Hatred & Contempt
– My Responses –

Dr. Al Danenberg ● Nutritional Periodontist

June 20, 2021 [printfriendly]

 

 

In my recent blog, Hear My Voice!, I attempted to bring a light to, and to have a conversation about, the harsh divide we are experiencing on a multitude of topics. While I did receive many thoughtful comments from both sides of the debate, my blog also was met with hatred and contempt directed at me personally.

This negativity raises the question, “How do we continue moving forward together with all this animosity among us?”

There is a substantial difference between making up false claims with the intent to harm and questioning the existing narrative with well-researched and informed questions. When did it become okay to lump any opposing view as “utter nonsense”?

Generally, I see hatred and contempt. Often, both are directed toward those who question specific medical procedures today and toward those who try to share their personal experiences.

In this article, I want to share my thoughts about “lack of informed consent” and “contempt for the messenger”.

Lack of Informed Consent

As I see it, a big problem exists when patients are not given all the facts for medical treatments, which they are asked to undertake. Patients need information about the possible (yet rare) potential harm from a medical procedure before agreeing to proceed. This is called, “informed consent”.

When a person is encouraged to accept any invasive treatment including an injection, a person has the right to know what might happen before having the irreversible procedure. This informed discussion will lead the patient to make his or her decision.

Here are two of many organizations that are gathering data to further the discussion leading to “informed consent”.

#1

Medscape is a website delivering access to medical information for clinicians. It is an organization that also provides continuing education for physicians and health professionals. Recently, Medscape added a platform to share unbiased information.

On 2/8/21, Medscape began an ongoing post, which is updated daily in real time. It includes comments from medical healthcare professionals. As of 6/20/21, this site contains 636 published comments from doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers. These comments describe their personal experiences with the COVID vaccines. And they run the gamut from “no problems whatsoever” to “severe side effects”.

To be clear, Medscape is not vetting the qualifications of the professionals who are submitting their comments. So, it is possible that some of the published comments are from unqualified sources. However, there are many well-recognized medical people making their personal experiences known.

When personal experiences identify unusual, significant, or severe side effects, these must be taken seriously. They must be researched with the intent to understand the unknown and to uncover their biological pathways.

The published statements from qualified medical practitioners are not efforts to misinform the public or contradict the medical profession. They are outcomes that everyone should be made aware of before deciding on a medical procedure.

 

https://www.medscape.com/sites/public/covid-19/vaccine-insights/how-concerned-are-you-about-vaccine-related-adverse-events

#2

In addition to Medscape’s reporting, I know of a non-profit medical and dental organization made up of various surgeons. The members of this organization have been witnessing unusual and compromised healing results in many of their surgery patients who have taken the COVID vaccines compared to their non-vaccinated patients. As I write this post, this organization is compiling documentation of these adverse responses. Eventually, the results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Contempt for the Messenger

Another concern I have is when a person openly explains their personal journey to restore health only to be denigrated for not having enough proof from randomized controlled medical trials.

A woman who read my Blog, Hear My Voice!, expressed her personal disgust with me in several comments she posted on a Facebook group. In that blog, I emphasized the incorrectness of a patient not being told about the potential risks of a proposed medical treatment. Also, I shared my personal successes and failures with my cancer journey.

I’m scratching my head and thinking, “Why would someone be so expressive in her vitriolic feelings toward me?” Here are a few ideas that come to mind …

  • Possibly she has been harmed by the alternative medical community.
  • Maybe a close friend of hers or a relative has suffered at the hands of functional medicine.
  • Could it be that she wanted to study medicine or another healthcare profession and was unable to get into a program or unable to complete the program for some reason?
  • Or, does she really believe that people are not entitled to know the risks of a medical procedure?
  • Or, does she really think that no one should describe their personal path to wellness without peer-reviewed backup over years of double-blind studies?

I will not embarrass her any more than she did to herself when she published her comments on one of the most viewed Facebook groups. I don’t know what compelled her to rain down on me. But her concluding pointed words of attack were aimed to disqualify my personal success to heal my body.

I welcome an intelligent debate on any subject. The keys to an intelligent debate include …

  • Listening to a different point of view.
  • Taking the time to educate yourself before speaking.

The debate may not change your views, but you still may learn something. However, having disrespect for others’ opinions is what leads us to this divide in the first place.

Summary

I am only one of many healthcare professionals attempting to wake up those who are not asking two very important and personal questions …

  1. “What are the potential risks of the medical treatment I am considering?”
  2. “Are there options to assist my body to heal from severe chronic disease other than just chemicals that are put into my body?”

There should never be hatred or contempt expressed toward the person who wants to know the facts or share their experiences.

