As a psychiatrist battling the stigma of mental illness for more than 30 years, I am gratified by growing public awareness that that schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorder run in families and are, at least partly, biologically determined. Thankfully the days when it was socially acceptable to blame depressives for being lazy or not doing enough to help themselves are long gone.

I wish I could say the same of physical illness which, after all, is basic to human existence. The US, unquestionably, has the most reactionary and punitive attitude towards illness in the world. It comes out in all manner of regressive and inhumane government policy: the federal government’s absolute refusal to make sick and parental leave mandatory (as it is in all other industrialized societies), the pressure for long term recipients of Social Security disability benefits to undergo continual review and mandatory treatment (which most have no way of paying for, as doctors have stopped accepting Medicare and Medicaid), as well strong pressure on doctors to declare them well enough to work; and now a proposal to change eligibility for Social Security retirement to make the elderly “prove” they are too sick to work.

The Growing Attack on Entitlements

In the growing attack – by Republicans and Democrats – on entitlements, there are always assertions – either direct or implied – that sick people are somehow responsible for the problems that make them unable to work. However what troubles me even more is the way so many Americans have internalized these attitudes – how ready they are blame people who get sick on eating the wrong food, not exercising or not managing stress properly. Epidemiological studies show clearly this is not the case – lifestyle factors only account for 10 percent of what causes us to become ill.

There is no question that the US has parted company with the rest of the world on this. I think it’s important to ask why. Quite frankly I hear a lot of discussion that is ominously reminiscent of Hitler’s “useless eaters” initiative. And I think it’s time to ask whether this is simply “coincidence” – an accident of history – or if there are more sinister reasons why this might be.

The Long Shadow of Joseph Goebbels

Hitler’s adopted his “useless eaters” policy in the early thirties at the very beginning of his regime. It was a utilitarian approach to social welfare consistent with the role the Nazi state played in serving the German and American corporate elite who put them in power. And Hitler enforced it vigorously, carting tens of thousands of elderly, handicapped, chronically ill and mentally ill and retarded individuals off to execution centers (long before the communists, Jews, gypsies and other undesirables) because of their inability to contribute “productively” to society.

American attitudes, not just around health, but around all spheres of human activity, are far more reactionary than the rest of the “free” world. And I think it’s high time to ask ourselves why. With new information surfacing over some of the Nazi connections of CIA founder Allen Dulles, I am increasingly skeptical this is either coincidental or down to a handful of right wing think tanks. Dulles’ high regard for Hitler’s chief propagandist Joseph Goebbels is a matter of public record. As is the fact that Dulles incorporated Hitler’s entire eastern European spy network into the CIA after World War II. And the long, cozy relationship between the CIA Office of Public Information and many US newspapers, news magazines and publishing houses. (see excellent article by Daniel Brandt at http://tinyurl.com/244m25v, along with two dozen references, including Carl Bernstein’s 1977 Rolling Stone article)

If the CIA, as it appears, has direct influence over media content, I think it’s reasonable to ask whether this plays a role in shaping how we think. I believe it does.  

To be continued, with a discussion of the real cause (income inequality) of poor health.

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The Most Revolutionary Act on Radio:

Gorilla Radio – Chris Cook, Victoria British Columbia

(click on link)

Chris and I discuss how I was first targeted, following my decision to support the occupation (of an abandoned school)  that led to the formation of Seattle’s first African American Heritage Museum – as an alternative to the crack cocaine epidemic among the city’s African American teenagers. We also talk about my research into HIV AIDS, my hospitalization and the Veterans Administration psychologist I worked with who also helped GIs illegally stationed in Cambodia in the sixties and seventies (and terrorized into keeping quiet about it).

XZone Interview with Rob McConnell

(click on link  – show is syndicated – fast forward the music to hear interview)

Rob and I discuss the phone harassment, break-ins, attempts to run me down – and my psychiatric hospitalization. We also talk about the political activities that seemed to lead the government to target me – including my research into HIV AIDS – and my inability to get help from the Seattle police. Then we cover the whole area of conspiracies in general, which are more accurately called State Crimes Against Democracy (SCADS)