Draw a Line: Let’s Not Let Ideologies Interfere With Medical Research and Discussion

“These days, politics seems to dictate that if one party says, “The sky is blue,” the other party is obligated to reply, “No, it’s not, and you’re a terrible human being for thinking that.” That leaves no room for science, in which the data speak for themselves, regardless of ideology, and only when they’re ready. Unfortunately, the visceral excitement of political conflict draws far more clicks and better ratings than the methodical world of science.” Josh Disbrow, CEO Aytu BioScience Inc, in this WSJ Op-Ed

Mr. Disbrow is disconcerted because social media has apparently censored his efforts to explain what his company does — what sort of medical research they are interested in conducting — because of politics, specifically because President Trump has (sort of, in his generally unintelligible way) mentioned it. He writes:

Technologies like Healight, which if borne out through clinical studies may represent a viable way to kill coronaviruses, aren’t provided the clear-headed consideration they deserve but are instead flushed into the political mosh-pit of “us vs. them.”

Twitter, YouTube and Vimeo are under enormous pressure from political activists. They also need to ensure that information on their platforms is safe and accurate. That’s exactly why Aytu decided to post videos and tweet about Healight.

We at Aytu BioScience are confident that treatments for Covid-19 will be found. We hope we can help. But above all we hope science will ultimately speak louder than politics.

…should the FDA approve this technology to treat Covid-19 or other infections, no physician will check a patient’s party affiliation before beginning treatment.

Well, let us hope. But Disbrow is very right to believe that America is reaching a dangerous point if possible medical treatments and therapies are being trashed or supported based on who is speaking about them. Which is precisely where the road leads us when our political obsessions are coupled with emotionalism, and it’s nowhere we really want to go. Not really.

Funnily enough, my hubby and I were just talking last week about the possibilities of UV light on patients. Seems almost like sci-fi to me, and you know sci-fi puts me to sleep, but I’d be interested in reading about testing on this idea. It would be a terrible thing if medical research in this area is undercut just because the wrong person mentioned it.

Trump has earned our gasping exasperation but because we are presumably grown ups, let’s NOT pretend — along with the out-of-its-mind press — that he actually wants people to inject bleach into their bodies. Because, however stupidly he talks, and however much we may want to caricature someone who is already fully caricaturing himself, we all know he doesn’t.

I’ve said since 2015 that if the press could simply manage polite indifference to Trump — the way you handle Auntie Myrtle at Thanksgiving when she falls into talking nonsense — they’d hurt him much more than they do by overplaying their hands every time he opens his mouth, or going full-on Yosemite Sam about him 24/7. They need to calm down, let him ramble, let his clumsy tongue speak for itself, and then report it with a shrug and an eyeroll, because by then everybody will have seen the Emperor naked, and the only ones who willfully do not will never be convinced, anyway.

This is how the press could watch him go down — and they give every impression that this is what they desire — without destroying their own credibility and going down with him.

They still don’t understand. They still think he’s a politician like the professional pols they’re either married to, or grew up with, and they therefore expect him to act like one. He’s NOT a politician. He’s a showman. He’s a full-on P.T. Barnum with a certificate of course completion from the freaking World Wrestling Federation; without an opponent, he has no role. So stop giving him his freaking opponent, yeah?

This is easy, not hard. This isn’t even maths.

Every journalist should remember this dictum: Emotionalism is cheap gas that doesn’t carry you far, makes your engine sputter and often leaves you walking yourself back from where you started.. Just because the zeitgeist is moving away from thinking, preferring to feel, feel, feel (and mostly to feel perpetually enraged about this team or that) doesn’t mean we have to do that. We can stop the rampant emotionalism and control our own selves. What a concept. Like Mr. Rogers sang:

It’s great to be able to stop
When you’ve planned a thing that’s wrong,
And be able to do something else instead
And think this song:

I can stop when I want to
Can stop when I wish
I can stop, stop, stop any time.
And what a good feeling to feel like this
And know that the feeling is really mine.

