The Heelers Diaries

the fantasy world of ireland's greatest living poet

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Monday, February 08, 2010

ten heroes

1. Bishop Von Galen. A German Bishop who spoke out publicly against the Nazis' abortion and euthanasia and world conquest programmes when to do so meant death. He delivered his impassioned sermon just as Nazi power was its height. He then ensured the sermon was printed up and distributed to far flung regions of the Nazi empire. The SS were quite frustrated to find copies of it in the hands of German soldiers serving on the Eastern front. The funny thing is, Hitler and co never quite had the confidence to kill Von Galen. They kept putting it off. Ultimately, he outlasted them all. British historian Michael Burleigh, himself no friend to the Catholic church, expresses grudging respect for Von Galen. I hold more with writer Gitta Sereny's view. Sereny is more frankly unreserved and less blinkered by pseudo intellectualism than Burleigh in her admiration for Von Galen's heroism.

2. Hugh Clowers Thompson. American. Intervened to stop the My Lai massacre. While flying a surveillance support mission he witnessed a company of US troops systematically murdering Vietnamese villagers. As he flew overhead his mind filled with images of Hitler sending Jewish people to the ovens. . He landed his helicopter in the middle of the massacre. He faced down the murderers from his own side. When the soldiers seemed reluctant to desist, he instructed his helicopter gunner to open fire on any American who made a move towards the Vietnamese villagers who were huddled close by. Word went out around the zone that an American helicopter pilot was threatening American troops. There was a shockwave of realisation. The massacre came to a halt. Think of what it took for Thompson to land in that hell hole. Think of what it took for him to decide to turn his guns against his own brothers in arms. I know of no other example of moral courage to match this. After My Lai, a cottage industry sprang up producing books devoted to the psychological profiles of the soldiers who committed the massacre. There were hundreds of such books. The authors dwelt heavily on the false notion that the soldiers had been ordinary Americans psychoticised by war. Anti war Liberals were fascinated by such analyses which seemed to offer an incarnate indictment of the American presence in Vietnam. There were fewer books about Hugh Clowers Thompson.

3. William McBride. Australian doctor who in 1961 defied international pharmaceutical companies to blow the whistle on the thalidomide drug. McBride discovered that thalidomide was harmful to unborn children. Some 10,000 children are known to have been born with altered physiologies arising from the drug's use. There are persistent suggestions that the pharmaceutical companies continued to make and distribute the drug long after it was known to be inimical to human health. The same pharmaceutical companies played a long game with McBride. By 1993 the doctor, once deemed a hero, (and still a hero in my view), was judged to have falsified data in tests on new pharmaceutical products some of which had been banned at his behest. My own assessment of this is that he was set up. I would suggest it is in all our interests that my readers acquaint themselves with McBride's case and in particular with the possibility that pharmaceutical companies may operate in a way that is thoroughly malign. Yes they've played a long game. As I write this, thalidomide is once more being prescribed having supposedly been found useful in the treatment of several conditions, including some cancers and some forms of leprosy. (NB: McBride is not the only hero who opposed thalidomide. Widijung Lenz in Germany is said to have shown similar courage. I'm told a French doctor accomplished something unique in preventing thalidomide from ever being prescribed to women in France.)

4. Lutheran Pastor Richard Wurmbrand. Imprisoned by the communists in Romania. Afterwards lived in England. Sought through his writings to awaken the Christian conscience of the sleeping west. Like me, loved Russians. When I first read Wurmbrand's work, I experienced a spiritual intuition that I would know when he died. Several years later I picked up a copy of The Guardian that was lying in the Hodges Figgis bookstore cafe, and my eye fell on his obituary. The obit wasn't carried in most other newspapers. I don't normally read The Guardian.

5. Saint Thomas Moore. The man for all seasons. When King Henry the Eighth declared himself Head of the Church of England, a well meaning member of the British aristocracy warned Sir Thomas: "The anger of the King is death." Sir Thomas replied: "Why then the only difference between you and me, is that I shall die today and you shall die tomorrow." A rather good version of Moore's life was written by non believing playwright Robert Bolt entitled A Man For All Seasons. There's also a very good book about him published by Sceptre in the US, and by the Four Courts Press in Ireland whose title escapes me.

6. John Carpenter. American film director. Most of his films are worthless and empty even if they do occasionally have good music. His very first production back in 1974, a science fiction comedy called Dark Star, is a work of art which extends experience. For this alone Carpenter is an auteur of American, and indeed world, cinema. (I would liken the seditious life affirming Dark Star to three early Woody Allen films, Bananas, Sleeper, and Love & Death, which made life worth living for me as a teenager, and because of which I cannot think harshly of Mr Allen.)

