Who in the Hell Are the "They" That "Say?"
Over the past quarter century I’ve spent the lion’s share of my most rewarding time not as a rabbi, nor as a professor or a writer in the fields of politics, history, and old Hollywood. Rather, my most productive and rewarding time has been the tens of dozens of hours I spent each month as a member of an ‘Institutional Review Board'; a medical panel in which physicians, pharmacologists, geneticists, bio-engineers, and medically knowledgeable lay people delve into the newest, most up-to-date clinical trials (medical research) with an eye towards protecting the rights of men, women and children who might eventually volunteer to participate in the creation of the next generation of drugs, surgical procedures and medical devices. Believe me: of all the things I do in a given day, week, month or year, being part of a world-class Institutional Review Board is, hands-down, the most satisfying of all. And now, at the very beginning of the Covin-19 Virus pandemic, we are sitting in the very first row, privy to what’s going on before just about anybody else.
Participating in twice-weekly teleconferences with a handful of galaxy-class physicians and medical experts - all backed by several dozen off-screen staff experts, is bound to give a lay person like myself a feeling of utter humility. And now, having been assigned oversight of nearly all the Covin-19 Virus clinical trials we recognize just how little we know. It never ceases to amaze me how much my colleagues know and understand the boundaries of their brilliance; a neurosurgeon, gastropod, OB-GYN, rheumatologist, or cardiologist, to name but 5, won’t deign to answer questions about the efficacy of a particular Covin-19 vaccine . . . and will instead defer to any and all infectious disease specialists on the board. “That’s not my specialty,” we will hear time and again. Such utter humility! Oh yes, they will weigh in on the latest possible medications - chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine - if they happen to specialize in rheumatology - for they are accustomed to prescribing it for people suffering from such immunosuppressive conditions as Lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. But aside from that, they prefer to sit back and listen to those who truly know what they are talking about.
(n.b.; ever since the POTUS has started talking about what “they say” as to the possible efficacy of using chloroquine, it has become increasingly difficult for those suffering from Lupus or Rheumatoid Arthritis to get the medications they truly need for their conditions. And all the POTUS has to go on is the “they say” “proof” about its efficacy vis-à-vis Covin-19. Without question, the president’s embrace of unproven drugs to treat Coronavirus absolutely defies science. I for one cannot imagine what Dr. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases must feel like at the end of a Trump press conference, for virtually everything his boss says goes against both science and medicine. The good doctor no doubt deserves an Oscar for keeping a straight face while listening to POTUS endlessly and inanely bloviate about things he knows not . . . which covers a vast sea of topics and issues. We keep hearing the phrase “. . . they say that . . .” which means next to nothing. I know that when I speak to people who are aware of my work as a medical ethicist I keep hearing “They say that,” to which I always begin my answer with “ . . . and who in the Hell are ‘they’ who ‘say’”? Frequently I am told that “medical” and “ethics” are an oxymoron. Does that mean that whatsoever the POTUS says is the G-d’s honest truth? Well, I’m here to tell you that next to nothing coming from his lips is the truth, and that “medical” and “ethics” are, for the most part, as congruent as peanut butter and jelly.
At this point in time, things are pretty damned bleak. The further we go, the more Donald Trump seems like the reincarnation of Robert Penn Warren’s fictional Willie Stark (All the King’s Men), a mercurial know-nothing who goes from fiery man-of-the-people populist to autocrat within a single term as governor of an unidentified fictional state. In Penn Warren’s Pulitzer-Prize (and Academy Award-winning) novel and film, Willie becomes the hero of the common-folk, one who is incapable of doing anything wrong. While convincing the little people that he is their hero, he is really doing whatever he can to feather his own nest. But in an incredibly meaningful epigraph to the 1946 novel, Penn Warren quotes Dante’s The Divine Comedy (Purgatoria, canto III) “Mentre che la speranza ha fior del verde. . . loosely translated “. . . as long as hope has any touch of green . . .” What this epigraph means in terms of Dante’s voyage through Hell, All the King’s Men and the vile Willie Stark is several steps above my pay grade. What it may mean in terms of the Covid-19 pandemic, economic crisis and the “They say” syndrome may be a bit more understandable.
“ . . . as long as hope has any touch of green . . . “ may, in the long run, refer to the acts humanity, compassion, and thoughtfulness we see and experience in the midst of this epochal crisis . . . of which there are many. While the media (both mainstream and downstream) endlessly report on the inability of the White House, the Feds and our so-called national leaders to put science, medicine and other forms of expertise ahead of the politics of blame, cupidity and outright criminality, there are so many everyday people, institutions, businesses, philanthropists and local leaders whose deeds are being lost in the shuffle. Where many look at the Covid-19 cataclysm as a means for making a fortune - whether political or economic - for feeding one’s ego or feathering one’s nest, there are others who - like doctors, nurses, emergency medical technicians, home healthcare workers, grocery store employees, postal workers and spiritual leaders - who are putting their lives on the line in order to provide that “touch of green” we so desperately need. The other day, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo held a press conference, announcing that he was officially shutting New York State down in order to safeguard the healthcare system from being overrun and overloaded. Unlike the POTUS, who held his daily “presser” just as the governor’s was ending, Cuomo offered people of his state - and across the country - that touch of green - that someone is in charge . . . even if the news is bad and getting worse. And Cuomo is not alone; all across the country there are governors and mayors, city council members and teachers who are providing moral and civic uplift by acting with the calm reassuring strength of leadership.
He ended his nearly 1 hour press conference by saying: “And my last point is: practice humanity. We don't talk about practicing humanity, but now if ever there was a time to practice humanity that time is now. Show some kindness, show some compassion to people, show some gentility even as a New Yorker. Yes, we can be tough. Yes, this is a dense environment. It can be a difficult environment. But it can also be the most supportive, courageous community that you have ever seen.” Then the governor stood up and said “I’m gonna go to work.” Nowhere in his speech did he take credit, claim knowledge he does not possess, or badmouth reporters whose questions he did not particularly like. In other words, he spoke as a leader should.
“They” say this and that about Covid-19. Please, don’t pass on “facts” that come from “factless” amateurs. We will, together, pull through this catastrophe if only we pay attention to those who have dedicated their professional lives to knowing as much as there is to know about things most know nothing about . . . and then taking them seriously. For these are the only “They” who have the ability to “say.”
They are the “touch of green” who will ultimately provide both hope and health.
Copyright, © 2020 Kurt F. Stone