 

 

 

Check out my training on the Better Belly Blueprint! You can watch it HERE.

 

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Hear My Voice!

Dr. Al Danenberg ● Nutritional Periodontist

June 6, 2021 [printfriendly]

“I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

This is the famous extemporaneous line from the 1976 movie, “Network”.[1] Howard Beale is the TV news anchor in “Network”. His character is played by Peter Finch. In the movie, Howard breaks down on national TV and announces he will commit suicide live on air. He rants and raves about his frustrations with the world in which he lives before screaming “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”. Howard Beale then urges all viewers to open their windows and shout out the same words.

Here’s the segment from the movie:

This is how I feel today. All of us are caught is this quagmire.

There are lies about the Pandemic from both extremes; there is hatred spewed by both political parties toward each other; there is censorship of medical professionals who have opposing but medically-concerning views about vaccinations; and there is contempt directed at me because I have been open about my cancer journey.

These actions jeopardize our humanity. They deny decency, respect, and the perseverance of truths.

Lies

Millions of people worldwide have died because of the COVID-19 virus. This is a fact. It’s not a lie. How the virus affected a body to cause its death is in question – and rightly so. But if the virus were not present, then those deaths might not have occurred when they did.

Most individuals who have succumbed to this virus had a compromised immune system. A weak immune system is less able to deal with an invader like this virus compared to a robust immune system. The food industry and the agricultural industry are lying to us when they say their processed foods and chemicals are nutritious for, and not damaging to, our body.

Hatred

If you only watched “liberal” news channels, then you would believe that the conservative party is made up of disloyal and hateful people. It you only watched “conservative” news channels, you would believe that the liberal party is going to make socialists out of our country and destroy the tenets on which it was created.

Both extremes in politics spew hatred at one another. Both views are not balanced. Extremists on both sides are scary and are threatening our democratic system.

Has the United States ever had so much hatred between two political parties? How can we move forward? We need to recognize that there might be a middle ground to build upon and expand for the sake of all US citizens.

Censorship

I am not against vaccines!

Let me repeat this another way: I AM NOT AGAINST VACCINES!

But I am for an intelligent discussion of the benefits and pitfalls of all vaccines. And when there are deaths and severe reactions to a particular vaccine – even if these are rare events – the medical community should be willing, able, and encouraged to discuss all factors openly.

While writing this, I’m thinking, “Am I going to be censored because I have just made this statement?” I don’t know. I hope not. I am being honest and hopeful.

Again, I believe in medicines that have proven their efficacy. But when a vaccine that may have been proven safe in clinical trials turns out to cause rare deaths and rare severe reactions, then these occurrences should be brought up immediately for all to understand.

And patients need to know the details, potential risks, and side effects of the medical treatments they are being asked to accept. This is called “informed consent”.

Throughout my professional career, patients were required to give their “informed consent” before an invasive procedure could be performed. Never has this been questioned to my knowledge until today.

Contempt

Vitriol, hatred, and false statements have been thrown at me.

My readers know that I am on a cancer journey since 2018. And my prognosis was dismal. Yet I took my body seriously.

With the consent of my oncologist, I rejected chemotherapy and opted for a series of Unconventional Cancer Protocols, which I have researched and tweaked frequently. Today, I am thriving, but I am not in remission. And my controversial diet that is part of my Unconventional Cancer Protocols is not plant-based – it is animal-based. It’s best known as a Carnivore Diet.

Most readers of my posts on many social media pages have been happy for me as I have helped my body heal, have improved my immune system, and have been transparent in all my reporting. But a few have written hateful words …

  • Some in the vegan community have told me I was killing people and giving them cancer by eating red meat.
  • Several in the strict carnivore community have denigrated me because I ate a few fresh fruits and raw honey along with being 90% carnivore.

Wow!

I thought humanity was in it to help all. Obviously, this is Pollyanna thinking. The facts that I am honest with my entire cancer journey and willing to share all my successes and failures seem to mean little to a select group of people who just are hateful.

I’m Baffled

At the age of 74, I’m going to keep on doing what I’ve been doing. But I will still question the division in our country evidenced by …

  • The incomplete information disseminated regarding the pandemic and our health
  • The hateful comments coming from the extremes of our two political parties
  • The suppression of any meaningful discussion about the real risks of the vaccines given today
  • The contempt for my health transparency

Will it end? Or will the country’s population continue to be divided even further?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_(1976_film)

 

Check out my training on the Better Belly Blueprint! You can watch it HERE.

 

If you don’t want to miss out on new posts, sign up for my “Belly Bites” Newsletter HERE.