Unmasking Humanity: the Public Health Imperative of Abandoning Labels
The Public Health Imperative of Abandoning Labels: Video and blog by EeKs
The Quacks are tired of being called Quacks.
The Shills are tired of being called Shills.
The Antivaxxers are tired of being called Antivaxxers.
This means the hill everyone can meet on…is A Thesaurus.
Need to mix it up, folks, mix it up… Quack, Shill, quack, shill!!!
It sounds like a Birdwatching Trip.
And some people say QUACK so much, I bet ya their mommas thought they were ducks.
The least scientific part of all this is reducing a human being to ONE label. It takes the complexity of being human and flushes it down the can. Sure, slapping a label on someone makes our lives simple and easier to navigate…but the idea that any one person is ONE label is crazy. Like, okay, maybe they’re “that” but there also this, this and this. Someone called me a jerk last week. Yeah, okay, maybe. But sometimes I’m not a jerk, you know?
Labels: They make life easier. They are strategic, especially if you want to fight. They do it all the time in war. You call the other side the “enemy”, right? They’d be a lot harder to shoot at if you were like, “You know that guy you’re shooting at? Yeah, he likes soccer. And the Grateful Dead. And birdwatching. You’d probably be getting stoned in the woods, listening to American Beauty and looking for the white-throated sparrow if it wasn’t for this war!”
Labels: They divide. But they don’t work to improve health. Or understanding. Or vaccination rates. Like, I’ve never heard of an antivaxxer going out to get vaccinated after being called an antivaxxer.
“You filthy antivaxxer! You killed my grandma!”
“Thank you so much for telling me that. I get it now. I’m on my way to CVS to get my flu shot.”
(You never heard that.)
Ah well, folks…
The Thesaurus.
Let’s meet there first.
No pressure…and we’ll take it slow.
Thanks for reading the public health imperative of abandoning labels. The video version is below.
Also check out: What is the Function of Dreams?
Or other musings from my Scicomms section of this website.
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WATCH The Public Health Imperative of Abandoning Labels ON MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL:
*No Shills, Quacks or Antivaxxers were harmed in the making of this video.
Or if you are on TikTok, I just joined, so you can watch it there too:
@dr..eeks Unmasking Humanity: The Public Health Imperative of Abandoning Labels. Why is this important? Because labels divide. And they don’t do anything for health. In public health, which literally means health at the population level….which means we will meet a wide variety of views, opinions, and beliefs…the goal should be finding a common ground and communicating with people who think far differently than us with empathy and a desire to understand. What do you guys think? Hope you follow for more quirky health and public health bits. 😉🙏 . . #publichealth #antivaxxer #shill #publichealthnotpolitics #labels