POLITICALLY CORRECT MEDICINE

If an award existed for the most politically correct publication in the world, The British Medical Journal would stand a good chance of winning it. There is practically no liberal nostrum to which that venerable periodical, with a worldwide circulation of nearly half a million, does not subscribe. A recent issue was devoted to the subject of war. The BMJ’s attitude to war is like that of President Coolidge’s to sin: it is against it. This is because war is so bad for the health. The white man has spoken.

Fortunately for the world, the BMJ has discovered the causes of war. They are the same as the causes of all the other evils in the world: inequality and poverty. Just eliminate these, and universal peace will reign.

It seems to have escaped the BMJ’s notice that attempts during the 20th century to achieve radical equality were not themselves entirely pacific or good for the health. Likewise, it failed to notice that famine was much more likely to be a consequence of war than its cause. And the idea that wars are fought when “individuals are motivated to fight to seek redress” for their poverty is laughable in its historical and psychological ignorance