We all know the term bogeyman — a fictional monster that empowers its inventor. According to Wikipedia,
“parents often say that if their child is naughty, the bogeyman will
get them, in an effort to make them behave.” I always think of the
Falkland Islands. In 1982, by acting as if the Argentine invasion
actually mattered, Margaret Thatcher got herself a big boost in
popularity. In the 1960s, by acting as if Berkeley student protests
were dangerous, Reagan got elected president. The day after 9/11, I
said my big fear was overreaction. I doubt the persons behind the
bombing understood how useful they were to those in power. Bush got a
boost in popularity that lasted years.
When it comes to health, cholesterol is one of the biggest bogeymen. Hyperlipid begins a post about LDL cholesterol like this:
You would be forgiven for thinking that the apoB100
protein (which defines the LDL or VLDL particle) has been evolved over
the past 4.5 billion years to cause cardiovascular disease and the less
of it you have the longer you will live. Listening to a cardiologist
that is (or a BBC reporter on the Today Program grovelling before a
cardiologist). The lower the better. It’s impossible to have too low an
LDL concentration. Statins in the drinking water. You know the patter.
The scientific paper on which his post is based concludes:
Apolipoprotein B at homeostatic levels in blood is an essential innate defense effector against invasive S. aureus infection.
Thanks to Dave Lull.
Even overlooking your contemptuous glance across the Atlantic us-wards, was not that invasion an attempt by an ailing right-wing government, one of the most odious ever to afflict Latin America, to regain popularity? And did not the British victory liberate the Argentines from that odious government?
And again!
Here in Europe we now have the spectacle of Daniel Cohn-Bendit, one of our European student revolutionaries and currently co-president of the group European Greens–European Free Alliance in the European Parliament, storming like Hitler into the Hradcany Castle in Prague and ordering the Czech President to fly the EU flag above the Czech flag.
And to throw in my tuppence-worth (we still have pennies in Britain) my greatest gripe with the film Inherit the Wind is that it is basically a Hollywood whinge against Joseph McCarthy. Now while I am no fan of J. McC., they are the last people who have ground to protest. As an obituary relates, it was the stranglehold of Commies on the actors’ unions in Hollywood that persuaded Ronald Reagan to leave acting and enter politics.