7. Jane Austen. She wrote a book called Pride and Prejudice which, if you get into it, is a glory.

8. John Keats. Second greatest poet in the history of the English language.

9. Ludovico Einaudi. He has written a piano tune called Le Onde, The Waves. This music brings healing. Listen to it in the dark and let your mind find harmonies without words or images. I am sure that allowing the mind to experience itself through classical or classically inspired music, will one day be a part of our victory over schizophrenia, oppression, depression et al.

10. My feminist cousin Pauline who saved the world entire.

12 Comments:

Blogger Ivo Cerckel said...

Thalidomide was definitely known in the year 1938 and uts defects were noted in Phoenix, AZ (USA) in a medical journal that year. It was known as a cure for Hanson's Disease and made by Richasrd-Merrill Co. in Concinna ti, OH (USA). I don't know what action was taken, but a young female doctor named Frances Oldham Kersey (or Kelsey) recognized its dangers. Theodore, Princeton, WV/USA
(reaction under From The Times April 4, 2008 Thalidomide: 50 years on victims unite to seek more compensation Nigel Hawkes, Health Editor
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
tol/news/uk/health/article3671815.ece )

Kelsey was the lady who in 1960 only joined the US of A Food and Drugs Administration (FDA).
Once there, she further delayed thalidomide’s approval (thalidomide was marketed since 1957)
and was given a Presidential award by US of A president Kennedy for that delay.

Wikipedia says
that Kelsey is credited SINCE NINETEEN THIRTY-EIGHT with her interest in teratogens - that is, drugs that cause congenital malformations,
that 1938 was the date of the creation of the FDA,
and that Kelsey managed to be appointed there in 1960
http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Frances_Oldham_Kelsey.

Thalidomide was marketed since 1957.
Kelsey was only appointed in the FDA in 1960.
How can she get (all) the credit for having ‘saved’ the US of A from it?

The whistle on thalidomide was blown at a congress of neurologists on 30 April - 1st May 1960 in Duesseldorf.

Gruenenthal, the manufacturer in nearby Aachen, cannot possibly deny it didn’t know that.

Gruenenthal took thalidomide from the market on 27 November 1961.

Yours truly was born in February 1962.

Chronik des Conterganfalls
Tragödie - Katastrophe - Skandal?
http://www.wdr.de/themen/gesundheit/pharmazi
e/contergan/chronik.jhtm l?rubrikenstyle=contergan
30. April/1. Mai 1960:
Auf einem Neurologen-Kongress in Düsseldorf berichtet der Neurologe Ralf Voss über die Nervenschädigungen, die seinen
Beobachtungen zufolge durch Thalidomid verursacht werden. Die Forschungsabteilung von Grünenthal versucht daraufhin, die Nervenschädigungen an Ratten zu reproduzieren - ohne Erfolg. Grünenthal-Forschungsleiter Mückter schließt daraus, dass es sich um besondere Situationen handelt, für die Contergan nur selten als Ursache infrage kommt.
+
27. November 1961:
Die Firma Grünenthal kündigt in einem Telegramm an das Düsseldorfer Innenministerium an, ihre Thalidomid-Präparate im In- und Ausland sofort aus dem Handel zu nehmen.
+
30. November 1961:
Eine Sachverständigen-Kommission, die das NRW-Innenministerium eingerufen hat, kommt zusammen. Die Experten erklären es für wahrscheinlich, dass Thalidomid Missbildungen hervorruft.Das amerikanische Arzneimittelunternehmen RICHARDSON-MERRELL informiert die US-Gesundheitsbehörde über die Ereignisse in Deutschland und zieht vier Monate später seinen Antrag auf Zulassung von Thalidomid zurück

11:04 AM  
Blogger heelers said...

Ivo.
I will think about these points.
Elsewhere you have cited Aristotle in writing:
"We have a soul therefore we do not lack anything in our human form."
This statement has all the power of mystic truth.
James

3:39 AM  
Blogger Ivo Cerckel said...

If we do discover a complete theory, it should in time be understandable in broad principle by everyone, not just a few scientists. Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists, and just ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of the question of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason - for then we would know the mind of God.
- Stephen Hawking


Neurologists, also those who were not in Duesseldorf on 30 April - 1st May 1960 (thalidomide attacks the neural crest in the second month of pregnancy), know that most people who come out of coma do not remember the incident that caused the coma and they explain this by the fact that the injury that causes the coma disrupts the transfer process from working memory to long-term memory so that these events never get stored in long term memory.

QUOTES FROM SCHWESTER KATHREI BY MEISTER ECKHART
(not in order of appearance)

Was ich gefunden habe, das kann niemand in Worte fassen
What I have found, nobody can put into words.

Er sprach: Hast du nun alles, was du willst? – Sie sprach: Ja, ich bin bewähret
Her confessor asks her: do you know have every you want? – She replies, Yes I have been confirmed (be-TRUTH-ed, bewaehret, Wahrheit is Truth)).

