Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Saturday, June 25, 2005
E.B. White says:
But I arise in the morning torn
between the desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world.Of the two mentions of “the world”, methinks the first, at least, actually means a certain species therein.
Not mentioning any names.
Posted by Lee Hall on from 06/25 at 09:06 PMDucks? Gotta be ducks…
Posted by joe on from Oregon 06/26 at 12:00 PMI haven’t the “vagus” idea, Joe.
Posted by MZ on from Texas 06/26 at 05:07 PMVery good, Mickey -
I just laughed and laughed. Then, as is so often the case, of late - I felt almost guilty about feeling happy… Is this immense sadness just something we’ll always carry with us, Mickey, like our names, our memories, our dreams? Is all joy to take place against this dark, horrific backdrop that is government and its machinations?
If so - well, so be it… Little kids in Iraq bear far greater burdens every moment. Maybe I’ll chew up and swallow all the world’s horror for today - so that, for a brief time, the world can laugh too…I’ve thought often of you and your mom, Mickey. Hope all is well (as it were.) Sorry to inject such darkness into these jovial moments. I’ve been reading Kathy Kelly -
Ya all be careful down there, Laddie!
-joe, a goofy LeftistPosted by joe on from Oregon 06/27 at 02:00 PMWe just returned from meeting the oncologist...a very gentle man from Switzerland. It seems my Mom’s chemo will be relatively low-dose so she is relieved. It was a relief for me to be here to ask questions and offer companionship.
Shaw said something like: “The world does not cease to be a happy place when someone dies as it does not cease to be sad when we laugh.”
Posted by MZ on from Dubya Land 06/27 at 07:10 PMWonderful Quote, Mickey. Thank you. An appropriate late nite elixir…
(Ever wish your mind had an “off” switch?)Good news about your mom. I spent some time with the radiation oncologist at the hospital I trained in during nursing school. He was a strange, introverted sort of guy - more like an absent minded scholar than a hospital physician. He said he was far more interested in the patient’s attitude toward the treatment than in what specific treatments were actually decided upon. (A rough quote): “Whether or not they believe in what they’ve chosen to do, and truly trust me to do my best for them is most important… These people heal themselves! I just help.”
G’Night, MickeyZ. - joe
Posted by joe on from Oregon 06/28 at 02:16 AMWhile I wish Z.’s mother a speedy recovery, I cannot help but note that Z., for all his prior rants against western medicine, established oncology, and chemotherapy advocates, seems to realize now that western medicine, its numerous faults notwithstanding, is saving his mother’s life. Can you say, “Hypocrite?”
Posted by Merlin (Ludwig) on from 06/28 at 05:51 PMFrom Z, Mickey. “Physician, Heal Thyself,” in Driver’s Side Airbag #34:
“While McCoy, for the most part, alludes to late-night TV come-ons for diet pills and hair-loss remedies when discussing today’s quacks, my mind can’t help but conjure up sordid images of such modern medical advances as irradiated food, chemotherapy, and managed care. How will these be judged in a half-century or so? What museum will house documentation of same-day mastectomies, cruel and unnecessary animal experimentation, and the rampant misuse and abuse of pharmaceuticals?”
File this in the “Ludwig Hits the Nail on the Head Department.” Unless you want your mom in that museum?
Posted by The Infanta on from 06/28 at 06:25 PMI can’t speak for Mickey, but I can state my opinion in this thread. First, Mickey and his mother are two people; why is it implied that Mickey would be somehow expected to approve, reject, or influence decisions made by another competent individual? Not that it is anyone’s business to opine on the possible content of their interactions, simply because one has the status of a blog guest.
Second, it is not hypocritical to have a situation in which Mickey’s mother—or even Mickey, for that matter—makes use of the generally available medicine yet at the same time Mickey strongly believes, for a blend of ethical and practical reasons, that the state of the healing arts could and would be better off were we to select different standards and methods to further it. A little less harshness here might help in understanding the issues as they really are.
