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...is inequality making us sick?
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27 Mar 2008 Thu 10:37 pm |
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This is a fantastic topic that I've been sort of looking for   . When you study medicine you will see that women and minorities are always the groups with many more health problems (on average) then white men. This is very interesting considering that majority of the world power is in the hands of a system that is essentially a white supremacist patriarchy. This is pretty much intuitional but it's good to explore it more... here's a web site that explores this topic (they focus on African-Americans):
Is inequality making us sick
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27 Mar 2008 Thu 10:58 pm |
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Quoting catwoman: This is a fantastic topic that I've been sort of looking for . When you study medicine you will see that women and minorities are always the groups with many more health problems (on average) then white men. This is very interesting considering that majority of the world power is in the hands of a system that is essentially a white supremacist patriarchy. This is pretty much intuitional but it's good to explore it more... here's a web site that explores this topic (they focus on African-Americans):
Is inequality making us sick |
This is a very intesting article, but Catwoman it is not just women and minoriies that suffer! Poor black men do too! This aritcle relates to the USA and should not be atributed to the rest of the Western world, and I mean Europe.
But one thing I diagrees with, obesity is caused by one thing and that is over eating, which in turn causes other problems, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure etc etc. Only one person can solve that and that is the person that over eats or eats the wrong type of food. But the temptation in the USA to eat the wrong food and over eat is enormous, and I blame the government for that.
You should research how McDonalds became McDonalds and I bet you would never eat another one in your life!
Just for a small point, in the UK women live longer than men!
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27 Mar 2008 Thu 11:44 pm |
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I am not talking about individual cases here first of all, but about social trends. Individuals vary, but a clear social pattern is still there...
I think that the reason why according to most statistics women live longer is because men do stupid things that are risky, and they abuse more substances... another reason could be earlier heart problems, other then that, men are on average healthier then women.
I just thought it's an interesting topic 
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28 Mar 2008 Fri 12:07 am |
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Quoting catwoman: This is a fantastic topic that I've been sort of looking for . When you study medicine you will see that women and minorities are always the groups with many more health problems (on average) then white men. This is very interesting considering that majority of the world power is in the hands of a system that is essentially a white supremacist patriarchy. This is pretty much intuitional but it's good to explore it more... here's a web site that explores this topic (they focus on African-Americans):
Is inequality making us sick |
Interesting topic catwoman..Since legally no hospital can turn away anyone who is sick whether they have insurance or not. I imagine financially this is a burden to obtain preventative care due to costs.. Growing trends of the poor minorities, could possibly be their living conditions, possible drugs, not eating right, not exercising, depression.. Those things come to mind. For woman, I can see how they would fall into these numbers..just by their biological clock..However, woman do tend to be more proactive seeking patient care than men. It seems a man is more out to procrastinate without being seen for a condition.
You will also find many medical conditions that are more common in blacks than whites. Black woman seem to have more female problems..fibroids etc..
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28 Mar 2008 Fri 12:24 am |
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I was listening to NPR the other day and they were talking about some economic programs to help out black people. The interesting thing was that they were ONLY talking about black MEN! They were giving statistics about MEN, discussing how these MEN can be encouraged to start their own businesses, go to schools... etc. I called the radio and asked why is it that they have not mentioned women at all here and the guy said that it's because there is a correlation between men who work and men who take care of their children...  that was their reason!!!!! So I said that women make 70% of what men make, I imagine black women make even less, they are still the ones taking care of children most, yet, we are not targeting them as the group that needs help most? his response was crap bla bla bla....
This is implicit sexism that favors men over women, encourages only men to be more successful, better off and to get out of social traps and women are as usual, are left behind.
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28 Mar 2008 Fri 12:35 am |
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I have always found this interesting; Black people in the UK speak just like white UK citizens. Whereas in the states, the black population seem to speak a completely different dialect. Of course, this is based on the Black figures presented to us in movies and shows but then most black celebrities also speak with a different accent.
Libralady, the UK was a social state before Thatcher. She said it would not go on like that. Have there been any major changes in the country's healthcare system since her?
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28 Mar 2008 Fri 03:05 pm |
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Quoting vineyards: I have always found this interesting; Black people in the UK speak just like white UK citizens. Whereas in the states, the black population seem to speak a completely different dialect. Of course, this is based on the Black figures presented to us in movies and shows but then most black celebrities also speak with a different accent.
Libralady, the UK was a social state before Thatcher. She said it would not go on like that. Have there been any major changes in the country's healthcare system since her? |
The UK is still a social state and will not change in the immediate future, yes we are lucky but we pay for it out of our salaries. If you decided to have private treatment you pay extra.
I think Thatcher saw the UK becoming a country full of entrepreners and wealthy business people, but that has not happen.
The gap between rich and poor has opened, in part I believe to the way our social system is now under Labour. Entrepreners and businesses are not encouraged but it is OK to claim benefit and social security.
But I think our health system works perfectly OK, except there is far to much waste, and having worked as a buyer in a hospital I can tell you exactly how the money is wasted.
Aside this, I found the article interesting and I too am interested in social science. But I do believe that people can do more for themselves and not rely on others or expect others to do it for them.
BTW, there are plenty of Black people in the UK that speak with the most ridiculous language (the hoody wearing, long slung jeans, knife carrying gangs, gangster wrap fans) and many still have their Afro-Caribean accents to.
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| 8. |
29 Mar 2008 Sat 06:01 am |
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Quoting vineyards: I have always found this interesting; Black people in the UK speak just like white UK citizens. Whereas in the states, the black population seem to speak a completely different dialect. Of course, this is based on the Black figures presented to us in movies and shows but then most black celebrities also speak with a different accent. |
You are quite right in your observations. Most of the Black population in the US speaks Ebonics.
The reason is the more language sounds a child hears in their developmental stages, the more they can hear and make. In the days of strict segregation on this group resulted in a particular language. In the days of slavery they were not allowed to read or write. If they sounded too educated or spoke English too well, it could be a death sentence for them.
This really was not that long ago. If you consider the length of time they were subjected to those conditions, the time since is really quite short. It is only a few generations the US is away from living memory of the last slaves (slaves were still alive in the 1930s and 40s) and desegregation only started in earnest in the 1960s. Until that time they went to separate but not equal schools.
Now with more integration, more African Americans can and do speak standard American English than in the previous generations. In fact most speakers of Ebonics are fluent in bi-dialectics, whereas most European Americans are able to only speak one dialect well.
It has been called Ebonics and has been a source of controversy in the last 10 years when:
from the Oakland, California school board on December 18, 1997, called on "Ebonics" to be officially recognized as a language of African Americans."The formal recognition of AAVE was revisited when a controversial resolution At its last meeting, the outgoing Oakland school board unanimously passed the resolution, before being replaced by the newly elected board. The new board's members held different views; the board modified the resolution then effectively dropped it. Had the measure remained in force, it would have affected funding and education-related issues."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_Vernacular_English#In_education
The ability to speak Ebonics is a matter of pride to some and offers a recognition of their heritage and a "place" in the African American group. One can hear personalities such as Oprah Winfrey switch back and forth at times. It is like a wink "I'm one of you".
Well, that is probably much more than you really wanted to know, but I do think it is interesting.
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