I think Republicans love attacking medical marijuana because it combines their war against science, their joy at denying people health care, their glee at jailing people of color, and their disdain for the young.
This week's theme are old-timey medicines using drugs now illegal. I'm totally stealing this from Sociological Images, but these images exist primarily as a bank for future teaching, so I don't care. Plus, it's good stuff. And the students love it. And I don't want to lose them. Also, I don't want to do any work of my own. So there's lots of good reasons.
Doctor giving inoculation, St. Augustine County, Texas, 1943. Photo by John Vachon
It's good to see a backlash developing against the anti-vaccine people. The idea that vaccines cause autism tends to attract people on the far left and far right. This means I've known people who I really like and respect spew bullshit about vaccinations. Not only is there no scientific evidence that I know of that backs up this decision, but not getting vaccinations exposes your child to disease and, even worse, exposes other children. I have little tolerance for quack science whether its phrenology, eugenics, unregulated frontal lobotomies, or anti-vaccination theories. While science always exists on an unstable foundation that changes over time and is influenced by current events, we ultimately have to buy into the scientific method on issues like medicine. Perhaps the connections between vaccinations and autism should be looked into, but until there is strong experimental evidence suggesting a link, the only responsible thing to do is to keep our kids and our society safe from preventable illness.
Moreover, it really bugs me that people who have no clue about medicine are making these decisions based upon something their friends have told them or something they read online. Even more shocking is how rapid these people are. Paul Offit, author of Autism's False Prophets, exposing these nutters, can't do a book tour because of the death threats he faces. What is it about this issue that brings the extremists out of the woodwork?
Boy before, during, and 10 minutes after undergoing a frontal lobotomy. I believe this is from 1963.
I almost apologize for how disturbing these images are. But as you all probably know, and as my students certainly know, I don't believe in shielding the public from even the darkest abysses of our collective past. I hope there is value in this stance and in seeing these images.
Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse (1754-1846). Waterhouse played a key role in bringing the smallpox vaccination to the United States. He was also a doctor, naturalist, and writer in that Enlightenment way that is really difficult today.
I cannot get enough of Alice L. McLean's, Cooking in America, 1840-1945.
This bit is a homeopahtic recipe from Annabella P. Hill's, Mrs. Hill's New Cook Book, from 1867. This is the treatment for scarlet fever:
"As soon as the nature of the disease is ascertained, rub the patient night and morning with fat bacon, rubbing every part of the body but the head slowly and carefully."
I can see the headlines now--"Man Saved From Scarlet Fever, Killed by Pack of Wild Dogs"
