My Shit

---- Blogger would not accept much of my HTML in comment format. I feel I must respond to the comment left about my original post. All italics below have been added to make the quotes stand out from my rebuttal. Any item in brackets has been added, removed, or changed to correct the original text of any typographical errors.----

This is great. I have a readership of about three people and I actually managed to be flamed for my comments. Of course, the author of the original article simply searched Google for his name; probably just so he could fire back a response to any critics (thanks Sitemeter). By the way, if I wanted stream of conscience I'd read Faulkner. I now see why your opinion articles are so short (this is my last low blow).

1. "We have something called the first amendment in this country that protects free [speech]." Yes we do. I used my right to express my opinion of your statements. What's your point?



2. "Some people feel that lying to save the life of baby would be worth it." & "What is morally wrong, to some people, is killing a baby." Morally, this may be a true statement, but that depends on where you base your moral values. Religion maybe? Made in a religious context this argument does not hold water; in fact, it leaks badly. Contact your nearest religious expert and I believe you will find that all sins are considered equal in the eyes of God. Against the democratic principals of most western cultures (a graduated system for progressively more severe crimes), all sin has equal value. Lying (choice of the pharmacist) and killing a baby (choice of the mother) are equally bad. In other words, by lying, the pharmacist has not done anything to correct a reprehensible situation -- sin -- to God.



3. "I know you depressed liberals embrace death." Somehow my positive comments on corporal punishment and statements against abortion masked my overwhelming liberal behavior (we call this sarcasm). I would generally place my views as right-of-center (I am much more a traditional conservative than the current tax-and-spend administration). Unbelievably, there are several types of conservatives in the world. As a reference try "The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America" (used and new from $5.83).



4. "but you should force your way of life on other people who do not share your beliefs" Isn't this what loose cannon pharmacists are doing by not filling the prescriptions that come across their counters?



5. "So I guess a bartender saying to a drunk in a bar asking for a shot of Vodka [saying], 'I am sorry but we are all out of Vodka is morally wrong to you.'" No bartender in their right mind would say "I'm sorry but we are all out of Vodka." There are hundreds of other types of liquor and most drunks don't really care all that much. While bars likely have policies against serving overly drunk patrons they are much less likely to lie about their policies and more likely to say, "I'm sorry but you are cut off." Telling a patron they are cut off is not morally wrong. Lying about it (see above) is a sin.



6. "I am sure you have given your opinion about your workplace before on your own time away from work. Should you have been fired to for that?" I give my opinion about my workplace at work and away from work. I generally do not discriminate between the two. In the instances where I have disagreed with the practices of the companies I have worked for I have written letters, spoke with management, and, more than once, I quit in objection. That's a slightly larger statement by a slightly larger person: one that doesn't lie.



7. "Your analogy of pulling a cable wire through the ceiling is a little different than leaving your job knowing you ended a life when the whole reason you went into the medical field is to help life and not to destroy it." My analogy was different and not nearly as grave. This is true. As a pharmacist in today's world, however, you must know about birth control and morning after pills. Pharmacists get paid to do a job. Quit if these things are so objectionable. I am sure there are many recent graduates ready to fill that position and take on the high 5 -- low 6 figure-a-year salary. Once a pharmacist has quit they will have the time to go back to school to aid in research that helps save lives or can work as a social counselor aiding young women struggling with difficult life decisions.



8. "Please post where you work so I can inform your boss." I work at Integrated Control Solutions. My boss, an owner of the company, and I have actually discussed this topic. Please feel free to call him so he can disagree with you also.



9. "Perhaps if you knew the feeling you would understand instead of promoting violence against someone." By informing my boss aren't you being somewhat aggressive -- violent even? He will, more than likely, just hang up. He might even laugh at you first though.

I know I have used logic and fact as the basis of my arguments. These types of things probably do not sit well with a reactionary opinion writer. My point, still, in a world of every decreasing moral fortitude, please do not exacerbate the problem by recommending one sin to correct another. Recommending lying to solve a problem, no matter how big or how small, sets a bad example for everyone. Pharmacists are, generally, well educated people that do care about life: pillars of a community. It would be a tragedy to see this profession, proud of its ethical standards, tainted and debased by infighting and politics.