Gay bashing in the medical blogosphere or just humor? You decide
Gay bashing in the medical blogosphere?
Some controversy this weekend.
Scalpel and Graham have at it.
I found this on Kevin's site and it caught my attention.
Blogging can be dangerous, and I try to be sensitive to the topics I write about. Part of the reason I started my new blog is to have some more freedom, but I always worry about offending readers.
To summarize the situation, scalpel made some remarks about an apparently homosexual patient.
Graham did not approve and has boycotted scalpel.
Scalpel has a response as well explaining his remarks.
I have to admit that I side with scalpel. Although I do not agree with parts of his post, he has the right to blog about it. I also think graham has the right to boycott him, but I will not be doing that.
I await the votes and will like to see who is in the minority.
Labels:
blogging ethics
7 comments:
The wonderful thing about blogging is that we fully utilize our precious "freedom of speech". I've yet to see anything on Blogger be removed and clicking the "random blog" button enough times shows a few things you may have not wanted to see which clearly proves that we really do have a fairly broad range of freedom of speech here.
I like Scalpel's blog, I found his comment on the apparently homosexual patient humorous. Am I homophobic? Far from it. But nonetheless, a little black comedy never goes unappreciated on this Goofy (Newfie X German).
Do I agree with OMMB boycotting Scalpel? Again, all in free speech, sorta. If you choose not to like someone's blog, well then you don't like it. Stop reading it. Stop associating with whoever that blog author is and get on with your life. Making a huge deal out of something so trivial is a little childish if you ask me. Someone needs to take their toys and move to another sandbox. (please note, "you" is general and not specific to YOU ^.^).
Likewise, the medical student calling Scalpel on his supposed 'unprofessionalism' over a topic on a blog seems a little childish. First of all, Scalpel never mentions any identifying features of said patient. For all we know, the patient was female and a lesbian. For all we know, the 12 year old boy may have been an 8 year old girl. Secondly, Scalpel's blog in no way harms his job, his practice or his patients so really I fail to see where this unprofessional behavior accusation stems from. Is it just because OMMB disagrees with Scalpel and can't find the appropriate words to express that or what?
Since none of us were there with Scalpel when he was dealing with both patients (who actually, may have not even existed for all we know), none of us has the right to accuse Scalpel of being unprofessional. We didn't see his interactions with the patient and I'm fairly confident that he wasn't telling him to stop being a sissy (insert derogatory remark) and suck it up.
Also, as for the title of your poll "Gay bashing...", I don't necessarily see Scalpel's post as bashing gays. Just because the patient happened to probably BE gay doesn't mean Scalpel is bashing ALL gays. I may post a hilarious thing overheard in my day coming from the mouth of an African-American and might end it with something less than politically correct but that doesn't mean I'm bashing African-Americans.
There's plenty of sandboxes to play in, don't want to share the space then find somewhere else and I think Scalpel has taken that sort of attitude with his blog.
Scalpel, if you read this - I profusely apologize if I sound as though I am speaking for you. This is not my intention and if I have gotten anything wrong, I again apologize for that.
Oh, and Dr. Savatta - in your picture there is that a da Vinci machine?
P.S - If I mispelled anything, please don't hold it against me. I'm running on about 5 hours sleep in about 36 hours. I probably shouldn't even be at work :)
Just for the record, I'm not asking anyone to "boycott" Scalpel. I'm asking people to voice their opinions that they don't think his language or post was appropriate for anyone to use--let alone a physician.
If he had used ANY racial slur, would we even be having this discussion?
Just for the record, I think it's a stretch to consider any of my comments "gay bashing." And I didn't use any racial slur, or any slur at all. In fact, I never even specifically said the patient in question was gay, did I? He did have a guy with him, but it could have been his brother for all I know. I don't ask patients if they are homosexual or not, because I don't really care and I'd rather not know. If they want to tell me, they can do so on their own.
My post was intended as much a slam on John Edwards as it was patients with low pain tolerances who act like sissies.
Anon is so right.
Graham is nothing more than a whining PC crybaby and I am not hopeful he will grow up. Can you say "aging hippie"?
People like that are screwing up America.
What really annoys me about this is Graham's constant comparison to "what if he said the n-word" like it's a valid analogy. That logic is COMPLETELY FALSE. It could be applied to ANYTHING. If Scalpel called someone a "nerd" and Graham didn't like it, well, what if you replace the word "nerd" with the n-word? Totally racist! Obviously then it's completely unacceptable to call anyone a "nerd". It's just absolutely ridiculous that anyone would think that's a valid argument.
So, John Edwards is now analagous to n****? I hate the guy as much as the next conservative, but I think that's taking it a bit far.
Interesting the conclusion some folks jump to.
(And FWIW, my best friend for the past 14+ years is as gay as they come, so I have seen real gay-bashing. Up close. And this isn't it.)
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