Yus et al, read the piece below. I listened to Dianne Rheem and her guest last week, the author of a book on "Dr." Brinkley, and could not help the feelings of dread for my people. Brinkley never made it to the top, our "Dr." is el-presidente, oh boy!
Soffie
Chronicles Of A Quack, Our Gullibility For Scams
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE | Associated Press
February 10, 2008
Goat testicles to restore virility. An electric hat that grows hair. Healing blue light from a "quartz ray" bulb.
If you can't believe people could fall for such nonsense, you might want to peek inside your own medicine chest. Unproven treatments and remedies sold through testimonials rather than science are popular today, as they were in the 1920s, when this book is set.
"Charlatan" is a biography of "Dr." John R. Brinkley, a genius huckster who won fame and fortune implanting goat testicles in desperate Kansas ranchers and others seeking a fountain of youth. But the book also is a history of quackery and Americans' long gullibility for it.
The book opens with members of the state medical board gathered around Brinkley as he harvests the goat glands to perform his storied surgery. Brock is gifted at description, putting the reader right in the room with the "trembling animal ... hoofs clattering" on one table, and the nervous mail carrier strapped to another, as Brinkley's wife swabs the animal with Mercurochrome.
From there, Brock takes us back to Brinkley's dirt-poor roots, to traveling medicine-man shows and on a tour of flimflam by Brinkley and fellow grifters. Brinkley's genius extended into political campaigning, radio marketing and advertising tactics commonly used today.
The book sags a tad in spots where story takes a back seat to history. But it is meticulously researched, which is a blessing and occasionally a curse. A more novel-like tome might have resulted if Brock had focused more tightly on the central story of Brinkley and the man who long pursued him - quack-buster Morris Fishbein, editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Forays into the Scopes monkey trial and Nazi experiments distract from this drama.
Still, the detail is fascinating, and the author gets inside the skull of quack and quackee. For example, he details how Brinkley could play on human nature, asking questions about universal experiences - are you ever thirsty? tired? - that made him appear omniscient to people ripe for placebo-effect exploitation.
It's a sad truth that people sometimes do not demand facts and proof when it comes to medicine. In America, "medical fraud has always been the king of cons," Brock writes. "Nothing shows reason the door like cures for things."
Fishbein's pursuit helped Brinkley prosper, claiming persecution by "the establishment." If a town threw him out or a license was yanked, he just moved or morphed his snake oil.
Brinkley did a ton of harm, maiming and killing scores of people, and ultimately got his comeuppance. Not so for quackery. Abba-dabba juice. Mexican miracle cures. If these sound familiar, it may be because those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
More articles <http://www.courant.com/features/booksmags>
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
________________________________
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Yusupha Jow
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 10:29 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [>-<] 1,600 women line up for Gambian President Jammeh's infertility treatment
Baba:
Simply unbelievable. I wouldn't be surprised if precious state resources were used to bus these women in from all over the place.
Just goes to show the dangers of mass illiteracy combined with leaders who have a messianic complex.
Thanks
Yusupha
On Feb 10, 2008 5:57 PM, Baba Galleh Jallow <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Ndeysan indeed Yus. How sad to be saddled with such an extremity of a so-called president! And this is real, right? We all are not having a nightmare right? I mean a real sleep nightmare? Thanks for sharing.
Baba
________________________________
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 17:27:52 -0700
From: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [>-<] 1,600 women line up for Gambian President Jammeh's infertility treatment
1,600 women line up for Gambian President Jammeh's infertility treatment Convertir en PDF <http://www.afriquenligne.fr/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=16562> Version imprimable <http://www.afriquenligne.fr/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16562&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=115> Sugg廨er par mail <http://www.afriquenligne.fr/index2.php?option=com_content&task=emailform&id=16562&itemid=115>
News <http://www.afriquenligne.fr/news/> - Daily News <http://www.afriquenligne.fr/news/daily-news/>
Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has resumed his infertility treatment using traditional medicine with 1,600 women looking for babies lining up with the president emphasizing the importance of child birth, national broadcaster, Gambia Radio and Television Services (GRTS) announced.
"Children are our future leaders and the goals of Gambia's development projects may not be realised without them," he said at the weekend.
"If women are not bearing children it will have negative impact on our country," President Jammeh said, adding that for the society to continue, women must continue to give birth.
The Gambian president said his traditional medicine could treat 111 different ailments.
However, some of the women receiving the treatment might not able to bear children and he could not do anything about that.
The Gambian leader early in 2007 sparked a big controversy when he claimed to have "discovered a cure for HIV/AIDS" then later, infertility, among others.
He says he has been treating people suffering from the HIV virus, diabetes and other ailments.
He uses African traditional herbs and other non-scientific means in his treatment programme which he and his supporters believe really work.
But conventional medical practitioners and scientists think President Jammeh is only wasting the time of patients because his so-called cure is not effective.
Dakar - 10/02/2008
http://www.afriquenligne.fr/news/daily-news/1,600-women-line-up-for-gambian-president-jammeh's-infertility-treatment-2008021016562/ <http://www.afriquenligne.fr/news/daily-news/1,600-women-line-up-for-gambian-president-jammeh%27s-infertility-treatment-2008021016562/>
Ndeysan
Thanks
Yusupha
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