Whether one “loves” or “hates” a public figure, it cannot be healthy to let any president, any speaker of the house, any senator or mayor or “celebrity” live day and night in one’s head. If he or she is the thing you’re thinking about all the time, if ‘they’ are the source of your obsession… it’s time to turn off the laptop or the tv, and think about how idols are created in the mind, how they germinate in ideations and then become fleshed out in overfed ideologies until they become our godlings, our first and foremost concerns.

And remember too what Gregory of Nyssa said, “Ideals become idols. Only wonder leads to knowing…

I’d much, much rather wonder about whether or not this UV treatment — as Star Trekky as it sounds — has the potential to heal, and to and see some testing funded, than spend more time entertaining and feeding ideas from people, in both politics and the press, who care less about finding effective ways to stop this virus than about stopping political adversaries at all costs. I don’t want people to die because “well, this political asshat said something good about it, so we must now destroy the idea…”

By the way I’m not going to “fight” about this. This is my thought. You don’t have to like it; my well-being and sense of myself really doesn’t depend on whether you press the little ‘like’ button or not. You may completely disagree and think, “But, no! Orange Man Bad! (or Ice Cream Lady Bad!) Must resist all day and all night because my guts being in a knot is absolutely necessary for the continuance of the world! And you’re someone on the internet who is wrong!”

Shrug. Maybe I am. Maybe I’m wrong from start to finish. So what?

Really, so what? In the grand scheme of things I’m just an overweight lady sitting in her office with a thought and who knows she has her own little godlings to deal with all the time. I just hope my little godlings aren’t so fierce they end up preventing potentially useful therapies from being investigated.

John, Paul, George, Ringo, circa 1963-66, you don’t want to hurt nobody, do ya?

Nah.

Image: A frame from Aytu BioScience’s video about its potential Covid-19 treatment.
PHOTO: AYTU BIOSCIENCE

2020: The Way of the Cross When You Are Physically or Emotionally Ill

The Way of the Cross is an ancient devotion of the Church which has been used for centuries to bring the believer into deeper union with the Passion of Jesus Christ, using words, prayer, imagery and visual aids to effectively join Jesus on his walk to Calvary.

This is written in the hope that, in these these meditations, people undergoing evaluation and treatment for physical or emotional illness may find companionship, understanding and even, with the help of God, healing.

My prayer is that any who use these Stations will find comfort and sustaining courage in the faithful promise of Christ that he will be with us to the end. Please pray for me, also. – Elizabeth Scalia, Oblate, OSB

***
OPENING PRAYER:
O Christ, you healed the deaf with a touch and a word, “Ephphatha! Be opened.”
As I open this meditation, let me be opened to you.
Let me be opened to your love.
Let me be opened to your healing
Let me opened to your voice
and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit,
as we walk this road together.
Amen.

***
STATION ONE: JESUS IS CONDEMNED TO DEATH

Jesus, when you stood before Pilate and received the sentence of death, you were utterly alone, abandoned by your apostles and rejected by the crowd.

Yet you faced your fate with courage and acceptance.

Always, in ever step of life, we are faced with the possibility of death — death of the body, death of the spirit, death of hope. Even when we have family and friends to turn to, ultimately we make our most difficult journeys alone. Others may sympathize or even empathize, but one person can never fully enter into another’s heart of pain and fear.

Now, as I await the evaluations and recommendations of others — of medical workers, therapists and counselors — I remember your acceptance of Pilate’s decree. I don’t know what lies ahead, or what tomorrow will offer or take away, and I admit to my fully human fear. Give me courage and a sense of your companionship and support in this journey.

Though you had to face your walk alone, and with a certain outcome, I invite you to walk with me on this path, toward an outcome still unknown.

