An Interview with Karl Marx

Out of Retirement and Up to Old Tricks

Scott Sturman

Flies In Your Eyes continues a series of interviews with nationally known politicians and international leaders.  Since the web site is relatively unknown and read by few, the interviewees have the rare opportunity to express true, non scripted opinions without suffering for their candor.

Last week FIYE, much to the chagrin of the national media, broke the story that Mr. Karl Marx had been named head of the UCSF School of Medicine.  He has graciously agreed to be interviewed.

 Near Kathmandu - photo by JoAnn Sturman

  
FIYE:  Welcome, Mr. Marx.  You interrupted your lengthy retirement to reenter public life at UCSF School of Medicine.  Why here of all places?

Marx:  My medical problems are well documented in “The Letters of Karl Marx.”  The most disabling being an infestation of boils on my buttocks and scrotum, and for this I received the less than flattering moniker, “Boil Butt.”  At UCSF I receive world class medical care but also am surrounded by many who view the world as I do.

FIYE:  A member of the UCSF faculty sent a notice to all those affiliated with the institution, calling for civil disobedience in wake of the recent grand jury findings in Missouri and New York.  Could you put this in perspective and extrapolate to a larger scale?

Marx:  No Communist or radical socialist government can ascend to power without the public perception that society is deeply flawed.  Inherent in this, is the importance of undermining the public’s confidence in the police.  The deaths of Mr. Brown and Mr. Garner serve as an opportunity to achieve this goal, by using their misfortune to indict everyone in the country involved in public safety.  Remember, police departments based on integrity and independence of political influence are an anathema to our movement. 

FIYE:  Could you remind the readers of the tactics used to persuade the public that this is the case?

Marx:  Of course.  No totalitarian government can function without complete control over law enforcement.  This extends from the Attorney General to the lowest level cop.  The goal is to put our people in charge of these critical agencies.  As you recall, when the grand juries failed to indict, our news agencies at CNN, ABC, NBC, and CBS to name a few, bombarded viewers with scenes of mayhem.  By reporting only one side of the story and employing incendiary techniques, we were able to escalate civic tension.

FIYE:  Is race intentionally used in the process?

Marx:  Exploitation of racial tension is an essential condition of the strategy.  I remind the readers once again that consolidation of power is impossible without the perception that society is wholly corrupt and social upheaval the only manner to redress the issue.  Personalities like Mr. Jackson and Mr. Sharpton are useful for kindling the flames, but they are small players.  It is our colleagues in academia, the media, and the entertainment industry who have the wealth, fame, and means to accelerate the process.  They paint the picture in the colors they choose.

FIYE:  A close friend recommended Jean-Francois Revel’s book, “The Last Exit to Utopia,” a discussion of the socialist and communist movements in Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union.  I was struck by similarities between Leftist politicians in Europe and those in the United States.

Marx:  I, too, have read the book and can summarize our tactics in one simple sentence:  “We Communists and Socialists judge ourselves by intent, not results, and we expect everyone else to so, as well.”  This theme has been exposed by some American critics of the progressive movement.  They point out that our movement has been largely responsible for spending $16 trillion dollars since initiating the War on Poverty, but the rates of poverty have been largely unaffected.  Historically, it has been easy to deflect criticism by denouncing our detractors as greedy and uncaring.  Comrades Pelosi and Reid are particularly adept at this strategy.

FIYE:  Why have certain minorities failed to achieve prosperity despite the efforts?

Marx:  It is incorrect to assume that an independently minded, prosperous citizenry is the objective.  Socialism and its corollaries only work if the masses are dependent on government.  We have realized these goals in the Black community by crafting laws and programs to remove the stabilizing influence of the Black father from the family.  We have made millions of Black women dependent on welfare and subjected their children to a submarginal education process, where they will never be able to effectively compete.  New York’s Mayor, Comrade de Blasio, offers a good example as shown by his efforts to destroy the charter school program.  Let me add, in order to completely undermine the Black community of its value systems, it is necessary to summarily degrade the importance of religion.  We have largely removed a fundamental pillar of morality and replaced it with — nothing.  This effect was discussed brilliantly in Robert Ruark’s book, “Something of Value.”

FIYE:  Yesterday two policemen were assassinated in New York City.

