Arrogance: Flipping the Script to Respect Medical Professionals
Originally published on RootsToSky.com in December 2021
I have made a deliberate effort to not discuss vaccines in person in my immediate circles as I know it can be a hot topic (which frankly…. blows my mind). And in the rare encounters that the topic has come up I’ve had to backtrack my language around my use of the terms “uneducated” or “misinformed”.
While obviously certainly no one wants to feel their views are invalid or dismissed and I own that — at no point was that ever my intention. At no point was I ever using any terms in condescending ways — simply stating simple facts: it is likely that many folks do not have enough education on a topic to form factual conclusions, as I write on the intro of my Covid Resources webpage.
So please ask those who do, to help clarify or confirm your views so you can make educated decisions, and we can move forward in dialogue. It’s okay to not have the answers! None of us do! But some are much closer to “fact”.
What I’m seeing in this internet “research” era is the equivalent of someone cooking a few meals once or twice — then assuming they know more than a professional chef.
Have you been trained in how to read and conduct research? Did you read textbook after textbook, getting the chance to ask medical questions from world class teachers? Did you write exams to test your knowledge? Did you perform case studies, and contribute new research to your field? Are you licensed and regulated by the province and are a Canadian recognized medical professional from an accredited school? Did you write board exams? Have you been in clinical or research practice, refining and constantly updating your skills in the field?
Are you right now, perceiving those questions as patronizing? If I, or any other medical professionals have been perceived as being such, it is entirely due to the person framing questions, attacking, or dismissing the education that gives us a legitimate platform to stand on.
It is not our job to tiptoe around your insecurities. Let’s own and acknowledge our limitations. Because any tension is immediately quelled when someone approaches with an inquisitive, problem-solving mindset — respecting the education and experience of our medical professionals. As you would with your mechanic. Simply ask us questions, and defensiveness vanishes.
Please don’t throw isolated studies at us as if you have found the single study that the CDC or Nature missed (despite them being the ones that published it) that single-handedly debunks all logic in vaccinations, despite their obvious recommendation to get vaccinated. The pros far, farrrr outweigh the cons. Isolated studies are not meta-analyses, the CDC (made up of highly trained individuals — could you get a job at the CDC?) etc. is obviously aware of them but must factor countless others — including ones with contradictory results which I’m often aware of and factor in my own reporting.
Let’s begin by admitting our levels of training, and that without such training, there is a higher likelihood of being misinformed. No one ever said alternate views aren't allowed. But realize opinions are not facts, and simply approach people who have advanced training with respect and by asking questions to facilitate dialogue not debate.
So, when it comes to the blurred line between personal and professional relationships, my duty will be to public health during a historic pandemic, not catering to misinformed peers who are more than welcome to ask questions as to why I have drawn my conclusions. When I have a public record, a literal database of studies and essays showing the steps I have taken to arrive at where I have, backed against clinical training — all of which seems to have been apparently ignored.
And yet… we are the arrogant ones.
There is a difference between arrogance and experience. And even when arrogance is obvious, recognize the frustration and exhaustion behind it, likely felt by the entire medical community. And further, there is a major difference that with said experience, comes the realization of how much more there is to know. There is a major difference in doing casual internet research, versus the type of research people with professional degrees do when actually treating and caring for people when actual risks are involved.
When the health or even life of a person is in your hands, research takes on an entire massive layer than casual interest people simply have no experience with.
And while some more natural healthcare professionals may claim that they have more success without the use of vaccines these points become irrelevant when this is a public health not individual health crisis, and the vast majority are already vaccinated. If complementary health workers were to be truly respected in their field, they would still listen to science — since all modern approaches whether natural or not are indeed science-based medicine. How else did we discover all those supplements? Otherwise, they are by-definition cherry picking, especially when vaccines are one of the safest modern medicines in existence precisely because they are addressing a single causal factor.
We’re the ones protecting you and will be there when you need us. (Also this.) The only reason why the remaining unvaccinated holdouts have made it this far is entirely because of your community who are protecting you with up to 90% vaccination rates. The “I haven’t gotten Covid yet” argument is now old and yet another example of selfishness I’m simply done with tolerating.
Vaccines work. Deal with it. It’s not us who have to do the accommodating — this is a blatant spoiled/entitled mindset, it’s the unvaccinated/unmasked who have to accommodate the safety of others through your choices, not the other way around.
Stop seeking confirmation bias by talking to people who support your views rather than approaching medical professionals. It is not those of us who work in the field who are turning our backs. It is others who are turning their backs on us. This is the same mechanism that ties right back around to cheering for front line medical workers…
