In my view all the “isms” have one basic flaw…..they require people with all their quirks, emotions and need for control. That might sound pretty cynical but it is reality as I see it. On the other hand I also believe that the human race will survive and advance and we will keep helping and assisting our fellow man as we have done and felt a deep seated need to do for millennia. Proof of that lies in us being able to discuss this over the Internet as we are doing.

We keep talking about Gilead and NHS, etc. as if they are big monolithic entities that have minds of their own and so we blame “them” and throw our hands in the air and say we can’t do anything. The reality is that these entities are just made up of people like us with all their faults. Those people have their hands on the controls and appear to have all the power and to be able to behave as they wish whether greedily, uncaringly or even benevolently. That isn’t strictly true, the reality is that they can do that not because of any special powers they have but because we vest those powers in them.

An example of this can be found in another recent thread where a member was subjected to refusal to take her bloods in an arbitrary manner. She could have just accepted that, licked her wounds and moaned about the NHS. Instead she took the matter through the appropriate channels, got her bloods taken and ensured that people within that “system/hospital” were aware of what happened. Probably not a lot will happen about it in this instance but it is now on record and as and when other patients complain about the same person then the “system/hospital” will start to take heed and implement processes that ensure it doesn’t occur in future. Because unless it was just a ‘bad hair day’ which I doubt, someone like that will most likely be behaving in that manner towards other patients than just our member. Up until now they have been rewarded for that behaviour in some manner, either via a feeling of power, a need to control their environment expressed in an inappropriate manner or some such and because no one has called them to account over it.

The thing is, if enough people make enough noise for long enough, then something does happen. Whether it be the hospital system, big pharma and the patent system or government itself. Yes, it’s a slow, tiresome, unthanked process but it is how change has been effected throughout history. Start making noise people.

Thankyou, I’ll pack away my soapbox for now.

The poster of the two quotes I included above asked how they were relevant. My point being that they just threw up their hands when Gilead tried to make them use the Gilead system. Didn’t try to change it or protest it or challenge it in court or anything like that. Just walked away! Went overseas and sourced from there.

And then criticises others systems.