Do not be afraid, for I am with you; stop being anxious and watchful, for I am your God. I give you strength, I bring you help, I uphold you with my victorious right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

***

STATION TWO: JESUS BEARS HIS CROSS


Jesus, when they handed you the cross that was to be your final oblation, your final act of offering and obedience, you were already weakened by the earlier sufferings and abuses heaped upon you by others. Yet you bore your cross with extraordinary bravery and dignity. You took onto our already beaten and bruised shoulders the heavy and cumbersome wood, and you bore it.

Perhaps you even astonished and surprised some who had expected you to be too weak to receive, and to sustain, your cross.

As I face heavier burdens, heavier fears, the seemingly insurmountable weight of my own cross, I know you are with me. Having walked this path before, you will guide me, if only I keep my eyes on you.

Grant that I too may bring dignity, bravery and strength to what I bear.

With the help of your grace, perhaps I can surprise and astonish those who think of me as too weak, or too fearful and fragile, to go forward.

I will go forward, with you, to further glorify your name.

Christ, help me to carry this.

I will instruct you, and teach you the way to go; I will watch over you and be your adviser. (Psalm 32:8)

***

STATION THREE: JESUS FALLS FOR THE FIRST TIME


Why do we always assume that this first fall came from your weariness and physical pain? Could you have fallen in simple fear? You, Jesus, who are both God and human, you understand how fear and anxiety can paralyze the will, paralyze the strength of the body, and sometimes paralyze even the strength of mind and spirit.

I admit there are times when I am overtaken with fear, and I feel unable to move, to think, to pray — even to breathe. This fear brings with it a weariness that defies description and snatches away the small pockets of peace I am seeking in my life.

So, I fall with you, Jesus, prostrated in fear, knowing that I must rise and go on. My face is dirty; I am gasping through the dust in the road.

But I get up with you. I breathe in deeply, and breathe out.

With you, I move slowly forward.

Lord, I called on your name from the deep pit. You heard me crying, “Do not close your ear to my prayer.” You came near that day when I called to you; you said: “Do not be afraid.” (Lamentations 3:55-57)

***

It’s a time for hard questions. And hard answers. Ask Mary.

It’s a time for hard questions. And hard answers. All week long, I have been pondering this piece I wrote a while back, a mediation on why, if we keep the crucifix before our eyes, it will teach us everything, and train us for the long view

It’s not that I’m an egoist, so fascinated with my own words. In truth, most of the time I forget what I’ve written unless someone reminds me or I come across an old piece while doing research.

But this piece has been singing to me all week, and forcing me back into a contemplation I have always found instructive and stirring. So, I’ve been praying with it, as though I’d never written it.

Today, I was struck in particular by this graph:

“Ask Mary to teach you what she knows too, what she learned while she stood beneath the reality of it. Ask the Blessed Mother to explain about taking the “long view” of things, about keeping the faith even when one does not understand why things happen as they do; about how sometimes what is horrifying and unjust must happen, if something else—something remarkable and unimaginable and precisely what is required—is to be able to happen.”

That’s a hard, hard teaching to share with anyone. How to say to someone who is processing trauma that, “this must happen; you must surrender to it, allow it to happen, because there is a greater plan at work.”

It sounds so awful, so smug, so condescending, too. “Deal with your personal horror for the sake of future glory” is a hard message to take when you’re in the thick of something so awful you can’t wrap your mind around it; when you feel violated and shredded and you know with certainty that everything you thought you knew, everything that ever felt common, ordinary, reassuring or warm would now feel forever changed, because something has pierced you to the heart, beyond your heart, into your very soul.

And perhaps that’s why — if the instruction of the crucifix (which teaches precisely that hard lesson) is hard to absorb because Christ Jesus is the man-god and we are all too human — we might ask Mary, his fully human mother, to explain it, to show us how to do this. How to keep going in the belief that all of our sufferings are not pointless but full of meaning — especially when they are joined to Christ’s sufferings on the cross — and wholly purposeful within the divine plan beyond all understanding.

O Mary, teach us what you know. Pray for us who have recourse to thee.