Wo ich stehe, da kann keine Kreatur in kreatürlicher Weise hinkommen
Where I am, there no creature can arrive in the manner of a creature.

Ich bin da, wo ich war, ehe ich geschaffen wurde, da ist bloß Gott und Gott. Da gibt es weder Engel noch Heilige, noch Chöre, noch Himmel. Manche Leute sagen von acht Himmeln und von neun Chören; davon ist da nichts, wo ich bin.
I am there where I was before I was created, that is bare God and God. Over there, there are no angels and no saints, no choirs, no heavens. Many people say that there are eight heavens and nine choirs. Nothing of that, where I am.

Sie sprach: Ich gebe euch einen getreuen Rat. Ihr wisset wohl, dass alle Kreaturen von Nichts geschaffen sind und wieder zu Nichts werden müssen, ehe sie in ihren Ursprung kommen.
She said: I give you a trustworthy advice. You should know that all creatures have been created from nothing and that they must again become nothing before they can arrive in/at their origin.


CORRECTION OF PREVIOUS MESSAGE:
Gruenenthal, the manufacturer in nearby Aachen, cannot possibly ARGUE it didn’t know that.

5:12 AM  
Blogger Ivo Cerckel said...

We are always told that thalidomide had not been tested,
or at least that it has not been tested on humans,
AND THAT
if it had been tested on humans,
then BLAHBLAHBLAH …

But thalidomide has been tested in REAL LIFE by inter alia Kelsey and McBride.

Kelsey and McBride found out that thalidomide led to serious birth defects in the babies.

Gruenenthal, the manufacturer of thalidomide, knew that.

But that did prevent the Gruenental from (continuing to) marketing it.

10:05 PM  
Blogger heelers said...

Hey Ivo.
The Stephen Hawking reference is interesting. It's the one he'll be remembered for.
Meister Eckhart also knows how to turn a nifty phrase.
I think the nature of truth is immediate.
I mean that the truth has been so ordered by God that it is accessible to everyone.
The truth is democratic.
But it is not elected.
James

4:50 AM  
Blogger Ivo Cerckel said...

James,

Truth is ad-equation between the thing and the intellect
(adaequatio rei et intellectus),
said Thomas Aquinas.

I had to wait 20 years before I knew the truth about why I am missing a forearm,
after which I had my second Schwester Kat(h)trei-experience.
(The first was in 1970 one year after a hook
which hampered my movements
and which frightened all other children
had been attached to my stump).

Can you spell "Heidelberg"?
It's like thalidomide.
One sees that the hook is harmful but forces it on the monster.
Just like one sees that thalidomide leads to small birth defects, but one continues to use it against both morning sickness and insomnia in pregnant women.

There is something wrong with this society which would be ours.

But thalidomide monsters are of course outcasts, so it's not their society.

Ivo

11:44 AM  
Blogger Ivo Cerckel said...

Of course,
if we find the answer to Hawking’s question,
(debate in) philosophy becomes irrelevant.

We will have the (gold) standard to answer all questions in philosophy.

3:02 AM  
Blogger Ivo Cerckel said...

Even Animal Rights groups seem not to oppose my argument ….

My comment which was earlier this GMT+8 morning
awaiting moderation
is no longer awaiting moderation.

Animal Rights
Mon, Aug 11, 2008
http://www.geraldnaus.com/
?p=10761#comment-1930

7:06 AM  
Blogger Ivo Cerckel said...

http://bphouse.com/blaze/honest_money/
2008/08/12/
the-dollar-is-dead/

Comment 3

Ivo Cerckel Says:
August 12th, 2008 at 4:29 pm e
Yes,
some may consider me to be an Animal Rights-activist.
Some US-improved German drugs have indeed been tested during the Second World War
in order to be formally introduced in 1957.

9:43 AM  
Blogger heelers said...

Morning Ivo.
There are no outcasts.
We complete each other.
Mr Hawking sees much. He doesn't see all. I would commend him to the Gospel of Saint John which I believe to be true.
The answer to Mr Hawking's question is a place in the heart.
Or a transcendence beyond all questions.
As for the animals...
I'm concerned that in research laboratories generally there is a disrespect for life itself including animal life.
And finally.
I never rush to answer your comments. I like to think I can always match 'em eventually. If not intellectually, at least spiritually.
James

12:40 AM  
Blogger Ivo Cerckel said...

James,

I said that
if we find the answer to Hawking’s question,
(debate in) philosophy becomes irrelevant.

I don't know what will be religion's fate then.

Ivo

2:56 AM  
Blogger heelers said...

I know what you said Ivo.
But you know how much i like the sound of my own thought patterns.
Maybe sometimes I'm just preaching to the converted,
ie myself!
The fate of religion when the final question is answered?
The fate of love when all that is exists in love.
James

3:45 AM  

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