When A Medical Newsletter Goes “Woke”

By Richard Moss MD

The “woke” is a uniquely pestilential force in the nation and surely lacking in good taste, but one generally does not expect them to appear in what is ostensibly an ENT (Ear Nose and Throat) Newsletter.  Alas, Leftism is religion for the godless, and so they manifest in the most bizarre settings, serving their fundamentalist creed like any believer.  I took note of some mischief in my corner of the universe and responded in writing. 

To the Editor: “In multiple issues over the last couple years, and, particularly, post-George Floyd, the editorial staff at ENT Today decided that an ENT publication should, along with providing ENT information, also promote and advocate for “woke” leftist ideology.^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7} We are already bombarded by this every day and everywhere, in our schools, colleges, the media, Hollywood, professional sports, corporate America, Big Tech, Wall Street, the Democratic Party, and to a lesser extent, even the GOP. It only stands to reason that our cultural betters at ENT Today would feel compelled to educate us on “weakness” as well.

I would ask the enlightened leftist jokesters at ENT Today if there is no bastion where we can be free of woke, race-baiting politics, the demonization of America, the racialization & balkanization of the country, the destructive reduction of the nation from a land of free individuals, possessed of God-given inalienable rights, to a nation of warring “identity groups” or tribes based on race, sex, ethnicity, and sexual orientation? Is it possible for you to spare us the racial taunts, insults, diatribes, and accusations? Must you lecture us on “systemic racism”, “white privilege,” and “diversity, equity, and inclusion” in an ENT Journal? Is there not enough of that already, across the fruited plain? Does the notion of a color-blind meritocracy not ring a bell somewhere in the misty caverns of your woke corpus callosum? Do the words of a famous black preacher, who once spoke of a nation where Americans will “not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content on their character,” no longer measure up? 

Why not stick to your mission of sharing ENT information, which heretofore you performed superbly, and dispense with the cult-Marxism?

You may enjoy virtue-signaling, but you do not help blacks and other minorities by continually picking at the scabs of our racial history. Slavery was universal and present throughout time. It exists today, including in Africa and elsewhere. This may surprise you, but it was not an invention of the United States. Only one nation fought a war to end it – this one. Talk up our country instead of denigrating it. Many of us do not want to hear another lecture on race, the legacy of slavery, and white supremacy, and particularly in an ENT publication. 

Minorities do quite well in “racist” America. Millions of third-world minorities come to “racist” America every year. To be able to live in America is a dream for “people of color” around the world; to have that privilege is to have won life’s lottery. Many risk life and limb to come to “racist” America. It is not America’s fault if there are no identical outcomes for all racial and other identity groups. That’s called “life.” Even within a given family, same genes, same upbringing, there are often gaping disparities, let alone in a nation of 350 million from every walk of life, culture, and nation on earth. Many Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Gays, Muslims, Women, and so on, are very successful, very wealthy, very influential in “racist” America. Many minorities living here, including those from Cambodia, Korea, Pakistan, Bolivia, Iran, Taiwan, India, the Philippines, and many others, enjoy higher per-capita income in “racist” America than whites. We have had, in case you missed it, a black President and now a black Vice President.

How does that happen in a “systemically racist” country?

The answer is we are not systemically racist.

The existence of disparities between races does not mean “systemic racism,” but other factors, such as culture, social dysfunction (high rates of out of wedlock childbirth, educational failure, criminality, incarceration, all particularly high amongst blacks), bad choices, group differences, self-selection, and preference. We have equality of opportunity and treatment before the law. Not equal outcomes. Equal outcomes or “equity” has a name. It’s called Communism. North Korea may be the model you are seeking.

No one questions, for example, that there are few Asians, Hispanics, or even whites, relatively speaking, in the NBA. Because we recognize that the selection of players by the various teams is meritocratic, as it should be. Blacks are better at basketball, by and large. It is not questioned. Every disparity in outcome does not imply fault or indict the society. Perhaps the group may be to blame, or perhaps it merely reflects group differences, self-selection, or preference? There are many more female nurses and teachers than males, for example. Does that imply misandry? Absurd. There are many more men in our military than women. Does that imply misogyny? Ridiculous. Precise proportional representation in a nation this diverse is not possible nor desirable.

I would recommend that you save your lectures for fellow left-wing, “woke” friends and colleagues in your private time, and relieve us of your balkanizing, predictable, and monotonous sermons. And, by the way, spare us other leftist shibboleths as well, such as “climate change.” Puhleease… 

Steer clear of it. We have quite enough of it already. It is ubiquitous. It does not belong in an ENT newsletter. If you want to affect politics write a column for the New York Times or run for office. 

