The impact of celebrity on medicine
At the risk of reading like Us Weekly or People Magazine, I wish to mention some aspects of medicine and pop culture that often get overlooked. I promise I’ll keep it short. The big issue recently brought to light due to Tom Cruise’s recent Scientology shenanigans highlights the impact that celebrities can have on all aspects of society. Cruise’s comments regarding psychiatry — “there’s no such thing as a chemical imbalance” — can alienate Cruise fans from the medical profession those who need psychiatric help the most. Psychiatrists and other practitioners decried Mr. Cruise’s ignorance because it might cause those individuals who need help the most (who, ironically, happen to often be the most impressionable) to not seek it out because it’s “all in their head.” Some people thought that the medical community was overreacting, but I offer this New Scientist article as indirect evidence of the impact celebrity can have on popular opinion regarding health matters and awareness.
Kylie Minogue, for those of you that don’t know, is an actress/pop singer from Australia. Recently diagnosed with breast cancer, Australia was inundated with a media blitz about mammograms and breast cancer screenings as a direct result of Ms. Minogue’s popularity:
Overall, the team found a 40% increase in bookings during the two weeks of intense publicity about Minogue’s diagnosis, but the rate was even higher in women who had never been screened before.
“I don’t think anyone really knew what to expect, but to see a 101% increase in mammogram bookings among previously unscreened women is just remarkable,” says Simon Chapman of the University of Sydney, who led the work. Six weeks after the publicity, bookings remained more than one-third higher among previously unscreened women.
This jumps lends credibility to the idea that celebrities can and do weild an unusual (and often unhealthy) amount of sway over public opinion and their actions can hurt or help as they see fit to use their influence.
Celebrity illnesses can create the sort of media coverage of a disease that advertising budgets cannot buy, Chapman adds. And he thinks health agencies should improve their response to announcements of new diagnoses among celebrities.
Unfortunately, this celebrity influence is a double-edged sword.
24 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post.
| TrackBack URI
You can also bookmark
this on del.icio.us or check the cosmos
I’m almost certain Kylie’s Australian, not a New Zealander. But I’m not surprised that because celebrity X is proven to be human and disease-prone, some fans may suddenly realise that cancer, or whatever, doesn’t discriminate and that they could be next.
Comment by Alex — August 14, 2005 @ 7:04 am
I have no idea why I read Australia and thought New Zealand. :o Thanks.
Comment by Rian — August 14, 2005 @ 8:35 am
How to know who is right? Most of societies social ills stem from that; be it the Democrat or the republican,The Medical Doctor or the natural path, the pschiatrist or the Scientologist. This religion or that religion Who is right? Understanding the mind has to be the solution, so everyone needs to read the Book Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard, to really understand why. The mind must make itself right. It does that by making others wrong or chosing a Stable Datam, on which to build that field of knowledge, making wrong the other. Pschciatry for example thinks the brain (a piece of meat) does all their thinking so you see why they use drugs. But if you ever had an OBE (Out of body Experience) or a religious experience, you know darn well you were out of the body and was thinking totally cool, in fact you were even doing better than that, you were just knowing. To fix the mind requires dealing with the things that are looking at your pictures, your memories, You the Spiritual being.That is the different stable Datum Scientology is based on. Ever feel real bad then talk to someone and feel better? Well scientology has the tools and knowledge to make you feel so good, you ‘ll think your on a natural high, you can just float right out of your body and see the solution totally exterior, and have a life changing realization about something, heh No drugs involved, done all the time in Scientology. Does psyciatry tell you that, wow they are just now discovering things now by LRH back in 1938. Now with 50 years research they will discover what LRH discovered and publish in Dianetics back in 1951 If you were to experience it, why take any mind altering drugs? It will just cost you more auditing time(Scientology Processing) to fix the problems drugs cause.Yet this is all based on ones perception, or ability to see. Most don’t have the ability to see because the emotional charge and mental pain built up in ones mind,slants his viewpoint.That is why you have the viewpoint of man, that is all you can see. If you got enough of the charge and upset off your case as an (eternal spiritual being) you would be able to see what really is,and be sane and now have the ability to see the spirtitual truths and laws and be able to use them to operate as a spiritual being