NIH: Where Political Correctness is Sickening

[Brent]

NIH: Where Political Correctness is Sickening
December 30, 2003
by Carey Roberts


This past Christmas, President Bush felt compelled to issue three separate holiday cards. Christians, Blacks, and Jews received cards with greetings appropriate to their holiday celebrations. That way, no one would feel offended.

But Political Correctness has gone far beyond dictating the content of Christmas cards. Now, PC thinking has seduced the hearts and minds of government officials.

Case in point -- the National Institutes of Health, charged with advancing America's medical research agenda, recently unveiled a draft plan to reduce health disparities. The plan is saddled with the bureaucratic title, "Strategic Research Plan to Reduce and Ultimately Eliminate Health Disparities." The document can be seen at //www.ncmhd.nih.gov/our_programs/strategic/volumes.asp.

Of course, men lag on practically every measure of health care. Men are less likely to have health insurance or to see their doctor when they get sick. Men indulge in riskier lifestyles. As a result, men die an average of 5-1/2 years before women.

So any discussion of health disparities would logically focus on men.

Please understand, PCism is very hard to cure. Its symptoms include a stubborn compulsion to suppress the natural impulse of logic, fairness, and compassion. To overcome that humane instinct, the crafters of the NIH plan had to rigidly obey these 4 rules:

1. Ignore the parts of the law that you don't happen to agree with -- The NIH disparity plan was developed to comply with the recent Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Act. The Act defines a health disparity group as "a population where there is a significant disparity in the overall rate of disease incidence, prevalence, morbidity, [or] mortality." That definition fits the male half of the US population to a T. But the NIH decided to simply ignore that part of the law.

2. Never make direct comparisons between men and women -- Because revealing that men's health has chronically lagged in comparison to women would sabotage the entire NIH feminist health agenda.

3. Cover up the fact that your agency is actually making the disparity worse -- Over the years, the National Cancer Institute has spent more than three times more money on breast cancer research than on prostate cancer. But don't expect the NCI disparity reduction plan to draw attention to that fact.

4. Give only token attention to the greatest disparity -- The lifespan of Black men is 7 years less than for Black females. Black men are the neediest of the needy. Although the NIH plan does recommend programs for African-American men, the plan illogically proposes that more attention be given to Black women.

Despite its ballooning $28 billion annual budget, it is unlikely that the cure for the affliction of Political Correctness ever will be found at the NIH.

The remedy will have to come from the American citizens who are sick and tired of the epidemic of PC.

We need to tell the NIH that the lives of half the nation's population should not count for less because they happen to be male. The PC-crats at NIH need to hear that message, loud and clear. Here's the e-mail address to send your comments:

[email protected]

Brief or lengthy, your message will make a difference.

But do it now -- the deadline is January 5.


http://www.ifeminists.net/introduction/editorials/2003/1230roberts.html

[Peanutsdad]

When I was a small child, I was watching the evening news with my parents and saw a demonstration of women burning their bras.

I turned to my mother and asked, " Since they are burning their bras, does that mean I can burn my jock strap?"

I got grounded for a week for my insensitivity. I still remain as politically incorrect to this day as I apparently was then.