Marx:  No one should be surprised.  The Left has been very successful in fueling racial tensions and portraying the police as reprehensible thugs.  Comrade de Blasio is quite adroit at this.  We subject conservatives to unremitting criticism for stereotypical behavior, but it’s the Left who are masters of the technique.  Comrade Alinsky documented them well in “Rules for Radicals.”

FIYE:  The press reports that racial relations have plunged to new lows during the Obama presidency. 

Marx:  Comrade Obama is an ideologue first and foremost.  I chuckle when people seem shocked by this observation.  He fully expressed his views in his books before becoming President, so it is laughable that anyone should be startled by his conduct.  If one has any doubt about his motivations, ask the question, “What has the President done during his tenure to enhance the status of the United States?”  The brevity of the response tells all.

FIYE:  Thank you, Mr. Marx.  Unlike the proletariat who will face long lines under Obama Care, your privileged position at UCSF should guarantee your nagging boils will receive prompt attention.   

                   Boudhanath - photo by JoAnn Sturman

Karl Marx and UCSF School of Medicne

Mr. Karl Marx, new Dean at UCSF School of Medicine

Scott Sturman, M.D.

This week the following unsolicited message was sent from UCSF Medical School’s Office of Diversity and Outreach to the addressees seen below.  The name of the author has been redacted. The highly charged, controversial nature of the document generated by a faculty member of a public institution supported by the taxpayers clearly demonstrates the politicization of academic medicine.  The plea for social justice with all the trappings of wealth redistribution, equality of outcome, and proscription to levy any value judgment along with the author's call for disruptive demonstrations makes even the most indifferent observer raise an eyebrow.  However, it is the salutation "In Solidarity," the old Marxist-Leninist call to arms, that reaffirms the notion that the Left is deeply imbedded in more that just political science and sociology departments.

Rather than lecture the medical community on the benefits of group think, civil disobedience, and socialized medicine, the author should spend more time in the operating room or on the ward teaching medicine, unless, of course, this was never his forte.  And in that case, there must be plenty of openings on the faculty at a medical school in Havana or Caracas.

December 10, 2014

UCSF Student Learners, Faculty, Staff, and Community Members,

The recent events in Ferguson and New York City have brought national attention to long-felt issues surrounding systemic inequalities that disproportionally impact underrepresented minorities, particularly Black men. We extend our condolences to the families of Michael Brown, Eric Gardner, and those touched by these incidents. Our nation has witnessed a response, which has brought together communities of color and allies, many who have engaged in peaceful protests and non-violent demonstrations. Inherent in the tenants of our values, UCSF and the Office of Diversity and Outreach (ODO) know that “Black Lives Matter”.  As a public institution, we work tirelessly to address health disparities and promote social justice in our work as learners, educators, clinicians, and researchers.

On behalf of the UCSF leadership, I want to acknowledge how proud we are of our UCSF Community for living these values, and we want to commend our student leaders who have organized and engaged in peaceful demonstrations that acknowledge the relation of racism and violence to health, as awareness is the first step towards change.  The Chancellor’s Executive Leadership Committee, The Office of Diversity and Outreach, the Multicultural Resource Center, and countless campus partners are working together to implement effective strategies to address unconscious bias, increase cultural competencies, and engage in socially just practices. The wisdom of Dr. King reminds us that as human beings, our freedom is inextricably bound together. All lives matter, and our UCSF community stands united in this journey.

In Solidarity,
XXXX

African Genesis?

Tanzania

Scott Sturman

I have been to Africa four times, less than three months, but it’s more than enough time to come to the conclusion that Africans are dissimilar racially, ethnically, and religiously, and Blacks in the United States are not culturally African.  Not surprisingly, real Africans do not use first names fraught with rhyming, alliterative syllables and plentiful apostrophes, as do American Blacks.  Muslim Africans use traditional Islamic first names such as Muhammed, Qasim, and Fatima. Christians opt for names like John, Joseph, and Mary.  The truly African names often begin with unusual letter combinations like “Mb,” “Nk,” or “Nd.”

From Morocco to South Africa and Egypt to Tanzania, Africans are a diverse lot.  The Muslim north historically has treated their black neighbors to the south poorly.  Tribal loyalties often take precedence over national boundaries established by the Europeans.  The similarity of sub Saharan tribes penetrates no deeper than skin level.  The term African American is imprecise at best and stereotypical.  A Coptic Christian from Cairo, a Muslim from Mogadishu, an Afrikaner from the Transvaal, and a Bantu from Kinshasa living in the United States all could be tagged with the appellation “African American.” 

