Podcasting since 2004; Conversations, conflicts, adventures and monologues from around the world.
I’m tending to some family business and quality time in Portugal.? Ill be right back with a fun podcast featuring my good friend Pauline who came to Amsterdam last week.? Sit tight til then; it’s a good time to catch up with my recent posts.. people always tell me they can’t keep up… now is a good time to do so.
No this is not a spam post.
While in the United States I usually watch a bit of television and I definitely spend time listening to the radio.? One thing you’ll have no problem encountering on both of these mediums: ads that include the phrase “ASk Your Doctor About…” and then some perscription drug to help some ailment.? Apparently the public should then go to their doctors and tell THEM what drugs they want.
In the European Union this practice has long been banned. No ads with senior citizens strolling on the beach recommending that you ask your doctor about some brilliant new drug.
However, this October the EU will roll out new pharmaceutical policies that are intended to, in their words, “Modernize” the rules for the pharma industry.? One of the provisions they’re putting forward will allow the pharma industry to provide “additional information” to the public via the media.? Which of course would make it possible for some sort of television ad within Europe that presents viewers with what the industry seems additional info, whatever that means in the end.
Various medical organizations throughout Europe as well as Ministries of Health, are sounding the alarms, concerned that this is one step towards the US style onsluaght of ads suggestion you need to ask your doctor about this and that drug in order to happily walk through the forest.? The industry, meanwhile, insists that they would have no interest in that type of information campaign, and would instead want this to free them up for internet based info that people can request, rather than have it pushed on them.? Meanwhile, advocates of the changes insist that there are many other useful policies included in the package, and that there would be some oversight as to what would be deemed suitable additional information.
This change sounds like the first of many on the road towards a US style system where pharmaceutical companies treat people more like customers than patients. Beyond that, makes medicine ever more like a business than a service. Is it too late to stop them? I will try to find out.
Mental Hospitals are always an issue of great concern and sometimes fascination (in terms of those that have been closed down under odd circumstances) for me.? In the past on this blog I’ve made reference to an abandoned hospital in my home state of new jersey, Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital. Opened in the late 1800’s and closed in 2000, it suffered from extreme overcrowding for many of its last decades, not to mention the number of escapees, patient abuse, and sexual assault cases that came to light in the 80’s.? I have a faint memory of some of that in the newspaper when I was a kid, probably some cases being settled after the fact.
This topic is fresh in my mind as I recently subscribed to my old public radio station in Newark- WBGO’s Journal podcast. One of the segments, which you can subscribe to seperately, is called Lost Jersey.? The host, in a very TV anchorperson type voice, visits mysterious or forgotten NJ places each week. Giving the history as well as the cause of the eventual demise of these sites. And sure enough, one of their visits was to Greystone, just as several of the old hospital buildings were being torn down.
One thing I’m reminded of, as I look through photos of the eerie boarded up hospital buildings, is that when I was a kid I believe my mom – as a college student in social work, had some type of internship that required her to visit Greystone on occasion.? But I don’t remember her descriptions of the place.
Next week I will join her in Portugal, so I’m thinking Greystone Park and Mental Patient Care in New Jersey might be a good topic for us to explore together. In the meantime, highly recmmended – Lost Jersey podcast.
Depending on where you live in the world or what media you consult in your daily life, you may not often hear about things happening in Australia.? You might hear the occasional story from a friend who travelled there or perhaps its the summertime wild fires that manage to make the oldstream media reports around dinner time.
One ongoing saga over the past decade, that involves so much human suffering and not much international media attention, is the detainment of asylum seekers in Australia.? Long before there was the torture prison at guantanamo, or extraordinairy rendition made the news, the Australian government was carrying out a policy of imprisoning anyone seeking refuge from war, political oppression, or any such cause that would force someone to flee their country.? These people, of all ages (that is: including children) were kept in prisons located on small pacific islands, which is how the program came to be named “The Pacific Solution.”
