Monday, May 02, 2005
More Box
I don't know what bugs me more about Dan Gransinger's response: the lack of format or the lack of intelligent, well thought out content. Considering I like to argue, it is probably the content more than anything. His reply to the original post has generated even more thought on the subject. When it comes down to it, we are really discussing a cultural issue that will never be solved by lying pharmacists.
First off, I have been trying to think of ways he could argue his point to me in a manner that would have impressed me. One angle would have been, no pharmacy will fire a pharmacists for refusing to fill a prescription on moral grounds simply because there is such a strong demand for pharmacists right now. This is a true statement. Pharmacists are in very high demand right now. The problem, however, is the large disproportionate wages will not last forever. Colleges throughout the world are gearing up to graduate more pharmacists. Pretty soon India and China will be pumping out pharmacists who can memorize the phone book by the tens of thousands: just like they have done with engineers. For a primer on how disproportionate wages balance across borders over time I would recommend "The Future of Capitalism: How Today's Economic Forces Shape Tomorrow's World" by Lester Thurow (new and used from $1.30).
The other argument could be on a purely moral ground. In this type of setting the argument would be based, not upon religion, but on respect for life. This argument only carries so much weight. Like so many people that signed up for the military just to get the college money only to find themselves on a military transport headed for Afghanistan, too bad. You knew what the stakes were when you signed up. As a student, a pharmacist learns about all kinds of things, including birth control and morning after pills, and has the opportunity over a 5 year education to switch to any number of other professions. "If you can't take the heat, get your ass out the kitchen" - Coolio. Many Americans do their job, in total, day after day no matter how much they like or dislike it. Because that is their station in life, what they must do to pay the bills, and they are reprimanded when they do not follow company policy. I see the American public having little sympathy for the ousting of any rogue pharmacist.
My original thought, to reprimand or fire the offending pharmacist, does provide for a somewhat difficult situation called escalation. We must first assume that pharmacists have a considerable amount of power, would congeal around this subject, and have sufficient public support. These assumptions being true, then some pharmacists, believing birth control and morning after pills are the devils drugs, with some business acumen, and some contacts in the pharmaceutical industry, could start their own chain of moral pharmacies. Given enough backing from the portion of the population supporting their effort to provide an alternative to baby killing pharmacies, this might actually work as a business model, for a while.
Eventually someone in Self-Righteous Pharmacy Stores, Inc. would realize the are selling other drugs made by the same manufacturers making the birth control and morning after pills (no pharmaceutical company in existence today lives off of just one drug and, if they are, likely have several other drugs in the pipeline to eliminate this dependance). If Self-Righteous Pharmacy Stores, Inc. is selling the other drugs then they are supporting the companies killing babies and potentially supporting the development of new baby killing drugs! To stop this support, Self-Righteous Pharmacy Stores, Inc. pulls all the drugs from these manufacturers off the shelves. By the time all is said and done the pharmacy sells no prescription drugs and gets bought by The Family Dollar.
The scenario painted above is escalation. An example of escalation was the cold war. Peter Senge provides great examples of all types of causal loop diagrams, including escalation, in "The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization" (new and used from $5.39). For a more mundane example than the cold war I turn to CSI. In an episode, neighbor 1 is stealing cable from neighbor 2. Neighbor 2 cuts the cable. Neighbor 1 retaliates by cutting part of neighbor 2's tree down. Neighbor 2 then kills neighbor 1's dog. By the time the story is finished at one person is dead. That is escalation.
The real problem has more to do with people having sex than anything else. People have, amazing as this may be, always had sex. Adam and Eve had sex and I don't even remember reading about their wedding ceremony (gasp!). The problem at hand is cultural. A culture that promotes sex and has the capability to wipe away the consequences of those actions. The tension between these two factors has never been in balance. Promoting lying, my point even now, is not the solution.
Culture change takes a very, very long time (I have more references here than I wish to provide). It is also easier to pull a culture down (lie dear pharmacist) than it is to pull a culture up (provide counseling or work in big brother/sister program in your spare time). It is easier to pick a quick fix than work in the long term, gathering momentum, to change the long-term direction of a society. I am sorry Mr. Gransinger that you, apparently, cannot think that far out and attack those that can.
