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Believe me when I say that Dr. John McDougall was, when I first encountered him more than twenty years ago, a reasonable voice for low-fat vegan eating as a way to treat heart disease. I'm not a sucker, and he was not a crazy insane zealot the way he's become.
He's gone WAY too fucking far.
He's gone WAY too fucking far.
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And whether he cares or not, his family and his friends do. And, just for the record, this... idiocy is so full of inaccuracies as to be bordering on libel.
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Yes, it is offensive. No, two wrongs don't make a right. You and Serene do make some good points. I am sorry that you are hurting about the loss of a friend. I'm not sure why I chose to comment on it, really. Maybe I shouldn't have since it was kind of one of those things where someone was just upset about something and wanted to share.
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Wow. Again, I ask, how does this mitigate what McDougall wrote?
The fact is, Tim was under the care of a cardiologist, had changed his diet and was exercising. He was treating his known cardiac disease. So McDougall was completely wrong in his characterization of Tim Russert in this stupid mock interview.
That said, perfectly healthy people, on vegetarian and vegan diets even, die of heart attacks. Many of them have no history of heart disease, high cholesterol or high blood pressure.
This whole thing smacks of, "Well, he deserved it."
Yes, I'm angry at what you posted, and I'm angry with your attitude. And I think you ought to do a little self-analysis about this. But that's just my opinion. *That* said, it's not personal - it only has to do with what you posted here, and that Serene respects and likes you means a lot to me.
I almost said, "...carries a lot of weight with me". Then laughed. :)
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:):):)
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I was about to post to Serene, actually, that I think that's what's at the heart of the upset - the idea that "he deserved" his death that the article might seem to convey.
That's a very touchy subject of course. I don't think anybody "deserves" suffering or death as punishment. But I do think that our actions can affect when and how we die. That's common sense. Would my mom still be alive if she wasn't sometimes a careless driver? Quite possibly. Would my grandma have cancer and heart disease simultaneously if she'd eaten better and stopped smoking? Hard to say. Would my grandpa be on his 3rd heart attack if he'd eaten his vegetables and not eaten bacon for breakfast every day of his life? Probably not. I think that my loved ones' actions probably do affect their lives/illnesses the same way I can't expect to make it up the hill on my bike if I don't work out 3 times a week or so, or keep riding my bike up the hill. It makes me very sad that my grandpa has resisted my aunt's attempts to educate him on healthier eating and that he considers lentil soup "too weird" to eat. I want my family to live longer lives.
For me, my grandparents' illnesses and eventual deaths may well be related to their diets, but I don't see it as a "blame" issue or something they "deserve," just as possible cause and effect. Our culture does often blame people for their illnesses or deaths in a more stigmatizing/judgmental way and that's unfortunate. I don't think blame is a very healthy thing anyway.
I have no way of knowing what McDougal was trying to do. What I read in the article was his frustration with the media for not examining the standard American diet as a sick-making diet and this was some attempt to use shock tactics to get through to people about what he sees as a way towards better health and longer life. I think that it's likely this man had good intentions gone horribly awry. And of course good intentions don't really excuse saying things which which may offend people, but I'd like to hope he just wasn't thinking of things that way.
Of course vegetarians and vegans also die of these illnesses. And of course no one should be stigmatized for their personal care decisions. I think it is important to have a dialogue in this country about the effects our personal choices have on our health, however. The dialogue right now is rather unhealthy and either is shallow or nonexistent or tends to focus a lot on blame, rather than opportunities. McDougal's article does not help that. But it's also frustrating when the dialogue isn't happening and America continues to focus on prescribing pills (like the ones my dad's on - my dad who eats mayonnaise sandwiches, diet coke and tv dinners every day) rather than discussing how we might prevent chronic illness in the first place.
I'm sorry for all of Mr. Russert's family and friends and their sadness.
It's weird, though. I've told my friends before that I think my mother's death has made me see someone's death as maybe less of a sort of "sacred cow" than I did before. In this culture when someone dies, we seem to feel that we should be more respectful to them or their friends than we were in life. That's strange to me. People write horrible things about living people all the time and then when that person dies, suddenly we're nice to them. Why not be nice and respectful to people when they're alive as well? (this is thinking out loud, somewhat, not trying to excuse McDougal, just musing.)
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With you and I this isn't a case of complete disagreement either. I think we both agree that this was an unfortunate way for Dr. McDougal to express himself. It's the degree to which we feel that which differs. I'm not sure why I felt the urge to comment, either. It wasn't something I felt totally strongly about. Maybe I'm just procrastinating on packing up my old room for my move upstairs. That's actually quite likely...
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