Karnak

Some years ago I had the good fortune of having Samia Asindamu as a guide on Mount Kilimanjaro.  His expertise was not confined to guiding, for he proved to be an able manager, physiologist, and psychologist, which are essential skills to lead 97% of his often inexperienced clients to the top of the 19,340 foot mountain.  Wilderness Travel, his contractor, recognized his abilities and sponsored him to visit the United States to promote the company’s treks on Kilimanjaro.  He enjoyed the experience and remarked about the hospitality and generosity of most Americans with one notable exception - inner city urban Blacks, who treated him in a confrontational manner and were not indisposed to employ physical intimidation.  The irony perplexed this thoroughly African gentleman, who could not understand why those were closest to him phenotypically were the source of his greatest angst.

In Tanzania elderly males are respected and provide stability within their communities.  Mr. Asindamu offered this example:  If two young Tanzanian males get in a fight and are ordered to stop by an elder, they are compelled to do so.  To defy an elder in these circumstances is a grave mistake that would have lasting repercussions on the young men’s standing in the community.  Order is maintained and violence avoided.  This African custom is consigned as a bygone memory in American inner cities.

Volubilus, Morocco

For all the fanfare and talk of African roots, Black inner city culture is not African.  It is a dependent, matriarchal, urban lifestyle, which has morphed from its African roots.  It is an  unsustainable life style without the infusion of enormous resources over long periods of time from government and charitable agencies.  The stabilizing influence of elders, the functioning family unit, and the traditions of hospitality were abandoned decades ago and thousands of miles away.

Political correctness emphasizes differences, keeping old wounds open and providing careers for those who make their living in the dirty business of racial politics.  The Left and the talking heads of the media bear as much to blame as Black leaders whose influence wanes when Blacks think independently.  My friends and colleagues whose ancestors came from Africa have little more in common with the continent that I do.  We have similar goals, among them raising children, working hard, maintaining a solid professional reputation, and getting through life with as few bumps as possible.  We tend to perceive ourselves as individuals rather than by racial identity.

Oddly, tribal behavior at the ballot box is one of the few African traditions which has survived in America.  By blindly supporting their chieftains and the Democratic Party at voting percentages well in excess of 90%, even Comrade Stalin would be proud.  American Blacks would do well discard this self destructive behavior and adapt the uniquely American custom of placing individual interests above those of their self serving leaders.   

Tanzania

The Kurdish Women’s Movement

Kurdish Soldiers: Where's the Burkha?

Scott Sturman

Bleak times afford opportunities that otherwise may not have been possible.  World War II gave American women access to jobs and professional options outside the home.  With men fighting in the Pacific and Europe women provided an untapped resource working in factories and serving in the military to support the war.  Victory would not have possible without their efforts.  Since then they have never looked back, continuing to make progress to gain parity in society.  ISIS and its medieval minded leaders may give Kurdish women a similar chance in a region of the world with strong links to the past.

Rosey the Riveter

In the long term no modern country can compete on the world stage when it denies women equal opportunity.  With talent evenly distributed between the sexes, religious and cultural strictures consigning millions of intelligent women to be subservient to stupid men is an enormous waste of resources.  No where is this scenario more graphic than in the Middle East, where sectarian machismo mires the region in incessant conflict at the hands of corrupt, despotic rulers.

Kurds are ethnically and culturally different than Turks and Arabs.  Living in Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Turkey, they number 35 million, making them the largest minority in the world without a sovereign nation.  They have been steadfast allies of the United States, despite our nonsensical insistence they remain part of Iraq.

Kurds tend to be more secular than their neighbors, and women enjoy relatively more freedom than women in other parts of the Middle East, including our self serving Saudi allies.  Kurdish women have a great deal to lose if ISIS subjugates the Levant.  They would be compelled to live under Sharia Law, forfeiting all rights as human beings.  They fight along side men in combat, a condition rarely found in any part of the world.  It is rumored ISIS fears fighting women soldiers, for to die at the hands of a woman in combat denies them the death of a martyr and pleasures awaiting them in Paradise.

If Kurdistan become an independent country and the ISIS threat stopped, much of the credit will go to Kurdish women, who like their American female counterparts in WWII, made enormous sacrifices to stop a deadly menace that threatened civilized life.  

 Much to Lose and Much to Gain

Is There a Doctor in the House?

