Health Myth 8: Without Death and Disease, The World Would be a Better Place

People would not believe so strongly in our capability to conquer death, disease, and suffering, if this were not perceived to be a worthy goal. In a simplistic, black-and-white way, disease and suffering have become our enemies, the "bad guys." Who would disagree that if it were possible to eliminate them, we should?

This is probably more of a philosophical issue than anything else and certainly not one that has been overlooked by millions of others! It all boils down to whether or not certain forms of suffering might serve a useful purpose, or whether a life free of pain would be worth living. However, I don't think this blog is a useful place to try to answer those questions. I am more interested in the assumptions that underlie our answers to these questions.

I am not trying to argue that all medical advances are bad, or that no one should try to cure illnesses. What I am questioning here is the ultimately purpose for which we do this, the framework for understanding health that this entails, and the potential consequences of our endeavours.

What I find problematic is this: the assumption that there is one physical ideal, that any deviation from this ideal is problematic, that health should be viewed in moralistic terms, and that any inability to bring deviations under control (so that everyone can approximate the one ideal) should be viewed as a human failure, and not simply a necessary part of human existence that we should learn to accept in some way. Accepting the bodies that we have may, in part, mean accepting the occasional aches and pains, accepting weaknesses, and accepting our appearance. If we can't be content with what we have before trying to "improve" things, then we will never be happy.

I would also argue that our inability to be content with what we have, our constant desire for something more and better, is a product of capitalism and the processes by which capitalist interests attempt to increase demand by increasing want. Likewise for our unceasing faith in the ideology of progress and the benefits of science and technology, which serves to naturalize and legitimate the capitalist world order as the apex of cultural evolution.