operates, thus growing up as a spiritual being. That is why Scientology is a Religion, it is dealing with you the spirit. (You don’t have to believe Scientology, YOU have to experience it)That charge built up enough and the guy goes nuts, Ie: Road rage, domestic violence and insanity in general. You can take drugs and diminish the beings awareness to where he can’t see (the painful incident in his Past) which is just below his (analytical awareness) any more, which the end result is just making one a zombie OR you can increase his perception, using communication and blowing the charge. It don’t take a rocket scientist to know which is better, but after making one self right for so long, the person will not be able to see even the obvious so we get the dumbing down of Society , because of drugs. Well medical drugs have some practicle value, but drugs used on the mind should be held back till we understand the mind. How do you know? When you can fix it. Scientology fixes the mind with out drugs. The state of “Clear is well documented, in Scientology colleges all over the world. When you regain the other 90% of your abilities, then you know they know something about the mind. When people are made to settle down and then become zombies in a nice way, that is only a temporary fix. That is how you know, by there fruits. Ritalyn is just not a very good fruit, it is another street drug, (psyciatry’s Fruit’s) out there to ruin our kids lives, That is not a sane solution. Don’t become a guinea pig for drugs, read Dianetics in a new unit of time with out the lies of pschiatry effecting your ability to see the truth. For every celebrity that can see the truth, there are thousands of us regular folks that see it also. I am only one more.. It is well worth checking out for your self. If you can’t afford to get some auditing, go up on the mountain top and look out for a while or go for a walk when your all stressed out, see how much better you feel. Drugs are expensive, TO buy and then to have to spend auditing time to handle.You can find my email address in my website, sorry That is the only website I have. Thanks , hope this helps…
Comment by Diamonddille — August 15, 2005 @ 5:17 pm
^^ Sucker born every minute…
Comment by Vampyre — August 15, 2005 @ 5:51 pm
Diamonddille, you may wish to check out http://www.timecube.com
Comment by Rian — August 15, 2005 @ 9:39 pm
Wow Read http://www.timecube.com Need I say More. Perfect example to what extent the mind will go to make itself right. Notice the charge(Upset) he has accumulated, on everyone obviously making him wrong, I wonder why? One woman and one man equal nothing? Must have used conceptive devices, if every one was like he said, we would have no population and I guess no problems.Maybe he has a point. I suppose he would put the 77 tons of cubic waste, in one of his cubes, don’t know he didn’t say, what a cube was, guess he assumed we were mind readers or too stupid too understand.Perfect example I was trying to say that the emotional charge builds up so much in a person, they can’t see the truth of something, then takes one or two concepts and tries to make him self right on those stable datums, . Stable datams don’t have to be true, obviously,
I guess I am the sucker that is born every minute, but at least I can read and will grow because I do read, so that is ok we all have our faults. As long as we are working on correcting them we will get better, and that is all that really matters. If we are spiritual beings, and God is supposedly a spiritual being, we have a lot of growing and learning to do to grow up. Thanks for reading at any rate.
Comment by Diamonddille — August 15, 2005 @ 10:42 pm
diamonddille, you need to learn how to coherently type a piece of literature before you try to push dianetics on us skeptics. You, like Mr. Cruise; use psuedo-intellectual jargon to spice up your message, but the message is unclear other than you don’t approve of emperical study of the mind and you DO approve of regurgitating L. Ron Hubbards tired and uninteresting “literature”.
Although I’m sure if you ever do read this your eye will probably glaze over as you already begin to shut down any critical thinking you might still contain within a sorely unused brain.
So please, actually read some unbaised literature on psychology and *non* scientology based pieces before you run around like a modern day jesus trying to represent the peace and loving side of L. ron hubbards buisness; (which it was classified as until the 70′s and continues to operate as regarldess of “church” status since other churches don’t require payment)
Scientology is about money, like any good pyramid scheme. You take some courses, pay more money each time and some faceless rulers are at the tip controlling everything.
Good day sir
Comment by cynical bastard — August 15, 2005 @ 11:29 pm
oh and also…(not to spoil it or anything) but you were baited into rambling on like a moron again by actually reading “www.timecube.com”
its a joke…sadly only rational people “get” the joke…
stop trying to find some amazing divine thing in circular reasoning and dressed up words. Your epiphany is not here, or coming so stop pretending.
