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Journal 4-8 Max Bardowell 5-27-08

Alternative Therapies and Medicines

Answer to Last Week's Question: They have been persecuted for the last half millennium, beginning in the Middle Ages with the general fear of witches and continuing well past the Salem witch trials. Thousands were killed and imprisoned under Stalin and Hitler in the 20^th Century, and they are still discriminated today in many countries.

This week we continued our discussion of alternative therapies and medicines. The most recent film we watched concerned "Bee Venom" therapies used to treat Multiple Sclerosis. While these were unorthodox, they are currently being researched for their effectiveness. If they ultimately have a positive effect for someone who is suffering from this debilitating disease, why shouldn't they be allowed? It is unethical to limit society's medical options, however, it is also unethical to allow them to go untested and to not warn the population of the potential dangers. The FDA should regulate alternative medicine just as it does traditional treatments. The same rules apply. If they work and are safe, than they are allowed. If not, than they are rejected. The consumer must be kept safe at all costs. "Regulate" in the context of the involvement of the FDA, in my opinion, has a positive connotation, as I always know that my food and medicine has been proven safe. In fact, if a treatment is effective, the FDA's approval will not only spread awareness, but it will increase public trust of the treatment, thereby insuring that it will reach more struggling patients.

However, the "Bee Venom" therapies, if proven effective, could be an anomaly, as it is more often true that these alternative medicines are simply not effective or they are even harmful to some. The effectiveness of a medical treatment will always improve its legitimacy. However, if one effective trial comes at the price of ten harmful ones, the situation changes. For example, it may be the most potent, effective cancer treatment available in successful trials, but if nine out of every ten patients die in the process, the treatment is no longer viable. Ultimately whether these potentially harmful or effective treatments are regulated it depends on the type of government and economy you have, but in a perfect world, it should not, as governments should always care for their people and should always lookout for their well being. We do not live in a perfect world.

Journal 4-7 Max Bardowell 5-19-08

Secrets of the Psychics

Answer to Last Week's Question: Baer has publicly acknowledged field assignments during his twenty year CIA career in Madras and New Delhi, India; in Beirut, Lebanon; in Dushanbe, Tajikistan; and in Salah al-Din in Kurdish northern Iraq.

The world is filled with magic. Most of it is false; elegant tricks played upon the mind to entertain, to bring some wonder back into a world too grounded in the tedious grinding of reality. But some of our magic is real, based upon the foundations of scientific fact and able to turn the iron laws of nature aside through the hard work of a few courageous men and women. However, many cannot make the distinction. They believe in the trickery, in the conjuring of those who may want to take advantage of them.

According to the recent documentary we watched, Secrets of the Psychics, this phenomenon is much more prevalent in countries such as Russia than it is in the US. There the practices of psychic healing and medicine are common, often serving as replacements to modern medical techniques. I began to wonder if this was not due to America's discomfort with the occult. As a thoroughly religious country (76.4% Christian, 0.4% Atheist in 2001), I believe the reason many Americans refuse to accept the solutions presented by psychic healing, or any version of psychic practices for that matter, could lie in their adherence to their religious beliefs. As psychic practices have been strongly associated with the occult and demonic presences through history, religious Americans have a powerful reaction to exposure to these beliefs (hence the Salem Witch Trails). They cannot experience them, or even know of them in some cases, for an acceptance of them into their society would constitute a breach of religious protocol. Psychics are of the devil, and thus they are shunned. This is different from Russia, a nation where 60% of the population does not practice a religion. They do not share America's religious fervor, and thus they do not share America's cultural repulsion of psychics.

While I do not believe psychics have any command over the supernatural forces they claim to, I do believe they should not be shunned as they are. We are a nation that practices religious freedom. This is their religion, so let them be.

Question: How have psychics or gypsies been persecuted throughout history?

Journal 4-6 Max Bardowell

The Cult of the Suicide Bomber

Answer to Last Week’s Question: Similar to many former Presidents caught in the twilight of their administrations, President Bush has in recent months tried to jump start the arrhythmic peace process between the Israeli and Palestinian factions. President Bush hopes to reiterate his devotion to the development of a dialogue between the two factions during a May 13-18 visit to Israel and other nations in the region.

