a Japanese lawyer said I would win a long, drawn out battle against institutional sociopaths, but it would be a costly Phyrric victory at best), I resigned in prorest. RIP.
I went back to my doctoral advisor expressing a desire to continue and he said 'Sure. IF you can be readmitted into the next cohort'. I could read between the lines. Once, an Associate Professor, now I am 67 and supplementing a modest pension with minimum wage contract work as a language assistant at public schools until this coming March, when I will be unemployed again.
Enough about me.
We have a much bigger fight ahead of us.
Consider yourself followed.
Cheers from Japan, stream47?
As in the 47 Ronin?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty-seven_r%C5%8Dnin
— steve
The thing that separated those who got the PhD - the year I showed up at UF there were 180 people, after the first week there were 60 - another story - and of that 60 I think ten of us got the PhD. And it's always a big temptation to get sidetracked, that's what happened to a lot of people. At least you have a pension and emeritus status to go with it. It was sheer grit and persistence, a real meat grinder of a program, destroyed every marriage that came into contact with it, the only people who finished really were obsessed with the work and so none of the crap mattered. The sheer grit and persistence will be what matters in the fight ahead...
The name came to me in a dream, and has no connection that I know of to the story of the 47 ronin - which is a very interesting story indeed.
And your story reminds me of the guy I wound up doing undergrad research for, who told his class that half of them would get Fs, and by god they did, but not before half the people he started with dropped the class. After a massive uproar in the Legislature, his undergrad teaching load was cut to zero. Anyhow, I set an appointment with this prof to discuss research, and he gave me an article in English and asked me to explain it to him, then an article in French - which I did, easily. Then he handed me an article in Germab, and I said I couldn't read it, and he jumped up and shouted "WHAT? YOU CAN'T READ GERMAN? HOW IN HELL DO YOU EXPECT TO DO RESEARCH IN CHEMISTRY?" and then he sat down and said "I'm calling the chairman of the German Department and enrolling you in first semester German..." and so I did that, and at the end of the semester he asked how I did - I got a B+ or an A-, and he said "That's fine, now I'm enrolling you in Scientific German" which normally required four semesters of German and the permission of the department chair... Well, I got the top A in that class, probably aided by the constant flow of German journal articles, and a book, Namenreaktionen Des Organischen Chemie - 1500 name reactions, which I had two weeks to memorize, and which he would quiz me on every week, viva voce. You'd be surprised what you can do in the proper circumstances. So after I got the German down, he hands me an article in Russian, and I say "Come on..." and he says "You know French and German, right? And of course you know the Greek alphabet?" and I said "yeah", and he said that Russian was based on the Greek alphabet and was mostly borrowed words from French and German - at least for science. "I'll give you half an hour to translate the article, now go up to the lab and get to work" and lo and behold, I found that he was right, came down, read it off to him, he said "That's right, you got it" - then hands me an article in Japanese... and after seeing the look on my face, bursts out laughing, said "It's just a joke, I don't expect you to know Japanese..."
I don't know how you did it as Russian is not based on the Greek alphabet, some letters were perhaps borrowed but it has its own alphabet. Very admirable!!! :)
Reading your stories reminds me why I hope to never return to traditional academics. I feel sick. I had an organic chem prof from University of Montana (I was at Colby College, he had just started tjere). He was so amazing, organic chem was so much fun (I almost failed out of intro bio, my major, but got an A- in organic chem), I almost switched my major to Chemistry. He convinced me otherwise telling me most chem profs aren't this engaged, don't do it. He believed that learning and engaging with the learning was the goal and grades shouldn't be in the toilet. I will never forget that experience. I have no desire to go back to anything but learning for learning's sake. Education at some levels should contain that principle IMH experience and opinion.
I quit linguistics because I became disappointed in life disconnected from reality, in the perpetual petty but mean fights over academic perks and grants. I was idealistic, thought it was all about gaining knowledge and figuring things out, and there is a lot of that, but the atmosphere was so stale and petty, I was over it pretty fast.
Yep ... same in Japan for applied linguistics. I once read that academic fighting and back stabbing is vicious because the stakes are so low (few). Maybe about 15 years in that tenured position, and out of literally hundreds of committee meetings and academic assemblies, not a single one addressed the meaning and direction of a curriculum from educational ideals. I had more informative talks over beer with one of the cleaning ladies.
Beautifully stated!