Comment by cynical bastard — August 15, 2005 @ 11:39 pm
You don’t get it, the rational mind will never figure what it is all about. It’s about knowing, you are a spirit, that just like God Just knows, so do you,( He is a Spirit too) IF you were to get out side of your self and the Physical and take a look, You would know, and rise above the carnal mind that is obsessed with thinking and figure figure. When you know something it is all so simple, when your down into thinking, it is all so complexed. You could know what I am talking about. Man is so introverted, into such a low level of conciousness, he’ll never figure it out, He isn’t suppose to. We can respect each others view points, it is only, put out to help. I admit, I just started writing, I don’t even have a web site, but I know what I know and feel a person at the right level of conciousness, will understand what, I am talking about. Sorry That it is boring to you, to me it is the most exciting adventure you could possibly know, finding out who you really are. And where we really came from.When you do you will no longer be man, I can assure you of that. Fixed ideas tell us that we already know, so we quit looking. The way you tell if one knows is look at his abilities.
I am only sharing what I Know. I had my first out of body experience. when I was 12 years old, I spent 30 years researching, as I realized the concepts I had, no body else ever mentioned until I dicovered Scientology. I knew then I was on the road to truth. That truth is what will elevate you into a higher spiritual being. Perhaps someone who has the same experiences as me can expound on my concepts. I just know that the same old boring (to me) concepts that man keeps getting fed, doesn’t change him much. I know any time I ever learned any thing knew, I got NEW concepts that I wasn’t aware of. If they were the same concepts, I already knew that and never learned anything new.
I am out to comunicate, not to make people wrong and degrade them in any way. If someone makes you wrong , then the make right mechanism of the mind kicks in, and people just become fixed and won’t learn .(That is what I was trying to communicate above) I hope to share my experiences and find others that have the same perceptions and have also experienced what I have and can relate. I have realized that there are higher perceptions levels and higher reality (Agreement Levels) and that is the way to understand what life is really all about…Man doesn’t know the truth as he is still man, That is not who you really are… It takes awareness to see awareness. When you have Gods awareness you will have his abilities, and you will be operating as a spiritual being again, just knowing again. That is the Goal to strive for,I believe… I am not pretending, I really do know what I know. As far as the cube goes, I was just using that to show the concepts I was talking about. They are different concepts, if you really want to learn, just look.. Scientology is expensive,as it takes alot of money to build organizations, there is so much insanity, we don’t have that much time. The able run society, if we take the time to just handle the unable, we will all be destroyed. That is where all the upset comes from ,as they can’t have Scientology. They have to know if we win, The prices will go down, It will be in our School systems and all of us will be free, as we know we are not totally free, till we are all free.The real story lies in the spiritual realm and unless your tuned into that, that not understanding will create charge and upset, but realize That upper management knows what they are doing, and are operating on a much higher knowledge level, than everyone , else. What is the point of becoming spiritual if you don’t apply what you know. Look without the bias as to what they are doing, look at the dwindling spiral of insanity that we are in, and see if any body else is doing much about it, then realize if Scientology don’t win none of us will. I am at the knowledge level, I know it is our only hope for man kind. The Jokers and degraders, operating on a very low concious level, will find out all the ways they can to degrade us and stop us. But I assure you if we don’t make it we all will suffer. IF one would take the time to find out for your self rather than operating off , others opinions. You would be much more wiser.
It is the only way you can really grow, in fact. The Secrets of the universe, won’t be found in books, It lies in your conciousness (The book of your Life)and Scientology hold the key to unlocking the whys of why you can’t remember who you really are…If we get man to a higher level of awareness and ability, we have a chance at survival. Rise above the level of insanity and help us, all our survival is at stake. What if what I am saying is right? Realize what you are doing when you, make that degrading little remark about us. Realize that is from the charge(Upset) you have on us , from the misconceptions you have gotten, because your getting your data from some one who is disgruntled and upset. You won’t get the truth, Trust me… When you have the truth, you’ll be in here helping us, cause you will know you will be back . Its a long road to God. IF you don’t have the Tech and most can’t have the truth…That is why we have the Bridge in Scientology, Take the time to find aout about it. You will wake up to a whole new level or thinking. You have to have new concepts to think differently. This is the age of truth, by degrading me or Scientology isn’t going to change the truth…Look and you can know. Knowing is a higher level than thinking or believing…
Comment by Diamonddille — August 16, 2005 @ 2:09 am
Until you can provide me with reliable, verifiable, measurable evidence I see no reason to view such talk as more than philosophical masturbation. Not that that isn’t fun, but pleading your case without some evidence we can verify ourselves is like pissing in the wind.