This week we began watching the documentary The Cult of the Suicide Bomber, written and hosted by ex-CIA case officer Robert Baer. Having read Baer’s book See No Evil, I knew going into the documentary how difficult creating this film must have been for him. He has lost many friends to the bombs of “martyrs”, mainly in Beirut, but elsewhere in the Middle East as well. Still, this gives him a certain credibility, not because he has seen what needs to have been seen and gone where he needed to have gone to make the film, but also because the breadth of his past has readied him for what needs to be said. After reading his book I knew that somewhere beneath the twisted steel and scorched concrete he found the fire to complete his quest: to solve the mystery of the Embassy and Barracks bombings and spread the knowledge he has gained through his profession to those who can make a difference. His connections will help him investigate and bring to light the true motives behind suicide bombings, so that we can understand the ideology and thus better combat its negative effects. I have a great respect for Baer. I have no doubt that he will succeed.

Question: Where did Baer operate as a case officer?

Journal 4-5 Max Bardowell 5-5-08

Promises

Last week we watched the documentary Promises. I think watching the documentary confirmed my ultimate goal of becoming a journalist fluent in Arabic. Not only would I be able to get access to stories an English speaking journalist would not be able to, but I would be able to reconnect with a part of my past I was never really able to explore. My grandfather’s family is from Lebanon, a country as synonymous with the history of the Middle East as Palestine or even, albeit arguably, Jerusalem. It is also a country that conjures up images of civil war, crumbling white towers, and ruined costal cites that had once been known around the world as the last glittering Edens of the Middle East. It is the Lebanon I know. The Lebanon my ancestors knew is no more. My grandfather has only revealed that part of his past, the past we share, in hushed conversations that left me feeling as if my past began not long ago, on the coast of Lebanon, but here in America. For whatever reason, he has smothered that part of his past and neglected to share it with me. I don’t know whether it was motivated out of fear or shame, but I feel as if a connection we could have had has been lost. I don’t fully blame him, as he forged his fortunes in America, but watching Promises only reignited my desire to soon travel to Lebanon and search for those who share my name, my blood.

Question: What is the current state of negotiation between Israel and Palestine?

Journal 4-4 Max Bardowell 4-27-08

Sound and Fury Revisited

After hearing that the director of Sound and Fury had made a sequel, we were asked to write a prediction of where the Artinian family would be after six years. After some thought, I found that I could write two versions of this prediction, but I fear only one of them is truly possible. In the first, the Artinian family has continued along the course that they set at the end of the movie, following their predictable divisive behaviors and reactions. In the second, they have reversed that course, coming together again as a family with both Deaf and Hearing members united by the revocation of the single choice that influenced not only Heather’s life, by the lives of all around her. I hope for heather and the Artinian’s the latter became reality. I fear that only the former version of their story is really possible.

At the end of the film, the Artinians had moved to an area of Maryland that was heavily populated by members of the Deaf community. In their words, they were driven by both their fear of inadequate schooling for their children in Long Island and by their desire to feel more accepted within their community. I believe the reality is that they, in essence, fled the judgments of their family members who were discouraged to learn that Heather was being denied the Cochlear implant. I believe part if the Artinian’s knew what they had done was wrong. They were running from guilt. They knew that if they had stayed in Long Island they would have been forced to watch as Heather’s cousin, who had been given the implant, grew up to become an individual with a foot in both worlds, and thus double the opportunities to excel. I think they feared having to atone for their short sighted decision each time they saw their brother’s son.

This tension, in a way solidified by the Cochlear given to Heather’s cousin, would be difficult to overcome. The distances the Artinians put between themselves by moving would only focus the problem. I believe they would still visit with their immediate family, the grandparents more frequently and the brother on holidays, but I believe that they will have lost that intimacy and mutual support that defined their earlier relationship. The Cochlear formed a rift within their family, a fact that I think is understated within the documentary. It is my hope that they can heal the rift, but I fear that the Artinians will never be able to recover the bonds which they broke by discussing the implant. Maybe it really was a bad thing in the end? Without it, she is still lacking sound, but her family is happy and together. I have never known such fear, or passion, that would drive me to cross a nation. Then again, I am not part of a dying culture. If this is truly genocide, would I too not fight or flee with my family to higher ground?