LOL. 40 years in Japan, and though conversational, other than primary school basics, functionally illiterate.
Do you know a Jason Weaver, Phd In chemical engineering at Stanford. I think he’s a professor at university of Florida?
No, I don't know him!
Hi Tessa,
Haven't heard the interview yet, but read the post. Yep, the creation of layers of unaccountable committees with perverse incentives seems par for the course regarding how such docile compliance is ensured in Japan Inc.
A couple of weeks ago, I called for a meeting with the City Board of Education regarding my minimum wage yearly contract work as an Assistant Language Teacher for public schools ... 3 Jr. Highs, 8 elementary schools, and a special needs school. The kids are cool, but some of the teachers practice only 'chain of command' pedagogy, with me as a non-human extension of their teacher centered 'curriculum'. Even though I've lived here 40 years, and speak Japanese, a couple of teachers insist that I play the role of 'dumb' foreigner and leave all untangling of communication problems to the Japanese teacher ... even when the Japanese teacher is ignorant and/or incompetent. Ethno-centric chain of command.
So even though one of the requirements for being hired two years ago was native or near-native Japanese speaking ability, I asked the Board of Education Committee to conduct the meeting in English only, as was commanded of me in some Jr. Highs. As they are barely competent in even basic English greetings, they were aghast ... and so I relented and said gave them the okay to go at it in Japanese only.
They began by asking for my intentions regarding the next academic year. I answered honestly that despite the lack of any English curriculum or quality control of public school teachers, my salary is not paid by the City Board of Education. It is paid by taxes from the parents of the kids living in the local community ... and it was my 'due dilegence (thanks Sasha) to serve them to the best of my ability. By chance, yesterday's MSM govt. news announced a record number of public school teachers had taken more than a month of consecutive leave absence for mental health issues ... a little less than 1% of all public school teachers in Japan ... and the Board of Education knows from my resumé that I had been a teacher-trainer in Japan before most of the committee members or public school teachers had even been born.
They thanked me, ever so politely, but said due to my poor performance as evaluated by the three Jr. High principals (who have never seen my class, and according to teachers, never consulted with them), my contract would not be renewed. Upon asking why, in perfectly polite Japanese, they explained it was because I responded to confused students ... in perfectly polite Japanese. I laughed out loud.
My education, experience, and values were irrelevant. I was just not quite 'foreign' enough for their needs, and foreigners are easily replaceable / disposable parts of the Mammon machine. This is particularly because the Japanese model of public education is pretty similar to the American style or elsewhere in the world ... and geared towards creating a culture of divide-and-conquer competition and blind compliance to authority. Enough to make Kafka tumble up an Escher staircase.
Just now listening to Naomi Wolf's podcast with her husband about the Omnibus Budget bill ... and this is where a lot of working class tax money is being funneled ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabella_Advisors. The contents of this bill are horrifying. Oh damn ... https://naomiwolf.substack.com/p/brian-oshea-analyzes-shocking-details?utm_source=podcast-email%2Csubstack&publication_id=676930&post_id=92575963&utm_medium=email#details
Cheers Tessa!
Looking forward to listening to the interview!
steve
Hi Steve, I am so sorry that they didn't extend your contract!! Sounds like you are not on the list of obedient machine operators!!! I hope you find something that is much better!!! Hugs to you!!!
Meh ... I've always wanted to be a ballerina anyway. 🤣
I've got an end of the year party with some dissident public school teachers in a few days. So who knows?
But you are also giving me inspiration with your podcast chops. Rather than my face, though ... maybe a waltz among the nature-enshrouded shrines over here. Great eye candy.
Cheers Tessa.
I love that compassionate fight in you.
steve
I hope you can become a successful ballerina then. :))
And thank you, your words make me happy as usual.
'hrines'? What the hell is that? LOL.
Corrected, and glad you are feeling happy.
Not Gustave Flaubert 'happy' ... but happy enough to just keep being you.
That makes me happy.
🥰
Lol, don't worry about the typos! I make typos all the time, just saying :)
Steve, I think this is very similar to China, Thailand and other Asian countries. Speaking the language well, is too polished, too unexpected and not the accepted protocol. Inclusive societies, tribal, and conservative don't want to change. They protect their culture in that manner. No doubt if you have been living and teaching in Japan for 30 years, you might know this.
Did you work in China? I've been to China twice, once for a conference, and once on my way to and from Tibet (which is technically China but not really), lots of very different memories.