Southeast Asia - photo by JoAnn Sturman

Scott Sturman

CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden's vexing interview with Megyn Kelly demonstrates how an intelligent man can sound foolish when he becomes more politician than physician.  Historically, the prudent manner to deal with fatal communicable diseases where appropriate therapies are lacking has been quarantine.  As the medical community gains greater understanding of effective therapies, the extent of the quarantine is adjusted.  The handling of the issue has been so incoherent that even the main stream media and CNN have joined the chorus of more sensible people who prefer to combat the disease at its source rather than in the United States.

Ironically, it wasn't the AMA or other medical organizations which exposed the breach, but the Leftest press which embarrassed the Obama Administration to deign to address the fiasco by naming an Ebola Czar.  A wise choice would have been to appoint an independent epidemiologist, who by training is best suited to investigate diseases and coordinate treatment.

Ebola is no less a medical problem than a patient with a coronary artery occlusion or a ruptured colon. It would be ludicrous to suppose anyone other than a cardiologist or surgeon should treat these problems.  What about a situation when a powerful politician is suspected of malfeasance and a special prosecutor is warranted? Would the public be best served if anyone other than an attorney handled the investigation?  Yet if there is any question whether Mr. Obama sees Ebola as a medical or a political problem, the appointment of a lawyer and consummate political hack to spearhead the response answers the question.

Bandido Brewery

Bandido Business Card

Scott Sturman

Our guide Freddy had a hard time finding Quito’s Bandido Brewery and arrived very late to help us celebrate climbing, or in some of our cases, attempting to climb Cayambe, Cotopaxi, and Chimborazo.

“People used to get killed in this part of town.  Before the economy improved and the government got serious about protecting tourists around the Old Town, their were a lot of knives stuck in the wrong places,” Freddy informed us.  “Now it’s not so bad since there is a police station a block away.” 

 Dan Tending Bandido's Bar

We had taken a taxi to the Bandido this time around, but when we visited the first time two weeks ago we walked from our hotel through the Old Town.  It was filled with tourists and the narrow streets separating the classic Spanish buildings didn’t seem particularly dangerous.

A few months ago we had heard about the Bandido Brewery from our climbing partner, Steve, who discovered its whereabouts quite by accident at the REI store in Portland.

“I’m going climbing in Ecuador and need a new backpack,” Steve informed the clerk.

“You’re not going to be in Quito by any chance?” the clerk replied.

“Why, yes, I am.  I’ll be there for a couple of days before and after climbing, and probably for sometime during the acclimatization process.”

“Well, if that’s the case, you should drop by the Bandido Brewery.  My friend Dan and some of his old college friends went to Quito a few years ago to run a youth hostel.  It didn’t work out, so rather than come back to Oregon, so a year ago they started a micro brewery in Ecuador from scratch.”

When my wife JoAnn, our friend Rick, and I met Steve in Quito this past May, he insisted that before we spent the next two weeks climbing volcanoes we visit the Bandido Brewery near Quito’s Old Town district, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is Latin America’s best preserved historic center.  With map in hand and some roundabout searching, we found the brewery tucked away on Calle Olmedo just east of Old Town.

Quito - photo by JoAnn Sturman

The beer industry in Ecuador is dominated by Pilsener Beer, a light lager sold in large volumes.  It’s a mild, not unpleasant tasting brew meant to be drunk in large quantities.  The company has a virtual monopoly on all levels of the production process to such an extent that it is difficult for competitors to even buy bottles to bottle their beer.

Art Work at the Bandido

The craft beer industry in Ecuador is virtually non existent, so in 2013 three Americans in their early 20s, Nathan, Ryan, and Dan, who had not brewed a bottle of beer between them, decided to open a brewery.  They rightly concluded that young Ecuadorians and foreigners visiting Quito would prefer stronger beers with a variety of tastes.

They read a few books about brewing and began to make craft beers in a small room behind the bar in a rented building near the youth hostile.  Even today the beer is made in the same room, and customers are welcome to take a peek at the process.  Bandido rotates their beers, and on the week of our first visit the selections included an IPA, a porter and an ale, along with a couple of other craft beers made by other small time microbrew operators in Quito.  The beer was delicious, and we told the bartender Dan we would be back in a couple weeks to celebrate, when we were finished climbing and more used to Quito’s 9250 foot altitude.