Comment by Eric Johnson — August 16, 2005 @ 5:07 am
Anyone here want to eat some clams and get high on rum and barbiturates while writing a pseudo pyramid scheme religion to prove a bet to one of your friends?
Man that would really goof the floof
Comment by Claminator — August 16, 2005 @ 6:39 am
ALL HAIL XENU
so basically, what you are saying via some childish babbling, is that blind faith is better than trying to reason things out because “thinking” makes things “complex”.
“When you know something it is all so simple, when your down into thinking,
it is all so complexed.”
Perhaps you trying to actually reason things out is too complex for you? So instead you trust someone’s “benevolent” word at face value instead. If thats the case, you shouldn’t bother even hoping to get a believer out of anyone around here considering we all take intellectual honesty a bit more seriously. Instead of, you know; purposely not using our minds because its easier to let someone else think for you.
Yes thankyou for stating that using one’s mind to you is lower than just trusting some zealot with a book. “This is the age of truth, by degrading me or Scientology isn’t going to change the truth…Look and you can know. Knowing is a higher level than thinking or believing…”
Your high level of consiousness still hasn’t given you enough perception or forsight to write or speak like someone with more than gradeschool education, or understand when your being made fun of.
My cat is more “enlightened” than you.
Thanks for demonstrating the placebo effect buddy, because pretty much anyone that believes in anything as strongly as you do will get the same high feeling; be it christians, muslims, buddhists or scientolgists. It’s not what you believe in that makes you feel that way, its only that you have a strong belief.
I hope you have fun felaciating hubbards rotting corpse.
Oh, and incase your not up into the high OT levels yet…Ill ruin the surprise for you…
1) hubbard is god (thats given to you on the yaht)
2) …well I’m sure youve heard of xenu by now…
Comment by cynical bastard — August 16, 2005 @ 11:11 am
oh and stop trying to convince us of anything. Scientology gave you a script to recite to make you feel good and smart, but your not saying anything.
At least your not WRITING anything. You might want to take a look at Orwell’s rules to good writing before playing prophet, at least to make the message sound more believable.
Cue page long rant as retort in …5..4…3…2…1
Comment by cynical bastard — August 16, 2005 @ 11:15 am
Hey, hey, hey. LRH is right. Remember all that stuff he said about the Piltdown Man being one of the major sources of engrams. And remember all that stuff about the Piltdown Man in the news because it was a hoax? Yeah, LRH is completely right. We evolved from a hoax. See? It all makes sense.
Comment by Jon — August 16, 2005 @ 11:34 am
I hear the E-Meter goes up to 11. Is this true? OMG, I need one if it is! LOLLERHUBBARDS!!
Comment by hux — August 16, 2005 @ 12:49 pm
I also love how Hubbard also encouraged followers to lie to all the “fresh meat” aka non believers.
Yes thats right…we can play this game ALL day. I’m on break and have nothing to do but masterbate in the kitchen and fuck with you.