Posted by Lee Hall on from 06/29 at 01:19 AMTo respond to Lee’s claim that blog guests ought not comment on the affairs of Z., and more specifically, his mother… Z. has openly shared the experience and engaged comments in the past, suggesting that he both desires them and does not consider what might be a “private” affair completely so. As to the appropriateness of a blog guest commenting on others’ medical problems and decisions, in various incoherent screeds, including the one cited by user “The Infanta” above, Z. has demeaned those who have undergone radiation therapy, taken HIV/AIDS drus, and been patients of western science in general, implying they are dumb dupes of pharmaceutical companies, and mainstream health practictioners. Given his categorical condemnations of these medical procedures in the past, one wonders why he does not express outrage at his mother’s decision to undergo one of them at the very least. If western medicine causes all the awful things he claims, one might expect him to say something or intervene with a loved one about to fall victim. The silence suggests Z. is more interested in vulgar radical posturing than serious interrogation of the medical-industrial complex’s numerous problems.
In your second point, you claim Z.’s mother has no choice but to accept the best “generally available medicine.” In other words, it’s better than nothing, though not great (the view of chemotherapy I happent to share). But in prior screeds, Z. has also characterized allopathic medicine and approaches to cancer specifically as “chemotherapy assault[s],” not exactly what you’d label something that is not great but still better than nothing, as you suggest. And in the “Driver’s Side Airbag” piece cited by “The Infanta,” Z. cited “alternative methods,” though he did not bother to name them (homeopathic, naturopathic medicine, acupuncture, etc?) One wonders why he does not suggest his mother use these “alternative methods” rather than opt for the “assault” of western medicine.
Plenty of journalists and scholars have written on exploitative and harmful aspects of western medicine (Foucault and Fanon, for starters) and the inequalities, economic and racist, of capitalist health-care delivery systems (most recently in 2004, Marcia Angell and the team of James Barlett and Donald Steele). They marshall lots of specific evidence and/or prior research and studies to make their argument. Z. does none of these and comes off as a generality-spouting loudmouth than a credible critic of western medicine who we ought take seriously.
Posted by Merlin (Ludwig) on from 06/29 at 01:58 AMLudwig, where does all the hate come from, I wonder? Your rants and “Ludwig Hits the Nail on the Head” score-keeping is so infantile I must imagine that Mickey stole your girlfriend in grade school or something of that sort. It is very sad. I respect Mickey for not even responding to all the nonsense.
Human beings survived for hundreds of thousands of years without chemotherapy or any other modern science or technology. They managed to do so without polluting (as we have) the Earth to the point where we now may only have a few centuries left of survival.
Sickness and death were, at one time, accepted as readily as health and birth.As Lee said, Mickey and his mother are two people, if she decides to receive chemotherapy that is her choice.
Posted by James on from Puerto Rico 06/29 at 08:23 AMThere will be plenty of time to horsewhip Mickey on the steps of his club when he gets back, Ludwig. It may be tempting to use her illness to flog him right now, but a little effort at self-restraint is generally considered the better part of wisdom.
Posted by Harry on from 06/29 at 12:22 PMAn interesting - and telling - decision, to attack a man as his mother is battling cancer.
I visit this site because I feel at home here. It’s a relaxed place in which, generally, people seem to be comfortable with one another. The intellectual posturing I’ve found on so many Left of center sites seems less pronounced here. My experience is that Mickey “allows” people to be people. We flawed, foolish, outsiders seem to be welcome here.
If I did not enjoy Mickey or those who frequently post here, I’d not return. If you feel a need to “defend” Western Medicine - study, work, and spend your time at sites which will enhance your knowledge and understanding. In so doing, in my opinion, you’ll have to eventually turn to a perspective resembling Mickey’s. However, feel free to disagree and surf and study and ponder as you wish. Find compatible companionship and cling to it - it’s rare and valuable beyond description. If said companionship is lacking here, why return?
My wife and I are registered nurses. We’ve seen, close up and personal, the best and worst of what western medicine has to offer. The inside of a hospital is a frightening and dangerous place. Without considerable experience therein, it’s impossible to have an accurate understanding of what medicine, as we usually understand it, actually provides. There are no studies, no brilliant papers or books which can equal even a single day on a med-surg floor in an ordinary hospital. Like studies of war - twenty minutes in Iraq transcends the lot of `em.