We were fully acclimatized when we returned to the Bandido, which is helpful when drinking beer with a higher alcohol content.  There were a number of young Ecuadorians and American tourists at the bar who obviously understood the difference between beer that is drunk for volume as opposed to taste.  After having nothing but Pilsener for the past two weeks, we tended to agree with them.

Dan with Steve, Rick, and Scott

One has to admire the entrepreneurial spirit of three young men living in a foreign country and having to deal with capricious bureaucrats and monopolistic competitors.  Yet with all the impediments, the prospects for success seemed brighter than to deal with the stifling business climate in much of the United States.  Yes, Ecuador is corrupt, but the level of corruption at least gives a fledgling business room to maneuver.  They preferred to take their chances with the crooks in Quito rather than the ones back home.

Proposition 46: “And, Oh, By the Way…”

Yosemite Falls - photo by JoAnn Sturman

Scott Sturman, M.D.

The euphemistically entitled Troy and Alana Pack Patient Safety Act of 2014 appears as Proposition 46 on the California ballot in November 2014.  Purportedly, it will save patients lives by compelling physicians to submit to random drug screening and to check electronic data bases prior to prescribing controlled substances.  As if he were making final arguments to a jury in a personal injury case, the proposition’s author Bob Pack contends doctors’ mistakes kill up to 440,000 Americans a year, or as he puts it, “as many as two fully loaded 747s crashing everyday.”  He goes on to conclude that many of these deaths are due to impaired physicians, who could be identified and culled from the system by mandatory, random drug screening.  The presentation is set to music to maximize the dramatic effect, and at its conclusion Mr. Pack makes the pitch to increase pain and suffering awards for medical malpractice from its current $250,000 to $1,000,000 just because the current arrangement “isn’t right.”  Prop 46 Promo by Bob Pack

No one disputes the grief suffered by the Pack family, but in these incidences it is all too easy to cloud the real problem and its solution by resorting to emotional arguments.  For instance, are we to believe 0.15% of the entire United States population dies each year due to doctors’ errors?  What does the phrase “contribute to death” actually mean?  Two acetaminophen pills rather than the intended one, and a patient with a myriad of problems dies two days later?  When reviewing independent  sources to corroborate the scope of the problem, most reports ranged from 98,000 to 200,000 deaths per year.  Unacceptably high to be sure, but one half of a fully loaded 747 crashing everyday does not have the gravity or shock effect of the video’s claim.  Furthermore, the audience is lead to believe that the preponderance of these deaths are due to actions of impaired physicians, but, of course, this is no more than conjecture.  No one really knows what fraction of a 747 crashes each day due to physician negligence stemming from alcohol or drug abuse.

If passed, MICRA legislation will be gutted, so trial attorneys have profound motivation to place their considerable political heft and money behind the measure.  This is clearly the least popular portion of the proposition, and certainly the reason it is addressed in the offhand, “and, oh, by the way” fashion.  Not surprisingly, there is no mention of the increased cost to patients due to higher malpractice insurance premiums or the unwillingness of physicians to continue practicing in a more hostile legal environment.

The proposition’s authors avoid an obvious solution, which would lay the groundwork for a suitable compromise:  any changes must include reasonable tort reform which protects doctors from frivolous law suits and places substantial financial or legal penalties on attorneys who engage in these practices.  These changes would reduce the cost of defensive medicine and hold the legal community responsible for disreputable behavior.

As it is, the tone of the proposition is accusatory and holds doctors in contempt.  It represents another lost opportunity to address a serious issue in a systematic, even handed way.  Checking a computerized data bank before ordering controlled substances has its merits, as long a the data source secure.  Requiring physicians to undergo randomized drug testing is not.  The stipulation was added to the Proposition 46 because it is popular with the public and increases the chances of passage.  Physicians are not pilots or policemen, and most are not union members.  For the vast majority of physicians who do not abuse drugs or alcohol and took an oath to care for their patients, this mandate is an affront to their profession.

From time to time I hear colleagues conceding that pain and suffering limits should be adjusted upward to account for inflation.  This also is a bad idea.  History should teach us the current proposed increase is only an interim step for trial lawyers, who will not rest until there are no limits on pain and suffering.  Despite the proposition’s cited purpose, a few facts are certain:  It certainly will make medical care more expensive and less accessible and trial attorneys more wealthy than ever but not yield the intended safety dividends.  

        Potala in Lhasa - photo by JoAnn Sturman