this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2024
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People think that, because sooner or later they end up meeting someone who spent 5 years in medical school, plus an internship, plus got a masters degree, plus a specialty... yet is still cocky, jumps to conclusions, and refuses to admit being wrong.
That gives people with no clue, the idea that they can be more educated than all medical staff and all scientists. Then shit happens.
Most people do not run into this. They hear stories where it “totally happened to somebody else once.” This is basically a parroted parable by the right.
Have I encountered some doctors with egos? Certainly. And I’m sure that what you are describing has occurred. But it’s not like it is some widespread problem. It’s a cherry picked, often never-experienced example to try to win an argument and tear down the legitimacy of trusting experts when they speak on matters they know about because the right doesn’t like what they have to say. Classic “it sounds like something that would happen so it basically did” nonsense.
I'm nowhere close to the right, and yet I've experienced it personally more times than I have fingers to count on. Some examples:
(first hand anecdotal evidence)
...there is more, but let me not bore you with anecdotal evidence.
After all that shit, I should have died 5 or 6 times already, so I'm not going to badmouth the medical profession as a whole, and still got all my vaccines... but the fact that there are highly educated jackasses out there, is a fact.
Not sure if you're young, or I'm cursed. My first run into "this" was when I was 13, and keeping a steady streak since then.
I’m sorry you experienced all this, and I don’t think you’re lying. I’d also like to point out I didn’t say it literally never happens - I feel I was pretty clear about that.
Ok. Let me point out I also said "sooner or later", so the longer someone lives, the higher their chances of having encountered an experience like that. Actually... I don't think I've ever met anyone above the age of 60 who hahadn't had some of those at least once, which would be about when most people would've had enough exposure to the medical world... but I wouldn't want to generalize.
The longer someone lives, the more likely they are to get into a serious car accident that kills them, but we don’t go around acting like it is incredibly common for everyone to get into a serious car accident that kills them. We acknowledge that they happen and do reasonable things to prevent them.
It’s about a sense of proportion. We should not operate like most doctors are full of shit or blindingly egotistical, which circles back to my point about how this is a right wing talking point. Because it furthers their anti-expert (especially doctors) narratives that ballooned during COVID when we act like it’s a bigger deal than it is.