Muslim countries' news headlines often include information
about groups trying to push through new fatwas, Islamic legal pronouncements
given by those deemed to have authority such as clerics or scholars, on how
best to follow Islam. Being a broadly secular country, I would expect the UK
to be free from this kind of thing yet there are echoes of it on a daily basis
whenever I switch the news on, or pick up a newspaper. I am not, you might have
guessed, referring to the Church of England, as Justin Welby graces us with his
expert views on topics as varied as interest on payday loans, energy prices and
food banks (or is that Labour MP Stella Creasy?) relatively infrequently,
thankfully. Instead it is public health I believe to be a cult that gullible
politicians, state funded "charities" and public health doctors are
pushing to make a full scale national religion, and with some success. Instead
of headlines such as, "Penang Should Cancel 'Un-Islamic' Zumba Carnival,
says NGO", which recently
appeared in Malaysia's Rakyat Post, we are treated to front pages that are
no less ludicrous, like "Ban
Smoking in London's Public Parks and Squares".
Granted, it's incredibly easy to say that health-related
headlines are "based on science" (despite how utterly spurious most
of the research and proclamations actually are) whereas mystical rulings based
on books written hundreds of years ago about a man being flown up to heaven on
what's basically Pegasus but probably named Abdul or something, are not, but
what healthists don't seem to recognise is that not everybody shares their
priorities. For some people life satisfaction comes from living in an insulated
(with multicoloured knitting wrapped around the outside) caravan with a
miniature windmill strapped to the top, trying to confine their carbon
footprint to a hemp baby boot, for others it comes from living life in the
minute with maple syrup and mustard glazed pulled pork pancakes, a Tom Collins,
a cigar, a harem of women and a blackjack table. We are not all the same. A
quick scan through the comments on any Guardian article talking about
ridiculous nanny state proposals such as those made by Labour, leaked in May,
and one would think living to 100 is some sort of duty for all citizens. Here
of course the "costs to the NHS" are cited, which is a pile of
rubbish anyway as studies all show that not only do fat people and smokers
cost healthcare systems less than "healthy people", they also
save a huge amount in pensions which will be going towards 104 year old retired
Guardian readers telling nurses to make sure they're using organic plastic in
the cannula they're having inserted while informing them that the 2031 Japanese
tsunami never would have happened had we ceased to use fossil fuels at the
beginning of the 21st century. And whether or not we should even have an NHS
(spoiler: we shouldn't) is a conversation for another day, but it's funny how
those who want
penalties for people who have come to A+E for falling over when drunk but
not for someone falling over while extreme cycling on a rocky mountain or
something, the only difference apparently being that the latter person is
stupid enough to think that their daft endeavour was in the name of Health.
Warnings about various activities taking on average x number of days, weeks or months off your life also presents living to 100 as the healthists' version of "getting to heaven". So essentially it's even worse than traditional religions in that there're no 72 virgins, and no Jesus and harp-playing angels on a cloud while you feast on hog roast and wine after a lifetime of restricting yourself for your religion. After a century of abiding by the gospel of Health, ensuring never to miss your 4 hours a day of exercise, "mindfulness training" and meditation, and avoiding sinful substances such as sugar, alcohol, nicotine, meat and salt, what's your great reward? Better than 72 virgins? Better than angels playing the harp while you feast and meet everyone you ever wanted to meet who ever died? No. Afraid not. There's just you, in a wheelchair, blowing out three candles on a cake, one candle reading "1" and the other two reading "0". Great. Here you are. You've made it!
And it's not just gluttony (obesity, sugar, smoking) and sloth (not signed up to a Bokwa class yet? It's the new Zumba apparently. Though I still haven't a clue what the established Zumba looks like) of the 7 Deadly Sins that have been co-opted by public health. Lust is also a "public health issue" and not just in the sense of condoms and getting tested for STDs. In May the Telegraph reported that a panel of health workers, social workers, academics, activists and the usual suspects declared that pornography is a "major public health crisis", an "untreated pandemic" that "needs to be tackled in the same manner as smoking or drink-driving." As those working in public health tend to be raving socialists, greed, also features strongly in the "public health epidemic" discourse, with medical journal The Lancet pronouncing "neoliberalism" and "overconsumption" to be public health issues as well as "income inequality" according to lefty think tank Joseph Rowntree Foundation. In fact public health seems to have decided the only of the original Deadly 7 not to be sins and instead to be lauded are envy (of people richer than them), wrath (at fast food, alcohol and tobacco industries which people willingly buy) and, most of all, pride in that they think they know what's best for everybody, even with regards to economic systems.
Warnings about various activities taking on average x number of days, weeks or months off your life also presents living to 100 as the healthists' version of "getting to heaven". So essentially it's even worse than traditional religions in that there're no 72 virgins, and no Jesus and harp-playing angels on a cloud while you feast on hog roast and wine after a lifetime of restricting yourself for your religion. After a century of abiding by the gospel of Health, ensuring never to miss your 4 hours a day of exercise, "mindfulness training" and meditation, and avoiding sinful substances such as sugar, alcohol, nicotine, meat and salt, what's your great reward? Better than 72 virgins? Better than angels playing the harp while you feast and meet everyone you ever wanted to meet who ever died? No. Afraid not. There's just you, in a wheelchair, blowing out three candles on a cake, one candle reading "1" and the other two reading "0". Great. Here you are. You've made it!
And it's not just gluttony (obesity, sugar, smoking) and sloth (not signed up to a Bokwa class yet? It's the new Zumba apparently. Though I still haven't a clue what the established Zumba looks like) of the 7 Deadly Sins that have been co-opted by public health. Lust is also a "public health issue" and not just in the sense of condoms and getting tested for STDs. In May the Telegraph reported that a panel of health workers, social workers, academics, activists and the usual suspects declared that pornography is a "major public health crisis", an "untreated pandemic" that "needs to be tackled in the same manner as smoking or drink-driving." As those working in public health tend to be raving socialists, greed, also features strongly in the "public health epidemic" discourse, with medical journal The Lancet pronouncing "neoliberalism" and "overconsumption" to be public health issues as well as "income inequality" according to lefty think tank Joseph Rowntree Foundation. In fact public health seems to have decided the only of the original Deadly 7 not to be sins and instead to be lauded are envy (of people richer than them), wrath (at fast food, alcohol and tobacco industries which people willingly buy) and, most of all, pride in that they think they know what's best for everybody, even with regards to economic systems.
Much as Justin Welby would probably be wise to concentrate
on the Church of England rather than what payday loans companies are doing,
public health should stick to dealing with small matters like communicable
diseases and safe drinking water instead of wanting to act like a world
dictator. Oh, and a final note on fatwas - Indonesia's second largest Islamic
organisation, Muhammadiyah received nearly $400,000 in grants from the US-based
public health organisation "Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco
Use" between 2009 and 2011. During this time, Muhammidiyah
issued a fatwa ruling that tobacco is prohibited in Islam. Make of that
what you will.