First off, I have been trying to think of ways he could argue his point to me in a manner that would have impressed me. One angle would have been, no pharmacy will fire a pharmacists for refusing to fill a prescription on moral grounds simply because there is such a strong demand for pharmacists right now. This is a true statement. Pharmacists are in very high demand right now. The problem, however, is the large disproportionate wages will not last forever. Colleges throughout the world are gearing up to graduate more pharmacists. Pretty soon India and China will be pumping out pharmacists who can memorize the phone book by the tens of thousands: just like they have done with engineers. For a primer on how disproportionate wages balance across borders over time I would recommend "The Future of Capitalism: How Today's Economic Forces Shape Tomorrow's World" by Lester Thurow (new and used from $1.30).
The other argument could be on a purely moral ground. In this type of setting the argument would be based, not upon religion, but on respect for life. This argument only carries so much weight. Like so many people that signed up for the military just to get the college money only to find themselves on a military transport headed for Afghanistan, too bad. You knew what the stakes were when you signed up. As a student, a pharmacist learns about all kinds of things, including birth control and morning after pills, and has the opportunity over a 5 year education to switch to any number of other professions. "If you can't take the heat, get your ass out the kitchen" - Coolio. Many Americans do their job, in total, day after day no matter how much they like or dislike it. Because that is their station in life, what they must do to pay the bills, and they are reprimanded when they do not follow company policy. I see the American public having little sympathy for the ousting of any rogue pharmacist.
My original thought, to reprimand or fire the offending pharmacist, does provide for a somewhat difficult situation called escalation. We must first assume that pharmacists have a considerable amount of power, would congeal around this subject, and have sufficient public support. These assumptions being true, then some pharmacists, believing birth control and morning after pills are the devils drugs, with some business acumen, and some contacts in the pharmaceutical industry, could start their own chain of moral pharmacies. Given enough backing from the portion of the population supporting their effort to provide an alternative to baby killing pharmacies, this might actually work as a business model, for a while.
Eventually someone in Self-Righteous Pharmacy Stores, Inc. would realize the are selling other drugs made by the same manufacturers making the birth control and morning after pills (no pharmaceutical company in existence today lives off of just one drug and, if they are, likely have several other drugs in the pipeline to eliminate this dependance). If Self-Righteous Pharmacy Stores, Inc. is selling the other drugs then they are supporting the companies killing babies and potentially supporting the development of new baby killing drugs! To stop this support, Self-Righteous Pharmacy Stores, Inc. pulls all the drugs from these manufacturers off the shelves. By the time all is said and done the pharmacy sells no prescription drugs and gets bought by The Family Dollar.
The scenario painted above is escalation. An example of escalation was the cold war. Peter Senge provides great examples of all types of causal loop diagrams, including escalation, in "The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization" (new and used from $5.39). For a more mundane example than the cold war I turn to CSI. In an episode, neighbor 1 is stealing cable from neighbor 2. Neighbor 2 cuts the cable. Neighbor 1 retaliates by cutting part of neighbor 2's tree down. Neighbor 2 then kills neighbor 1's dog. By the time the story is finished at one person is dead. That is escalation.
The real problem has more to do with people having sex than anything else. People have, amazing as this may be, always had sex. Adam and Eve had sex and I don't even remember reading about their wedding ceremony (gasp!). The problem at hand is cultural. A culture that promotes sex and has the capability to wipe away the consequences of those actions. The tension between these two factors has never been in balance. Promoting lying, my point even now, is not the solution.
Culture change takes a very, very long time (I have more references here than I wish to provide). It is also easier to pull a culture down (lie dear pharmacist) than it is to pull a culture up (provide counseling or work in big brother/sister program in your spare time). It is easier to pick a quick fix than work in the long term, gathering momentum, to change the long-term direction of a society. I am sorry Mr. Gransinger that you, apparently, cannot think that far out and attack those that can.
# posted by chilort @ 11:39 PM 