Oh I see that you told your story in another comment, reading now!
Hillary has! So many stories to share. I'd love to hear about those memories Tessa ... but only if and when it doesn't detract from the battles we have ahead of us. But come to think of it, I can imagine framing my memories as fractals of what is happening now, and what is likely to come. Life ... a constantly emerging (submerging?) Mandelbrot set. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDU40eUcTj0
G'night from Japan, Tessa.
steve
Hi Hillary,
Yeah. Actually 40 years. Over half my life and all of my professional life ... including a tenured position as an Associate Professor in a Japanese college, nearly 20 years as biology lab director, one of only two native speakers of English (at any given time) in the country working for the Ministry of Education as a cultural advisor, teaching in Japanese 'Ivy League' schools, and lots of volunteer-community outreach work. But that is the problem.
You are correct ... depending on who is doing the accepting and who places protocol over problem solving. But yes, blind compliance to authority ... not matter how inept, corrupt, and cognitively dissonant that authority is, is probably the most deeply ingrained value in their formative years of adolescence.
It is heart breaking to see the sparkle of natural curiosity and energy drained from the youngsters during their 'juken senso' (exam war) years in Jr. high ... reduced to a hostages in a chain of command, competing for standardized tests of brute memorization and trained above all, to be compliant to authority.
Ha. I sound like Frank Zappa talking about American public education.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9PGaU7iCFk
My education, experience, skill, professionalism, or educational ideals comes down to 'just another exploitable, disposable foreigner'.
The biggest shock for most Westerners in this 'not so great reset' ... is that they are now being conditioned to accept the same dehumanization and marginalization by the ruling class, as I have been pushed into accepting as a permanent, professional foreigner.
The ruling classes, East or West, treat citizens like the working class Japanese treat foreigners in general ... value for the sanctity of the individual in the West or values for harmony in the Far East have long since been reduced to ritualized lip service to a sociopathic ruling class.
Two books, by oxymoronic title alone, show how the ruling classes nudge populations West and East ... Chomsky and Herman's 'Manufacturing Consent' and Stephen Vlastos's (editor) 'Invented Traditions of Modern Japan'. One feeds off the cultural conceit of individual choice, the other off of the conceit of harmony.
Sasha Latypova's substack (yesterday) featured a discussion between two sociologists that did a pretty good job of outlining the situation from my perspective, and a book I am now reading, A. Lobaczewski's book, 'Political Ponerology; The Science of Evil. Psychopathy, and the Origins of the Totalitarian State' gives a good breakdown of how Cluster B / dark-triad personality traits that can be found in the family, community, and populations of scale lead to societal decay and collapse.
A dark passage I remember from a few years ago and saved on my Kindle reader ...
''Thus, Norse society’s structure created a conflict between the short-term interests of those in power, and the long-term interests of the society as a whole. Much of what the chiefs and clergy valued proved eventually harmful to the society. Yet the society’s values were at the root of its strengths as well as of its weaknesses. The Greenland Norse did succeed in creating a unique form of European society, and in surviving for 450 years as Europe’s most remote outpost. We modern Americans should not be too quick to brand them as failures, when their society survived in Greenland for longer than our English-speaking society has survived so far in North America. Ultimately, though, the chiefs found themselves without followers. The last right that they obtained for themselves was the privilege of being the last to starve.''
Diamond, Jared. Collapse (p. 276). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
But again, this self destructive behavior is not limited to the West. Just yesterday, NHK Government televised news devoted about 30 seconds to announce a new record had been set. Roughly 1 out of every 160 public school teachers have taken a month or more of consecutive leaves of absence due to severe depression or other mental-emotional health related problems. Young mothers, the elderly, and the handicapped are similarly being further marginalized as the middle class is being hollowed out ... as are local shops and businesses.
It will not be many years before the working class Japanese will be in a digital panopticon ... and useful only during the working years as fodder for the Mammon Machine run by self-selecting sociopaths. My most educated Japanese friends tend to agree, but they are also nearing the end of their careers, and if they act on moral compassion beyond their immediate family and close friends, it is for the quickl dimming future of the young.
Today's news, the fourth of Kishida's cabinet since October was dismissed for corruption. I would argue that anyone attracted to concentrations of power is already corrupt.
End of rant. 😅
I guess part of what I want to say is that as there are Platonic ideals by which humans can be judged, societies too can be judged ... by how they treat the extremes of the caste continuum ... the best aiming to empower the marginalized and hold authority accountable.