In `98, my father was told he’d need deep-vein surgery in his leg, or he’d lose it. However, the surgeon who committed to doing the surgery told my father that he’d first need to undergo a carotid endarterectomy, because a group of physicians felt that my father was at risk to stroke on the operating table. This proceedure entails slicing open the carotid artery, a massive and incredibly important artery in the neck, and, as it beats / pulsates, as arteries do, scrape it clean and put in a little “umbrella” to catch flying fragments which might make their way up into the brain. My experience with such things - watching these proceedures in the OR, and caring for patients pre and post-op, was that this was a very, very dangerous thing to do. Oh, I’d seen many people get through it with flying colors. However, I’d seen several who “stroked,” afterwards, or who had a variety of very serious, horrible problems
which did not always immediately make themselves known. I advised my father against this surgery -at the risk of losing his leg, or worse…Of course, the physicians were physicians while my wife and I were “just” nurses. They convinced my father to have the surgery. I said to him: “Dad, you’d be better off staying home. Better to drop dead in the driveway, than to live out your days in a hospital.” However, he decided to follow the advice of the physicians.
Well, he was my father. I immediately decided to support him completely. I was with him for all of the pre-operative tests and proceedures. We met with neurosurgeons and anesthesiologists and with recovery and rehab planners. I remained by his side to answer and ask questions and to make my father as comfortable and sanguine with his situation as possible. I walked with him as he was wheeled down to the operating room. Throughout every moment of this supportive behavior, I was completely against this surgery. (I assume that Mickey’s behavior, now, is some variant of this. It’s his mother!)
A few days later, as my father was experiencing a wide variety of “petite” but debillitating strokes, the surgical team told my wife and I that the endarterectomy had “revealed” (not caused, but revealed - which may be true, however...) it revealed a major problem with my dad’s ability to swallow safely. The upshot was this: He would - never, ever - be able to swallow anything again. Not a tiny sip of water, not his silava. Nothing. Ever.
Fortunately, the number and size of his strokes kept increasing during the next several days, so that he didn’t really understand what was happening to him....
I could relate dozens of personal experiences with western medicine which are as horrific, or moreso, than this one. And my wife, who is an intensive care cardiac nurse, could relate hundreds. All active, working nurses could write books about such nightmares… Unless you are an RN or a physician, I don’t see how you can have any sort of adequate understanding of medicine as it is now practiced in the western world. Before my dad went ‘under the knife,’ I read a very great deal about the proposed proceedures. Despite my personal experiences, I felt compelled to study, to understand. Most of the literature completely supports my dad’s decision.
Posted by joe on from Oregon 06/29 at 03:25 PMJoe, thanks for relating that very moving story about your Father. I support Mickey and I admire him for supporting his Mother’s decision. The most important thing that anyone in a medical crisis needs, is the compassion and empathy of a loving advocate. I, too, am a constant critic of the Medical System in this country but my life was saved twice by very competant doctors. I am very grateful to them but I also criticize the many deficiencies in the system. I hope that in my next medical crisis I will have the kind of support that Mickey is giving to his Mom.
Posted by rosemarie jackowski on from 06/29 at 05:33 PMSorry to hear about your mother, there, Mickey. But I think this may actually be a positive piece of karma for you to endure. Next time your arrogant little troll self decides to spout propaganda for Robert Mugabe I hope you remember the feeling of death at your doorstep, so maybe, if only for that one moment, you might feel just a sliver of sympathy for those tortured and murdered by that un-elected piece of trash, so that they might become something more to you than simply “collateral damage” under the great rolling treads of socialism.
Cheers
Posted by Cheers on from 06/29 at 08:50 PMThanks for sharing, Cheers. I am sensitive to your needs in your capacity of tender yet poisonous little sockpuppet. You are a sniveling cretin, who lacks what it takes to do more than pule on a weblog. It might be good karma for you to wriggle and squirm in your own bile, then squeal with the joy petty sadism brings.
