Dear Dr Galea, thank you very much for sharing your thoughts on this really interesting issue.
Apart from the answers you stated, I want to add one more, hoping that I am on the path of your thought: I think that in our line of work (the field of health promotion in all terms) we should never forget that people, either individuals or populations, have different degrees of freedom• the last and probably the most important is to disagree with our, or any given, doctrine/advice/truth. After that, what is left is our persistence on doing what we know/believe is right and at the same time letting go of our expectations, and our disappointments and frustration. Thank you again for the insight.
Thank you for this. You are absolutely right. Above all, it is far better to strive for the values we hold dear, than castigate others who do may not share them, and indeed, may well be right not to share them. A healthy, robust society is one that allows for diversity of thought and purpose.
I am always happy to see more perspectives from within public health focusing on individual autonomy. I would take it even further: health is not the only means to happiness, and risk is not always to be avoided. I do not (primarily) see my own work as trying to make people healthier but to produce good information. Hopefully, we do our jobs well enough for individuals and organizations to use our findings to make decisions and weigh the risk-benefit more accurately. (Contagion is a notable exception, where appropriate decision-making fundamentally involves the meso and macro scales.)
Dear Dr Galea, thank you very much for sharing your thoughts on this really interesting issue.
Apart from the answers you stated, I want to add one more, hoping that I am on the path of your thought: I think that in our line of work (the field of health promotion in all terms) we should never forget that people, either individuals or populations, have different degrees of freedom• the last and probably the most important is to disagree with our, or any given, doctrine/advice/truth. After that, what is left is our persistence on doing what we know/believe is right and at the same time letting go of our expectations, and our disappointments and frustration. Thank you again for the insight.
Like where you went with this line of thinking, Dean Galea, and thank you for raising the value of respect for those who think and live differently.
In response to a Living Virtues challenge by Dr. Fineberg years ago, I offered a far less artful angle to some of your points, in the "Prudence in Action" submission at https://nam.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/PO-Living-Virtues-of-Public-Health.pdf.
The words are easy, the practice is hard, and life-learning keeps this reader humble.
Thank you for this. You are absolutely right. Above all, it is far better to strive for the values we hold dear, than castigate others who do may not share them, and indeed, may well be right not to share them. A healthy, robust society is one that allows for diversity of thought and purpose.
I am always happy to see more perspectives from within public health focusing on individual autonomy. I would take it even further: health is not the only means to happiness, and risk is not always to be avoided. I do not (primarily) see my own work as trying to make people healthier but to produce good information. Hopefully, we do our jobs well enough for individuals and organizations to use our findings to make decisions and weigh the risk-benefit more accurately. (Contagion is a notable exception, where appropriate decision-making fundamentally involves the meso and macro scales.)