Comment by cynical bastard — August 16, 2005 @ 1:03 pm
Well I can see what I am saying is just a Joke to you, so You will have to find out for your self. The mysteries of life are contained in your own memory of you. LRH thru a 100 Blue volumes an inch and a half thick and Thru 12 Red volumes of about the same Size and 8 volumes of Green volumes that thick and a library full of other books, Gives you the understanding to bring you to a very high concious level. You can joke at it, but no one else has taken the time in the history of the planet, to map it out so any one desiring the truth for them selves, by looking for them selves, can Know the truth about you. He only came up with the processes, it is up to you to do them. If you want to remain ignorant of who you are then your on the right path. I spent 30 years of my life looking for my self by doing the different processes, and realized on my own what I know. It is just a joke to you, as you are grasping at what some joker and degrader took from the Zenu data and is using it to degrade Scientology. It is your lose if you chose to make your self right and What Scientology is, wrong. LRH found the Technology To uncover the truth about you. If you are still at the concious level of man, you haven’t yet realized. Your abilities come back to you as you realize, that is how you know for your self that you are growing. There is no greater adventure than discovering you, and who you really are. Those brain washed by man will never know. You are the effect of your carnal Mind. You are a spirit, You have spiritual abilities, beyond your comprehension. You are creating everything that happens to you in your life. If you want to remain the effect of life and the Physical universe, continue on, If you want to grow spiritually and realize what it really is all about and be in control of what you pull in, in your life, then you need to be come aware of you and The spiritual laws that detemines your life. I know what I know and am only trying to share. Those that are aware know what I am talking about, The jokers and Degraders will always remain ignorant and will always remain on this level of existence, Some of us know that the Physical level is made up from the lies and disception, you have agreed to, and that by coming up in conciousness, you gain the ability to see, the truth. Like God you can’t prove it, but you can know it, just like you can know God. If one choses to remain the same and not grow, when I have flat out told you the abilities there are to gain, Then an aware person will know who the real fool is here. I was raised a mechanic, I read few books in my life, I have never done any thing, like this before, I am only trying to help so put me down, that is the same case phenomena of why you are putting down Scientology. Your actions and decisions determines your tomorrow. I am only here to have you Look for the sake of your self and for this planet. I can’t prove it to you, I only understand and I know if people really understood, they would be doing something about the condition of this planet. I know it all starts upstairs in your conciousness. I don’t expect you to believe, one out grow the level of believe if he is truly growing, you have certainty when you Look for your self and that is why you will gain abilities when you do grow. IF you are a black Belt in Korate, Only the Brown belt will have an inkling to what the Black belt is talking about, the rest will just joke,as they can’t understand. What I am asking you to understand is YOU. That tech exists in Scientology, to get back your own personal memory. When you realize the lies and deceit that have traped man from his current level, you will know, just like the black belt he knows. It is hard work, it takes disciplain to grow, but at least someone thought enough and loved us enough to devote 50 years of his life to figuring out a technology to free us. That I know is a truth.If you don’t see my sincerity and just want to nit pick what I say as those that nit pic LRH, realize, What If it is true? What are you doing to your eternity? You are a Spiritual being, you have the potential to just know. Things change dramatically in your life, when you start changing. Scientology works, It is hard it is tough , it takes disciplaine, 95% fail the start, but 95% fail at anything, so they have to make themselves right and Scientology wrong. Look at the bad rap MLM gets. It is just word of mouth advertising, the best way , but people make it out an evil, WHY? To make themselves right for failing… But There are some very real levels to achieve, IT is up to you to Look, so you can get started on the path way. It is a long path to God, But it can be achieved,Now, IN THis lifetime, If your growing every day. That is my concept of heaven, my concept of hell is the physical level, for which your eternally trapped, till you realize it for what it is, That has to come about as you become sanier. That is why Scientology will replace Phychiatry, we have 500 trained auditors(Technitions of the Mind) for every phychaitrist. The system supports them, we have to pay our own way, which it is expensive, IF you would look at all the Scientology buildings and Organizations and people involved, you would have to know there is something to it. Are you out helping the wino and street people? Why? Why aren’t Scientologists wasting their time, (which we have little of), with the likes of you Jokers and Degraders, Think about it? There are many levels of existence, (Look at the levels in just the pyhsical) If you grow you get to experience another level, if you don’t grow, you, remain the same. If you grow Your income will grow. People that are doing Scientology are the very elite on this planet, as they have the tech to grow, and are experiencing life differently at each new level. Not you. You are happy to sit back with your beer and watching TV while society is crumbling around you. I don’t even own a TV, I am learning and growing every day, I am experiencing things, I never was able to experience before, because I never really grew before. Yea ,I went thru Devry and I took a couple of college courses, but that is not growing spiritually, It is a different animal I am talking here. Man as Man don’t have the reality that comes about at higher concious levels, he only has the reality (agreements) of man.