Started in the 1990’s under a labor government and then carried out in a big way by the Liberal government that allied itself so closely with the Bush administration, these imprisonments led to hunger strikes and demonstrations, as well as condemnation by international human rights organizations.? Yet still one would have been hard pressed to find much space dedicated to the issue in many of the world’s most popular news outlets. Even more rare was hearing any criticism or pressure from world leaders for the Australian government to change its policy.
And so it has taken many years and much suffering, as well as the election of a new prime minister, but finally this policy is changing.? Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s government has announced that they will stop imprisoning asylum seekers and end the Pacific Solution.? A look at the details reveals that children will no longer be detained, and in some “more extreme cases” people might be detained but their cases will be reviewed every three months. It may be too early to celebrate, but this announcement already seems encouraging…? full credit not to the Australian government for finally doing something to end the suffering, but to all those who sacrificed their own well being in an effort to make this change come true.
This site… or blog if you prefer to call it.. is fast approaching its 7th year in existence.? The podcast, soon to be on its 5th year. And even years before any of this, I edited my own little website on a long forgotten service called geocities, where I would write news commentary. And the one constant throughout all of this, besides my concern for the world and the fact that many of you were reading along even back then, has been a place for comments.
Comments on the internet, especially on published work (personal or otherwise), have long been the source of a lot of promises, praise, and condemnation.? The idea that anyone can write what they think, be it an angry gut reaction or a well thought out respectful criticism, or of course the occasional praise… it can all be a part of what you see on the site and what the content producer has put out there.? Its arguably the key ingredient of what makes a blog special. Arguably the future of this internet we’re all a part of.? Despite many sites out there deciding against comments or having to turn them off eventually do to some extreme or minor problem that could relate to harassment, what some people call hate speech, or just general irritance…. still a huge amount of sites, this one included, have managed to chug on.. comments and all.? Moreover I often think that my comments section is a good place, a mostly open and welcoming space where you can add to, comment on, or argue with something I’ve said or done.? Some just use it to say hello or make me laugh… sometimes a very uplifting occurrence.? Sometimes though, I’m bothered by a comment, by disrespect, or even by something I said without thinking something through.? Still.. the comments section rolls on.
This was the topic on the most recent episode of On the Media (3rd segment in the show), questioning what good comments have done news sites and blogs, versus what difficulties they may have brought. As usual I could have though of some better voices to have included in this segment. Especially net natives and freedom fighters like my friend Tony Pierce of the LA Times and the Busblog, who could have told them the beauty and occasional horror of the comments section. I would have also told them to talk to my dear Bitch Phd, another seasoned veteran who has (what I would call) a very special relationship with a VERY active comments section.
I digress, I do recommend the latest edition of OTM specifically for the focus on comments.? Even beloved/behated NPR voice Ira Glass tells of his experience.
Maybe you have your own take on news sites or blogs and how they manage comments.? Or perhaps, about the comments on my site.? If so, you know what to do…
Jetlagged and back in Amsterdam, I wanted to announce an issue that will be one of my primary focuses for the rest of the year. After a very good experience speaking about urban farming at the Last Hope Conference, where I received alot of enthusiastic and warm responses, I’m now looking to tackle something more difficult, that I feel warrants my attention as well as yours.
That topic is the soy industry.? You’ll recall the podcast a few months ago on Responsible Soy, which not only opened my eyes to alot of facts that I had not previously considered but gave me alot of leads as to who to talk to and what rocks to look under.? And when we’re talking about the soy industry, there are plenty of creatures players hiding under the preverbial rock.
From organizations to corporations, from trade unions to government agencies, from activists to scientists, I intend to look at how soy is grown, processed,? and ultimately distributed in your part of the world. Because this industry is much larger than I ever imagined and engaging in practices that have gone without sufficient criticism or scrutiny.
Besides podcasts, I hope to present this issue and my investigation at my most favorite annual gathering in December, the Chaos Communication Congress (25th edition this year).
Why make such an announcement? Because this site is not only dedicated to reporting and commentary, it is also a place where I can present ideas like a drawing board. Only this is a drawing board that is open to you the readers and listeners, where you can know and observe how these ideas develope and (should I be so lucky) you can also suggest tactics or ask questions that will become part of the process.