"Volcanoes: Their History, Phenomena and Causes", a book published in 1799 about volcanoes from a religious point of view, is just one of the many books being tossed by one of the world's most highly rated universities, right here in Toronto. Fortunately, a collection of Jonathan Swift's works was recently saved from the bin by a resourceful man of my acquaintance. A book called "The Early Tudors 1485-1558" by J.D. Mackie was rescued from the same fate by the same book savior. There's a book called, "How the Irish Saved Civilization." Want to know how? Guys just like him. My friend the book savior is Irish-Canadian. Now ask yourself, if one of the most venerable institutions of higher learning in this country and indeed the world is relegating such gems to the dustbin of history, what does that suggest about the state of education today? If this were a construction site and the day laborers, who may not value such a good read, tossed it, you might understand it, but the librarians of a world class university? What can I say? The Fluoride must be doing wonders.
Saturday, August 25, 2018
Timothy Spearman writes
"Volcanoes: Their History, Phenomena and Causes", a book published in 1799 about volcanoes from a religious point of view, is just one of the many books being tossed by one of the world's most highly rated universities, right here in Toronto. Fortunately, a collection of Jonathan Swift's works was recently saved from the bin by a resourceful man of my acquaintance. A book called "The Early Tudors 1485-1558" by J.D. Mackie was rescued from the same fate by the same book savior. There's a book called, "How the Irish Saved Civilization." Want to know how? Guys just like him. My friend the book savior is Irish-Canadian. Now ask yourself, if one of the most venerable institutions of higher learning in this country and indeed the world is relegating such gems to the dustbin of history, what does that suggest about the state of education today? If this were a construction site and the day laborers, who may not value such a good read, tossed it, you might understand it, but the librarians of a world class university? What can I say? The Fluoride must be doing wonders.
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In Stanley Kubrick's 1964 Cold War satire "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" featured Peter Sellers in a variety of roles, including general Jack Ripper, who justified instigating a nuclear war against the Soviet union this way: “Have you ever heard of a thing called fluoridation? Fluoridation of water? Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face?” The American experiment in fluoridation of water supplies to prevent tooth decay began in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1945. After it was reported erroneously that the process would begin early in January, instead of the actual later date, city officials began receiving reports about sore gums and peeling tooth enamel. In 1949 a Wisconsin poet/populist Alexander Y. Wallace denounced fluoride as poison and managed to persuade his city to reject its planned fluoridation project. Although Stevens admitted that he "had nothing against putting fluorine in the water -- he just wanted a good fight," by the late 1950s opposition to the practice had spread among right-wing activists; for instance, in 1959 the influential "Dan Smoot Report" pointed to the government-mandated drugs used to placate and pacify the public described in Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" and asked rhetorically “How could ruling authorities ever manage to give drugs to an entire population?” His answer, of course, was via the water supply. The March 31, 1960, issue of "The Independent" (“A Died-in-the-Wool Yankee-Doodle Journal of Patriotism for Vigilant Constitutionalists”) declared unequivocally, “Former Communists have stated that fluoridation is known to Communists as a method of Red Warfare,” and implied that the U.S. Public Health Service had been infiltrated by Communists. But the opposition has not been confined to one side of the political spectrum; even left-wing environmentalist organizations like the Sierra Club warn about “potential adverse impact of fluoridation on the environment, wildlife, and human health.” Nevertheless, by 2008 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 72% of Americans had access to fluoridated water and claimed the practice as one of the century's 10 most important public health achievements.
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