Fear-Mongering?
This post by Dr. Erika Schwartz, complaining about a breast cancer story in the NY Times, makes important points. When politicians — such as Joe McCarthy or Jean-Marie Le Pen — try to scare us, most of us appreciate the psychology involved: The more fearful we become, the more we will look to them to protect us, thus increasing their power. Our fear = their power. Schwartz is saying that respected doctors and journalists do the same thing. How prophetic was The Coming Plague (1994) by Laurie Garrett?
Schwartz’s post has too little detail to convince me that this particular story is guilty. Nor do I agree with her that statistics are “totally meaningless when applied to the individual.” Her contribution is to ask: how can we discuss these issues without fear-mongering?
September 19th, 2007 at 4:19 am
Seth,
I agree with your general point but I think your analysis is oversimplified. My guess is that journalists want to sell books more than they want power. Joe McCarthy wanted power; he also wanted to get reelected (not exactly the same as wanting power; he wanted to keep his job), also it is said that he enjoyed seeing his name in the paper. In other settings, organizations are set up to have a particular bias. For example, if the EPA raises a ruckus about some environmental hazard, it might be that people in the organization want power, but it might just be that it’s essentially their job to do this.
September 19th, 2007 at 9:32 am
[...] Doctors and Statistics Seth comments on Dr. Schwartz’s contention that statistics are “totally meaningless when applied to the individual.†[...]