A Blast From the Past – XIX

This piece is from two years ago. Has anything changed?

Is This Still America ? 

On 2/9/21 I sent out a link to a Townhall piece by Dennis Prager which was  harshly critical of the medical profession because of their position on the use of hydroxychloroquine for Covid. Mr. Prager did not pull any punches in his article. One of those on my master mailing list apparently did not appreciate me sending that link to him, as he has a long-standing view that anything which is complementary to the use of the drug, hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of Covid is verboten. Shortly after I had sent out the link, he fired back with a long commentary about how the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat early Covid was basically heresy, and implied that anyone who thought otherwise should be burnt at the stake. [Let’s be clear here. I have never prescribed hydroxychloroquine although this drug was used by physicians in my book (The Keneally Chronicles) – with good results, I might add.]

When I asked him about his familiarity with Dennis Prager, I received another bazooka-like response with no comment as to his familiarity with Dennis Prager . . . nada, so I can only assume that he is not familiar with Dennis Prager. Who Dennis Prager is, and what he stands for.

There are multiple important issues here:

First off, I have a single email master list. I do not have a list titled 

“for pro-hydroxychloroquine readers only.” In the past I have had to delete someone from my master mailing list because they did not want to get any more political stuff. “Sorry Charlie, I have one master list. If you do not want to read political emails, do not open them.” I then deleted him from my master email list, and I have to assume that we both are now happy. Another guy objected to an email that was critical of Democrats. He was offended as he proclaimed “I am a Democrat.” He is no longer on my master list, but has been repositioned to my Ken/Karen email list. To my anti-hydroxychloroquine reader, “Sorry to have offended you. I will do my best to remove you from my master list.”

However, there are much more important issues with that Dennis Prager piece than whether or not hydroxychloroquine works for Covid. For me the entire hydroxychloroquine issue is basically a political issue. The left apparently felt that it had to attack the use of hydroxychloroquine, because Donald Trump spoke favorably of its use. Any of Dr. Fauci’s “do a prospective study” of the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine were cancelled. (Note: all prospective studies on the use of hydroxychloroquine in early Covid were cancelled because “physicians should not use a drug for an off-label indication and all drugs have potential side-effects.”) This is just an example of “true, true, but unrelated.” Drugs are used for off-label indications all the time … at least they used to be in the USA that I knew. True, all drugs have potential side-effects, however in many many parts of the world hydroxychloroquine is sold over the counter without a prescription. When I was prescribed this same drug for malaria prophylaxis, I was told how to take it, but was not warned of any “potentially serious side-effects.” Hmmm! Why was that? Could it have been because the risk of a serious side-effect was minuscule?

There is a group of physicians right here in what I thought was the USA that advocate for the use of hydroxychloroquine in early Covid. Their YouTube videos have been taken down. (I guess that now licensed physicians cannot speak freely about their own personal medical experiences if it “offends” YouTube/Google.) What’s worse is that here in what I thought used to be the USA, the governors of some states have “commanded” that the pharmacists in their states not fill any prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine if it is to be used for the treatment of Covid. (I thought that I lived in a country where the relationship between the patient and their physician was somewhat sacred and protected . . . I guess I missed the memo that I had moved to Venezuela!)

Now back to Dennis Prager, who I can only assume was unknown to my anti-hydroxychloroquine reader. For those who are unaware, Mr. Prager runs an educational website called Prager University. Multiple Prager U videos have been blocked and taken down (censored) by YouTube because they have been deemed to contain material that YouTube said was “inappropriate” for younger audiences. Were they inappropriate because of porn? No, rather they were deemed offensive because they promoted conservative values. More than 50 PragerU videos which have either been “restricted” or “demonetized” by Google/YouTube. The PragerU videos range on various subjects presenting a conservative point of view, and include a video by noted Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz on the founding of Israel. PragerU has compiled a complete list of their restricted videos which  includes: “Why America Must Lead,” “The Ten Commandments: Do Not Murder,” “Why Did America Fight the Korean War,” and “The World’s Most Persecuted Minority: Christians.” 

If these are the type of Prager videos that have been deemed offensive by the likes of Facebook, YouTube, and Google, just imagine what will happen to Prager’s anti-hydroxychloroquine piece if anyone tries to post it on Facebook.

In summation the hydroxychloroquine issue is really not about whether or not it works for early Covid, but rather it is about who is allowed to speak freely today in America. And more importantly what an individual in America is allowed to say if it somehow offends those who are in control.

Is this still America ?

2/9/21

2/25/23