Posted by Harry on from 06/29 at 10:17 PMWow, you sounded like you were gagging on your own stomach acids typing that one out, Harry. It was boring however, and in no way witty. It just had some enjoyable words plugged into it and was otherwise a senseless kneejerk reaction which would have been more appropriately worded as: “#### YOU CHEERS YOU COLD-BLOODED PRICK SCUM BILE MOTHERFUCKER”.
Mickey deserves to suffer for being the wretched human being that he is. He cares about no one but himself and his philosophy. That is the ultimate irony. He despises the U.S. for its actions during the Cold War in supporting dictatorships, obviously of the right-wing kind, throughout the world that killed untold numbers of innocent people. And yet he justifies the torture and death served out by Robert Mugabe. Why? Oh. Because he’s a “socialist” and therefore he’s struggling against the American Empire. Nevermind clear evidence presented at progressive websites such as znet that Mugabe rigged the elections and scared opposition populations away from the polls. No, can’t have any of that “fact”, as those real progressives call it. None of that whatsoever. Why, who needs fact when you’ve got ass kissery for a certifiable murderer?
Life’s a bitch, Mick. Not so funny when it happens to you, though, is it?
Cheers
Posted by Cheers on from 06/30 at 01:42 AMYou’re back, Cheers! Good for you. You’re undoubtedly aware that no one cares what you say. People will get in the habit of reading just enough to know you’re another bloated little twit of an internet personality and then scroll down to something interesting. You have a schtick familiar to anyone who has spent some time exchanging views on Usenet. Sometimes it will be fun to goad you, other times it will be fun to ignore you. You’ve engineered yourself into the worst sort of irrelevance. You’re a stereotype, now, and you did it to yourself.
If you keep coming back to “share”, you’ll eventually realize that comments ostensibly directed towards you are really put there for other members of the community. As you’re not very good at this game, you’ll have to whine a lot and dig for ways to hurt people’s feelings. It may work with some them. A triumph indeed!
The problem with trying to hurt, however, is that most people will become inured to your attempts and you’ll have to up the ante in order to get a rise. You jumped the shark with the sorry tactic of dragging Mickey’s mother into your game. The only thing more disgusting would be crowing about someone’s child being molested.
Have a nice day
Posted by Harry on from 06/30 at 09:06 AMCheers, it is true that you are my brother, and as such are suffering the same existence as all. I presume you are not living under Mugabe. The vileness you preach is indeed a sad reflection of how twisted human nature can become, how facile and fickle a life can be. I only hope that positivity suffuses your being before it is too late. Come into the light and stop destroying the beauty that could be you. we choose to be how we are within a contrived framework. MZ is a ray of light and it is understandable how the corruption that dwells within you could find this untenable. It is hard living without love. It makes a stone of the heart. Remember cheers, infinite boiling can soften the stone. Dex
Posted by declan on from dublin 06/30 at 09:15 AMSorry Cheers, but you basically made yourself into the real stereotype. I came in and did a little prodding and mocking, and you naturally reacted like a 10 year old when he first got his hands on the internet, tripping over himself to scream insults. So you try to look a little more calm by rounding about and delivering a smiley face like 15 year olds in AOL chatrooms who just got into long flamewars and then try to act like they were joking all along because they’re embarassed.
Thanks for the laugh.
Cheers!
Posted by Cheers on from 06/30 at 03:52 PMAnother great quote - made me laugh as well, just like ‘joe’.
Take care in Tx, Mickey, and I hope all goes well with your mother.
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 06/30 at 05:24 PMAwww, does somebody need a hug?! Cheers, you need to work on your game a bit. “I know you are, but what am I” argumentation is poor form. Every snide little crackpot attempts the adolescent in AOL chatroom gambit. The smiley face, as you well know, was offered as a healing gesture. It says: we care, Cheers, and you matter.
Now I don’t think I was insulting you. I was offering you an accurate character assessment based on what you’ve called your prodding and mocking. I could have called you coprophage. That would have been an insult. In deference to your status as an distinguished internet personality, I refrained.
There’s no need to thank me for any laughter. As a coprophage, you need every jolly you can get.
Posted by Harry on from 06/30 at 06:43 PM
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