Blackmoor Vituperative

One of my oldest and dearest friends has been poisoned by the hate propaganda that has become so prevalent since Rush Limbaugh popularized it back in the 1980s. I’ve spent the last couple of years trying to pull him back to reality. He eventually un-“friend”-ed me. I think that friendship is over: the poison has consumed him.

I have another friend who thinks that “free speech” should be protected regardless of how hateful or ridiculously false it is. “Outlawing expression and a marketplace of ideas doesn’t protect people.” I said that the last couple of decades has conclusively proven him wrong: giving overt lies and vicious hatred the same legal protection as we give facts and legitimate journalism has had a direct impact on our society, turning what was once a fringe movement into one of the two dominant political parties in the USA. He eventually un-“friend”-ed me, too. That friendship might be salvaged, some day.

“Nothing on this page is real”: How lies become truth in online America

Hmm. Prostate cancer is more deadly than I realized.

The number of new cases of prostate cancer was 119.8 per 100,000 men per year. The number of deaths was 20.1 per 100,000 men per year. These rates are age-adjusted and based on 2010-2014 cases and deaths. Approximately 11.6 percent of men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point during their lifetime, based on 2012-2014 data. In 2014, there were an estimated 3,085,209 men living with prostate cancer in the United States.

In contrast, the number of new cases of female breast cancer was 124.9 per 100,000 women per year. The number of deaths was 21.2 per 100,000 women per year. These rates are age-adjusted and based on 2010-2014 cases and deaths. Approximately 12.4 percent of women will be diagnosed with female breast cancer at some point during their lifetime, based on 2012-2014 data. In 2014, there were an estimated 3,327,552 women living with female breast cancer in the United States.

I knew that the incidence of prostate cancer is about the same as that of breast cancer, but for some reason I thought the mortality rate was much lower.

We have the “save the boobies” campaign to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research. Maybe a “save the boners” campaign for prostate cancer research would not be a terrible idea. I’m sure I’m not the only one who would be surprised at the mortality rate.

P.S. There are people who bitterly oppose the “save the boobies” campaign, and would rather it didn’t exist. I think those people are wrong.

Humans are pretty simple. We like sex, we like pretty people, we like people with whom we can easily sympathize. A pretty girl with an inoperable brain tumor raises hundreds of thousands of dollars. “Save the boobies” raises awareness of breast cancer and raises money. A boy with a beautiful smile and a gift for science gets tons of support. People who entertain us get our attention, and our money. Fat people, ugly people, diseases that are just gross, people who are completely ordinary… not so much.

We can bemoan that we are so shallow, and accomplish nothing, or we can leverage human nature to try and make the world better. Having had more than one family member diagnosed with breast cancer (one of whom is now dead), I think any positive action we can take is a good one.