Heather never received the implant she desired. Her parents, in their wisdom or folly, chose to let her wait. Now, if she is twelve, her future has been irrevocably altered. Heather’s romantic vision of her being able to single handedly bridge the gap between Deaf culture and the Hearing world, is now also changed. Her dream was the product of a five year old mind, a mind free of bias or persuasion, and thus in its innocence it gained a certain focus. However, after six years apart from the hearing world, six years spent in a school for the Deaf, her dreams have changed. I doubt she has a strong recollection of her earlier plans, or a strong attraction to them. If she has been indoctrinated into Deaf culture, her hope to have contacts within both communities, embracing both worlds as part of who she is, is lost. There is also the question of the implants effectiveness. After six years of Deaf education, the implants effectiveness is severely reduced, due both to Heather’s cerebral development and her attachment to the communication techniques of the Deaf community. Due to her parent’s delays, no matter how well intentioned, Heather no longer has a voice in her future. She cannot choose for herself, because she has no options left.

This is the only future I can see for the Artinians. It is bleak and raw, and void of their earlier love and optimism. Each member of the family has recoiled into the familiar, and the one member that was ready to explore was blocked at each advance, without even knowing why. I prey they can reconnect, as their unique relationships can serve as a guide for how the two cultures, Deaf and Hearing, can interact and grow together. I prey they can reconnect, because Heather can do without the Cochlear, but she needs her grandmother and father, and her aunt and uncle. I prey they can reconcile, because all the Artinians, Deaf and Hearing, should be able to watch their family grow up together.

They are silent and they are loud, and that makes them worth fighting for.

Update

My prediction was later found to be false as, after watching the sequel, we found that Heather and her brothers received the Cochlear implant, and her family moved back to Long Island and reunited with the rest of her family. Apparently the first version of my prediction proved to be true. I happily stand corrected.

Journal 4-3 Max Bardowell 4-21-08

Sound and Fury

Answer to Last Week’s Question: There are many leading bioethicists, but most are associated with a major university, such as Pennsylvania University, which has a leading department of bioethics. They are also associated with independent medical or research hospitals, such as The Cleveland Clinic. The National Institutes of Health, a governmental organization, also has a department of bioethics.

This week we watched the documentary Sound and Fury, an in depth portrayal of one family’s struggle with accepting both Deaf culture and the Cochlear Implant, the device considered by many of the hearing impaired to be able to destroy Deaf culture. One of the most prominent issues presented within the documentary was that of belonging, and to which world, Deaf or Hearing, would the younger members of the family belong.

For Heather, a young girl at the center of the film who was considering the implant, the idea of belonging to both worlds was what drove her towards the implant. She hoped to have contacts within both communities, similar to a bilingual individual, embracing both worlds as part of who she was. Even in her five year old mind, she had this romantic vision of her single handedly bridging the gap between Deaf culture and the Hearing world, serving as both as a translator and diplomat for those ignorant members of both communities. Sometimes it takes a child’s mind, a mind free from prejudice, to truly see the correct course of action. Ultimately, I think she saw the prejudices of her parents, prejudices inherited not by choice, but by the unpredictability of nature, and she hoped to smooth them over. I think she saw the flaws in both worlds through the infighting between her family members, and she wished to spare others from the same struggle and pain. When Heather’s parents denied her the implant, I think they underestimated her perceptiveness and her resolve. They took away what she considered to be her destiny; to become one of the rare individuals possessing the gifts of both worlds. They justified their actions under the guise of being good parents, but in the end they were only selfish, clinging to their traditions in place of progress and the promise of a better future for their daughter.

You could argue that a five year old could know nothing of destiny or purpose, but then you would be denying the very prevalent truth; she was conscious of her decisions, and she wanted the implant. You could see the frustration in her face as she struggled to interact with children from the Hearing world. You could hear the longing in her small, underdeveloped voice and see the pleading in her finger movements as she signed the purpose she wished to fulfill. And, as her parents broke the news to her, you could see the pain in her eyes as they took her future, her dream from her.

Question: What happened to the Sound and Fury family after the documentary closed?