Image: Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

How to Tweet Without Losing Your Soul

One of the great pleasures of working with the Word on Fire Team is the opportunity to contribute, as both writer and editor, to the Word on Fire Institute’s quarterly journal, Evangelization and Culture, a beautifully wrought printed journal overseen by the remarkable Tod Worner and WoF’s extremely talented graphics team. Each issue concentrates on a particularly theme: Our first issue was all about creativity and the Christian imagination. The second focused on the poor and Catholic social justice teachings. Issue #3, which came out last week, is all about digital media and how it impacts our lives and our spirits, for better or worse.

My contribution to the issue took a look at all the ways we can endanger ourselves spiritually — or just make stupid mistakes that end up costing us a lot — and how we might mindfully protect both our souls and our reputations while on social media. An excerpt:

As I watched my beloved Twitter slowly morph from cyber-pub to digital brawling ring, I decided that if the scuffles were going to become bad-natured and destructive to people, I wouldn’t participate. Announcing (probably a bit smugly) that I wanted “to love, again.” I determined that one way to do so would be to stop labeling people, to stop identifying people as “types” and “theys” and “thems” on social media, a bad habit which I’d come to see as a precursor to throwing them away altogether.

Essentially, it meant simply pulling back and thinking a bit before posting – remembering the humanity of the person on the other side of the screen and then responding to them like an adult Christian. It wasn’t as fun as playing mutual whack-a-mole with others on the platform, but I believed it kept my soul safe, and injured no one else’s.

Over time I began to feel very comfortable operating like that, and perhaps a little prideful. Look at how good I was at not being bad!

Pride came before the fall, but you all knew that.

Anyway, Word on Fire Institute Director Jared Zimmerer and I had a chance to chat about that piece and I thought I’d share a link to our discussion: How to Tweet Without Losing Your Soul.

We had fun doing it and even my husband — who quite rightly has had just about enough of me during our (long story) extended quarantine — still found it interesting and amusing. I really need to learn how to stop running my hand through my hair…

If you have some free time, check it out, and do also check out the Word on Fire Institute in general and see what’s going on over there. It’s all good!

Coronavirus: A Prayer for Wisdom in the Midst of Mystery

O, Christ Jesus, help us to refine our perspective on what we call a blessing or a curse.
Help us to remember that hindsight is the great bring of wisdom, by which we realize that some perceived ‘blessings’ have — because we are broken — served our weakness, while some real tragedies have fortified our strength; that we are always and forever in the midst of a great and unseen battle by which both darkness and light may mysteriously spill into our paths and add to our confusion about what constitutes a blessing.

Help us continue to ponder the strange idea (so often repeated by your saints) that ‘all is blessing’ while what is before us seems so much like a curse, and an injustice, and abandonment.

Help us to remember the Great Paradox of your mysterious reality — the paradox we almost dare not speak for fear of being misconstrued, yet but it’s the message of your Cross: That sometimes awful, unjust things must happen in order for something great & salvific to occur. That some blessings can only be seen from a distant light, through the cracks of our broken hearts.

We do not understand, Lord; we never can. Help us to nevertheless trust in your endless desire for our good, especially in this time so fraught with fear and unknown outcomes. We place all of our hopes in you, and in the deep and mysterious love of the great Oneness of your Holy Trinity.

“All of God’s purposes are to the good, although we may not always understand this we can trust in it.” — St. Philip Neri

Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us

St. Michael the Archangel, Pray for us

St. Joseph, Pray for us

St. Mary Magdalene, Pray for us

St. John the Baptist, Pray for us

St. Benedict, St. Dominic, St Francis, St. Ignatius, Pray for us

St. Philip Neri, Pray for us

St. Catharine of Siena, Pray for us

St. Charbel Makhlouf, St. Thecla, Pray for us

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, Pray for us

St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Pray for us

St. John Henry Newman, Pray for us

(Add your favorite saints, ora pro nobis, as you like…)

Image: Public Domain