Phewww ... I should have saved this for a substack post, but then again, most of my better thinking and writing is buried in comments. I tend to thrive in personal one-on-one interactions — not a good formula for typical definitions of 'success', but therapeutic and potentially transformative all the same.
Cheers Hillary,
steve
Thank you for your personal one-on-one comment. I too elaborate my heart out on comments, and often think of writing on my substack page (astrology). But I feel it is extra special to meet face to face with a real human and I don't have that on my page.
I lived in Japan, and I lived in China, during 1984 and 5. I have lived in Thailand since after finishing a EdM degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education--that was 35 years ago.
As a Buddhist, I study and translate Dharma--Thai to English--and design curricula which is Dharma based, thus totally one-to-one, student centered, guiding the student inward, no matter what subject.
I started teaching in 1973 in Cave Junction, Oregon. Unlike you, I am freelance. At Harvard, I wrote a thesis Dharma for Teachers. Not as a religion but as a psychology and philosophy. When I applied for the doctorate there, I was turned down. I applied to a number of universities and to private schools with naive hopes of implementing Dharma principles into the curriculum. All rejections. But instead of waiting around for a position, instead of pouting over so many rejections, I left for Thailand to continue my studies, teach and translate.
Thus, teaching outside of the system I evolve with the student, and continually change my teaching paradigms to counteract conditioning and/or complement the very best cultural, biological, generational, and personal qualities about the student. . .
I empathize with what you go through. Nevertheless, may I be so bold as to encourage you to step away from You as a devoted educator, step away from the system you know so, so well, and reflect on the honorable person that you are. Realizing that the strong culturally centered belief system that is generations old, is suffering, just like it is in so many traditionally oriented parts of the world exposed to technologies, to trends and to "us". I give the Japanese, the Korean, the Chinese, the Thais, and other countries an applause, they are doing a lot better than the Amercian culture. They are desperate to hold on to their values. Where, we sacrificed them a long time ago.
Each day I am grateful that I might challenge someone, some student, some family member in some slight or profound manner. Sometimes that challenge becomes a threat to some people. I understand that, because of something I learned a good while ago. . . People only see you as far as they see themselves. Each person defines a reality. That reality might be a small box, completely influenced by--let's say--the state. Or maybe the local pub. Or maybe a big university full of administers, students and teachers. If your reality is way out in the cosmos--well those folks-- are likely to see just so much of you. The rest, they either push away, because that part of you is horribly intimidating, or they try to suck you into their boxed in reality. Fears of many forms develop--thus all of the ridiculously ignorant dis and misinformation gaslighting, as well as our common experience of feeling like we will never belong. Well, the Truth is, we won't no matter how fabulous we are in what we do.
You are so blessed to have been able to work, to be able influence your students, and survive the system, while "seeing" exactly what it is all about.
However, it is most important for you to save yourself, to see that all of who you are, and what you have attained is because you care. That care is what you leave behind when you walk away. And at that moment in your life, you must care for yourself with the same love, the same devotion and the same need for acceptance, this time self-acceptance.
Whoa!!!
I have found a gem in you, and a like minded one at that.
Thank you so much for putting so much time and care into your response.
It's pushing 1 am here in Japan, so I won't have the energy to dove-tail with your gracious comment ... but we have soooo much to talk about ... some connections with S.E. Asia (several trips as a volunteer activist to rural Cambodia) ... and among other intellectual-spiritual interests, a long running fondness for the Taoist side of zen (mostly from Suzuki Daisetsu) and the animist-pantheist thought that bridges Shinto with the likes of Spinoza, Emerson, and Einstein.
But that line ... ''and design curricula which is Dharma based, thus totally one-to-one, student centered, guiding the student inward, no matter what subject.'' really attracted me. If I could sum up my educational ideals it would be to nurture the growth of the student towards enough moral autonomy, so that they choose of their own free will, to spend their resources empowering the marginalized and holding authority accountable.
I attended a rival college as an open class student, and in a course about the history of volunteerism in Japan, was rather shocked to find the Japanese govt. came to officially recognize community-activist NPOs and NGOs from 1995, when it became apparent that the government had to depend on those groups to help with the Great Hanshin Earthquake. Even now, as in every country I guess, institutions have replaced communities to such an extent, that many 'volunteers' see their role as nothing more than a lateral, managerial move from their institution of work to another institution. JMHO, but it is the 'holding authority accountable' that is most problematic in Japan.