Listen to Coast to coast am at night time with George Norri and Art Bell on your radio. Go to there website: http://www.coasttocoastam.com It is not just Scientology talking things that might sound like Science Fiction at a particular level. Man is starting to wake up. Don’t be left out in the cold. You are going to hear different concepts, that is why you should know we are growing, It is an adventure beyond your imagination your missing out on. When you get there you’ll realize man has his Fixed opinions on who he is, but isn’t demonstrating much Spiritual abilities, which your going to need to survive the coming Chaos destined for this planet, unless we change mans conciousness NOW. Look at the responses to this and you can tell that isn’t likely. Man has to grow up… You become creative as you grow, You become Destructive as you shrink. That hatred in your conciousness that causes you to be predujdiced Is what Scientology gets rid of, That is what keeps you from seeing the real truths of existence, that is what keeps you at the low level your are at. That is the source of insanity. The insane Degrade, they need to be brought into the present is all, if you are in the present, you will be able to see truth. I am just trying to get you to see that, If you are going to just degrade what I say, I will let you rot, like all the aware Scientologists that aren’t making any comments here are. You create your life, by your actions… If you want to grow ask Questions, if you want to stay the same degrade what I am trying to communicate, as I’ll move on…
Comment by Diamonddille — August 19, 2005 @ 5:25 pm
but I don’t watch tv, OR drink beer…infact I’m working on a doctorate right now :) silly peon!
And I take much joy in degrading you, if only because it gets you to rant on more about circular logic. You always spout out how much all of scientology will fix all problems, but never how.
Nor do you explain how hubbard just though all this bullshit up and it happened to be “true”, even though half of the things he claimed were divine to scientology happened to be hoaxes as well.
Or all of the legal battles you folks get yourself into! :) Or how your founder’s own wife and 10 scientology elites tried to infultrate the IRS…
punk
Comment by cynical bastard — August 20, 2005 @ 10:45 am
“The mysteries of life are contained in your own memory of you.”
Isn’t that a quote from The Cure?
Comment by Jon — August 20, 2005 @ 5:56 pm
what if I have permanent amnesia
Comment by cynical bastard — August 20, 2005 @ 8:52 pm
“when I have flat out told you the abilities there are to gain”
actually, no, you haven’t said what there is to gain. The only thing you and your peers keep stating is some vague idea of “me knowing myself” typed in broken english…
what other abilities is this suposed to grant me?
can I levitate or use force lighting on people?
Comment by cynical bastard — August 21, 2005 @ 12:04 pm
oh aparently “operating thetans” CAN levitate and become invisible…
youd think if a scientologist could actually do that, then they would do so publically as a gesture to gain support. Too bad that wont ever happen :)
Comment by cynical bastard — August 22, 2005 @ 9:35 pm
Scientology theme song..
“The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round…”
Diamonddille’s
“I like my rants to go on and on, on and on, on and on, with no point to be made all night…”
The thing that cracks me up about the scientologist underlings and brainwashees such as Diamonddille is that the high “holy” regurgitators of LBH’s circular loony logic ramblings (kind of fun to say…try 10 times fast lol) are living in the penthouse suites and hundred acre ranches where they also put up their fav poster boy Tommy Cruise, while all the poor (literally and figuratively) suckers are stuck in the basement while they’re encouraged into becoming fanatics while their bank accounts are sucked dry and they are tossed out of “their” church, disillusioned, dissheveled and deity free, with nothing to show for their measly lives except some words that they memorized that probably wouldn’t even make sense to them if they actually sat down and thought about them (complex I know) for any length of time. How many of their myths have to be debunked before they realize the lie they are following? Who know’s but I fear as long as there are people willing to be suicide bombers, there will be zealot followers of hokey “religions.” Even worse…followers of celebrity because they’re pretty/handsome and have lots of money, so they must be smart, so if I do what they do, I’ll get lost (oops I meant lots) of money like them too, and I’ll find direction in my life, and I’ll be happy, and transcend, because I’m every bit as good as them, because (and herin lies the rub) they’re just human too.
Too many people with too much time on their hands, and too small of minds to think for themselves…and most dangerously when they have lots of money to finance their fancies and whimsies.
One more thing… I know your not supposed to think, because that’s too complex, but Diamonddille, could you please ask your Hubbard heroes send you to take a grammar course or two. I know I make a some mistakes, but come on…
Comment by John — August 24, 2005 @ 12:06 pm
Doh!!! Of course my last line I make one of those errors in writing. Oh well, I know what I know and what I meant to say, so if anyone has a problem with that knowing they should seek out a place to sit and look without thinking and then they can know too, so that we’ll all know together….
“…and there was much rejoicing.”
Comment by John — August 24, 2005 @ 12:09 pm