I do not expect you, for example, to make pro-Trump, pro-MAGA pronouncements, or call for secure borders, ending sanctuary cities, locking up criminals, fracking, or abolishing abortion, in an ENT venue, sentiments that I however approve of. But it is not your place to do so and there is an abundance of non-medical, opinion forums for that. Similarly, I do not expect you to drive a divisive, anti-American, leftist agenda, offensive, I would imagine, to the majority of your readers, if not a large plurality, in an ENT publication. 

You have unnecessarily politicized and brought dishonor to what was otherwise an excellent and fine ENT newsletter. A shame. I would recommend you scale it back totally and stick to ENT. However self-righteous and virtuous you may feel in doing so, your unnecessary polemics are distasteful to me and, I suspect, many others. Cut out the race, gender, diversity nonsense, and spare us the politics.” 

I sent this to the Editor and staff at ENT Today along with some 40 odd members of the advisory board. Not surprisingly, I heard not a word. Humility and acceptance of wrongdoing is not a trait of Leftists, besotted as they are with their secular faith.  But, at least, they have heard. Better that than to continue in their stuporous path, oblivious to how drunken they are in their misbegotten ideology.  As there is an awakening occurring in the aftermath of the horrendous COVID panic and hysteria, here too there is a Medical Freedom movement forming. ^{8,9,10,11,12,13,14}

1. Kuppersmith, Ronald B: Letter from the Editor: Otolaryngology Must Address Diversity, Gender Bias, May 5, 2019, ENT Today,

https://www.enttoday.org/article/letter-from-the-editor-otolaryngology-must-address-diversity-gender-bias/ 

2. Chiu, Alexander G.: Letter from the Editor: Lessons We’ve Learned, July 16, 2020, ENT Today

https://www.enttoday.org/article/letter-from-the-editor-lessons-weve-learned/ 

3. Jones, Lamont; Francis, Carrie L; Faucett, Erynne A.: Black Otolaryngologists Share Their Experiences with Discrimination in Medicine, July 31, 2020, ENT Today

https://www.enttoday.org/article/black-otolaryngologists-share-their-experiences-with-discrimination-in-medicine/?singlepage=1 

4. Chiu, Alexander G.: Letter from the Editor: Let’s Talk Politics and Personal Choices, October 12, 2020, ENT Today, https://www.enttoday.org/article/letter-from-the-editor-lets-talk-politics-and-personal-choices/ 

5. Nierengarten, Mary Beth: Opening Doors: An Otolaryngologist Helps to Build Diversity, November 29, 2020, ENT Today,

https://www.enttoday.org/article/opening-doors-an-otolaryngologist-helps-to-build-diversity/

6. Kossoff, Linda: Women in Otolaryngology Hold Fewer Leadership Roles, July 16, 2020, ENT Today https://www.enttoday.org/article/women-in-otolaryngology-hold-fewer-leadership-roles/ 

7. Nierengarten, Mary Beth: How Climate Change May Be Affecting Sleep Patterns For Adults and Children, March 16, 2021, ENT Today,

https://www.enttoday.org/article/how-climate-change-may-be-affecting-sleep-patterns-for-adults-and-children/ 

8. Moss, Richard: Op-Ed: A George Floyd Post-Mortem, September 11, 2020, Indiana Policy Review,

https://inpolicy.org/2020/09/op-ed-a-george-floyd-postmortem/

9. Moss, Richard: George Floyd: Lies, Myths, and Fraud, September 9, 2020, VIPNews,

http://www.theofficialvipnews.com/google2badecc5bb02684b.html/2020/09/09/george-floyd-lies-myths-fraud-by-richard-moss-md/ 

10. Moss, Richard: BLM Republicans, July 22, 2020, American Thinker,

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/07/blm_republicans.html

11. Moss, Richard: Reparations of Liberty? September 16, 2019, American Thinker

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/09/reparations_or_liberty.html

12. Moss, Richard: Hydroxychloroquine, Me, and the Great Divide, May 30, 2020, American Thinker,

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/05/hydroxychloroquine_me_and_the_great_divide.html

13. Moss, Richard: When Red States Act Blue, May 14, 2020 VIPNews

http://www.theofficialvipnews.com/google2badecc5bb02684b.html/2020/05/14/when-red-states-act-blue-by-richard-moss-md/

14. Moss, Richard: The 1932 and 1939 Project: How the New York Times Covered Up Murder and Genocide, November 6, 2019, American Thinker,

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/11/the_1932_and_1939_project_how_the_new_york_times_covered_up_of_murder_and_genocide.html

Richard Moss, M.D., a surgeon practicing in Jasper, IN, was a candidate for Congress in 2016 and 2018. He has written “A Surgeon’s Odyssey” and “Matilda’s Triumph,” available on amazon.com. Contact him at richardmossmd.com or Richard Moss, M.D. on Facebook, Twitter, Parler, GETTR, Gab, and Instagram.