Maybe my biggest pedagogical influence was humanistics and values clarifications oriented (Gertrude Moskowitz), but because it was in institutional settings ... lots of non-zero sum game strategy to maximize student autonomy. Lots of other pedagogic tricks of the trade to chat about, but he essence might be summed up in having the students teach me (and others). My research area, presentations, and publications was mostly involved in what I called an 'Event-driven Curriculum'. In lieu of traditional tests, especially for something as personal as second language acquisition, who could resist? 😂
Thank you for offering advice, but until we settle down into a good groove, I'll just say that my brief academic bio is not all that I am. Lots more to my identity than my academic career, as I am slowly finding is the same with you. That's one reason I've gravitated from Quora to substack, though still a newbie.
But we have plenty of time to talk about that. Better yet, if interested, time to collaborate. Just a couple of days ago, I became a paying subscriber to Margaret Anna Alice because of the dramatic impact of her video collaboration with Tonika. And here we meet under Tessa's substack ... who is herself, a collaborative artist.
Another Whoa ... I intended to write only a few brief lines of gratitude for your response, and nearly 45 minutes have slipped by ... and just touching the tip of the iceberg.
Really getting droopy-eyed now, so I'll say good night for now ... and looking forward to reading you and more.
Cheers Hillary, and thanks again.
steve
Thank you for taking the time. . . Yes, we do have more words to share! Blessings to you and your family.
So glad to see you zero in on this very much underappreciated issue.
Medical licensing, in all of its guises, is the foundation for the worldwide medical monopoly, and all of the authoritarianism that goes along with such a beast.
Tessa, thank you for keeping us informed about the evil ‘medical boards’. Before all this, I don’t think most of us even knew they existed - I sure didn’t. The last thing I need is to have these evil people ‘protect my health’. What a lie and a sham. And, who is paying for these fancy dinners etc., anyway?
Thank you Cathleen!! I think you are right. Before all this, I suspected there was some corruption, thought most of it was in my original homeland while medicine in America, I thought, was primarily shiny and pure, with minimal corruption, and little did I know that it's international... :)
This interview was amazing and so informative. Thank you so much. Integrated medicine is the way to true health. Dr. Dooley's knowledge about immunology has given him great insight and credibility for such a discussion. I am intrigued by the fact that his wife is Russian and you are as well. It only took me a semester in the USSR to grasp the power of programming and propaganda and the evil of a system that crushes the dignity of the individual. My HUGE MISTAKE was to construct a world view that believed the USA and the "western world" had an immunity of the mind and spirit to the tentacles of totalitarianism. How WRONG was I! But I thank God for my stint living under a communist regime, under censorship, and Big Brother's ever watchful eye to develop a mind and a sniffer that was slowly waking, detecting the odor of a captured media in the 90's to being shaken awake by the smelling salt of the plandemic... Chemtah pachnyet! It was interesting to learn about the personality "type" that is chosen for medicine these days and that they will be used until the algorithms are "improved" enough to replace them with a machine. It's, as you so aptly coined the phrase, soft (poh teechonochku) "killing off" of the medical class. Stalin had the doctors murdered. The deep state of today will merely make them obsolete, in the name of public health and the public's health will be the ultimate victim. We will not comply.
Where did you study in the USSR? I am from Moscow.
Thank you!!! And yes, complying with fascism never works out, even for those why try. So it makes no practical sense even!!
Hi again Tessa,
Watching the video now.
25:00 ... Where you recount the Soviet era 'praising the greatness' (of narcissists) ... yes, I am on chapt. 5 of Lobaczewski's 'Political Ponerology' ... a good breakdown of the micro/macro scaling of psychopathology and the totalitarian state ... particularly pathological narcissism.
59:00 ... Yes, Hubris. According the ancient Greeks, arrogant pride that is the sin from which all other sins are derived.
1:05:00 (sigh) ... You Tessa, the good doctor, and myself have long since entered a terminal stage of resistance to blind compliance to self-selecting, narcissistic authority.
Can't really afford it, but cannot afford to let it go ... the combination of your critical thinking skills, moral spine, and infectious laughter have earned you another paying subscription ... if for no other reason, I can't reach out and give you a big hug. That makes three ... Mr. (? Big Surprise) Sage Hana, Margaret Anna Alice, and now ... you. The falling out between Mathew and Sage is a bummer because I like both ... but I guess that's a normal part of the social dynamics of we sometimes social primates. Bonobos are cool.
