confused (again)

[Guest guest]

If you are in California you probably got the notice from the

Acupuncture Board that we are not to sell herbs over the internet

without seeing the patient. That was the gist of it. Now I started to

think about this. Does that mean we cannot write about TCM and tell of

the common ways to treat conditions? What if I write a book or

pamphlet? Can I write articles for a company that is selling the herbs

even if I don't profit from that sale? At what point does the

acupuncture Board consider me prescribing without using face to face

contact as a necessary diagnostic tool?

doug

[Guest guest]

Doug,

 

Like you, I am confused. Maybe that's because

I'm back in Beijing and not in California.

 

But it seems to my confused mind that

these two threads about unauthorized

access to CHA and the unwanted attention

of the State of California are joined

at the hip. Not the hip, actually, but

at the words.

 

I just seem never to be able to stop

talking about words. And I don't see

how others find it possible to overlook

the fact that while we continue to generate

our own confusions internally by the

ongoing and ever more adamant refusal

to clarify the definitions of the terms

we use as a part of the basic education

process that we thereby call down upon

ourselves the always unwanted intervention

on the part of the authorities, who

when you come right down it are charged

by the people to deal with confusions.

 

These themes and threads exist in our

realities because we are confused.

 

Why are medical authorities medical

authorities? Because they are perceived

by the public at large to know what they

are talking about.

 

That's what the MD and PhD represent

and mean after doctors' names. They mean

that because and only because that's what

people think they mean.

 

Now examine what it is that gives a medical

authority this appearance. Whatever factors

you come into contact with in such an examination

if you overlook the very basic factor of

mastery of the medical nomenclature, you

have missed the root of the matter.

 

If we could come together as a group and

dedicate ourselves to developing a real

set of standards of nomenclature, it would

go so far in helping us address the various

issues that we discuss and debate here

that we would have the impression that

something like devine intervention had

occurred. It would be magic.

 

Don't take my word for it. Let's just

give it a try. Let's find a way to properly

educate ourselves in the most fundamental

aspects of our subject and discipline

so that when we talk to each other

or to the public in any medium or form

that we can be seen to be talking about

something comprehensible and therefore

credible. This begins and ends in having

mastery of the nomenclature. Without

mastery of the nomenclature we are

doomed to evermoreendlessconfusion.

 

It is now patently clear to one and all

or it sure oughta be by now

that a wide range of prerequisites

and fundamentals have been systematically

overlooked by the existing educational

infrastructures that are in place and

that constitute the status quo.

 

You want to have greater position and

status in the media and among the public?

 

Spruce up your standards and your substantive

root. The appearance can only reflect what

lies within.

 

Get everyone speaking the same language?

 

Do you know what effect it has on someone

in the media when they contact a dozen

different " experts " in the course of researching

a piece about Chinese medicine and everyone

seems to have a slightly different meaning

in mind for the most basic terms?

 

How do you think we got into this tower

of babel situation?

 

Of course the State of California is going

to step in to regulate what appears from

the public's point of view to be a vast

confusion and therefore a credible threat

to public health.

 

If we want to take control of our public

positioning and of our status and of

our rights to do, say, act, publish,

etc. as and whatever we individually and

collectively see fit, the single most effective step

we can collectively take is to truly

clear up our terminology and establish

a level playing field on which everyone

involved can communicate freely and

effectively, even if you get blasted

for doing so.

 

Now no doubt there's someone out there

who wants to blast me for saying so.

 

Ken

 

,

wrote:

> If you are in California you probably got the notice from the

> Acupuncture Board that we are not to sell herbs over the internet

> without seeing the patient. That was the gist of it. Now I started

to

> think about this. Does that mean we cannot write about TCM and

tell of

> the common ways to treat conditions? What if I write a book or

> pamphlet? Can I write articles for a company that is selling the

herbs

> even if I don't profit from that sale? At what point does the

> acupuncture Board consider me prescribing without using face to

face

> contact as a necessary diagnostic tool?

> doug