Stay healthy and fighting, but only occasionally happy. An old quote I am resurrecting in several posts and platforms today ...
''To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.'' — Gustave Flaubert
Cheers from Japan Tessa,
steve
Thank you, Steve!! By the way, Mathew is a very good and honest person, and I do understand why he eventually got frustrated with his factual information being ignored in favor of perhaps more sensationalist takes. I was one of the first people who interviewed him on DMED, that was before Mathew had his own podcast, and I know he is not after personal branding but after factual truth He has a different battling style than me, I would probably be a little softer on the people I am frustrated with, but I know he is coming from a good place.
Yeah, I think I saw that interview. And in my brief chats with him, he appears to be a straight shooter. I am not nearly up to Mathew's stats/math chops and can feel a bit like a small fish in the pond, but then again ... it is those prodigious chops that might sway the silent majority. Steve Kirsch would do well to recognize what Mathew has to offer, but Steve (and this Steve) has their blind spots too.
Though I like Sage ... I am feeling a bit unsettled now. I'm going to have to adjust my information-consumer habits a bit after the revelations from the last few days, and Rounding the Earth will be higher in my priorities. But then again, I guess we are constantly triangulating and growing ... or withering and dying.
Stealing and adapting a meme from not so long ago ... It is not peace that I am looking for. There's enough of that waiting in the grave. The opposite of war is not peace. It is creativity. It is just as much the artist in you that keeps me coming back.
That is also what makes Sasha a top priority. As I was confessing to Gary Sharpe, the Russian-Ukranian Combo of you two is an irresistible force to reckon with. Ha ... 'reckon with'? Closer to 'embrace'.
Cheers Tessa
This one post has several important medical papers explained within it.
mRNA "vaccines" for COVID impair the immune response to COVID after the second injection, progressively over passing months, and they especially impair it after a 3rd "booster" shot. An arm of the immune response is activated which ignores the antigen being presented, in this case the "sike protein" of alpha COVID (1/2020 version).
That this is happening on city-wide scales is confirmed by very high COVID levels in sewage of much-"vaccinated" cities.
Another mechanism of immune-suppression is also activated, which suppresses immune surveillance to destroy cancer-cells in the body.
https://arkmedic.substack.com/p/philadelphia-2023
Thank you, John!!! Yep, this is extremely important. I was going to write about it but by now, luckily, several great Substacks about it have been posted, including the one you are linking to, and I will just share. :)
What a refreshing interview! Not once did I feel a jolt of anxiety. Just discussion with interesting information punctuated with humor and glorious smiles - a welcome relief from the worry-wrinkled urgency with which so many of our fellow travelers present themselves. And, I learned a lot: please talk with Bruce Dudley again soon. —You must have more to discuss with him? I hope? Thanks ~
Thank you Patsy, I am so grateful for your comment!! I make it a point to talk about even horrible things in an even-headed manner without freaking out. Freaking out makes one weak, regardless of the circumstance. So I make it a point, consciously, all the time, even though I know that sensationalism is "better" for immediate "brand growth." But it's not right to do it when we are facing an existentially challenge, right now, more than ever, we need to be even-headed and grounded in love (vs. fear or hatred). So, thank you, your comment made my evening. :) And yes, Bruce is absolutely wonderful!
I was on an exchange program with the State University of NY at Albany. We studied in Moscow at the language Institute Maurice Torrez. We stayed in a dorm called DAS in the Cheryomushka "oblast" of Moscow.
My Russian nickname is Katya. From Kathy.
My online name is SalPeenx. Transcription for a Greek word meaning the victory trumpet of the Lord. I don't speak Greek, but I am trying to emulate how the early persecuted church drew a fish in the dirt to find other followers of the Anointed One, the Christ. The word for fish in Greek, ichthus, is an acronym for Jesus. Christ. God's. Son. Savior.
Bless your work. I learned of you as a "member" the C&C Army of Jeff Childers.
Thank you Kathy!! Wow, when you studied there, was it still the Institute of Foreign Languages, or was it MGLU? You'lll never guess what school I went to... :))))
Anytime I see the word "Federation" before a group's name, my spidey sense goes off the charts! It usually means a group of non-elected monsters that are deciding what's best for everyone with no exceptions. Today: Medicine. Tomorrow (if we don't say no): The World.