Open Reading Frame

I admit I never paid a lot of attention to Derek Lowe's In The Pipeline, but I had good intentions of doing so. It seemed like a good way to get a look at the pharmaceutical industry from the inside. Now, however, Lowe has laid his political cards on the table, and in so doing revealed himself to be someone I cannot take seriously. He is going to vote for Bush. It seems that a dollar in his pocket trumps a thousand American and countless thousands of Iraqi casualties in an indefensible, illegal, immoral, inadequately planned and poorly executed war, and that the fear inspired in him by Kerry's "constant hammering on the drug companies" (that he will be "tossed out in the street", no less) overrides the deliberate erosion of civil liberties and democratic processes, the lavish and corrupt catering to the superwealthy at the expense of the middle and lower classes, the degradation of the education system, an undeclared war on women and an open war on the glbt. I don't buy Lowe's claim that his biggest argument with Kerry is on foreign policy: he (Lowe) does not seem stupid (which one would have to be in order really to believe that Kerry would be worse than Bush in re: foreign policy) so I take this to be merely a cover for Lowe's intention to vote on the basis of an exaggerated fear for his own bank balance. I won't waste my time reading the weblog of someone so intellectually dishonest -- particularly not when I want a balanced view of the pharmaceutical industry! -- so Lowe is off the blogroll.

Sorry to lose you. I can take seriously someone who's planning to vote for Kerry, while still disagreeing with their choice. But it's your blog, your blogroll, and your opinion - best of luck with all three.

Clearly we don't (and won't, and probably can't) agree on the war in Iraq. But I should add that I supported it from the beginning, and still do. You can question my intelligence for holding that view, but please don't see it as venality. It's not that a "dollar in my pocket" is enough to outweigh some huge reserve of loathing on the other side of the balance.

I already agree with Bush more than with Kerry on Iraq - Kerry's position versus my industry just seals the deal. I should add that that part about losing my job isn't just rhetoric. Hundreds of my co-workers have lost theirs in the last three years. With Merck in trouble and GlaxoSmithKline not hiring, to pick two of the largest outfits, where will everyone go?

Comment number: 006515 Posted by: Derek Lowe on October 26, 2004 10:48 AM from IP: 192.80.68.68

"Now, however, Lowe has laid his political cards on the table, and in so doing revealed himself to be someone I cannot take seriously...he (Lowe) does not seem stupid (which one would have to be in order really to believe that Kerry would be worse than Bush in re: foreign policy)"

Ah, yes, the favorite tool of demagogues and dictators: those who disagree with us on complex issues are obviously either stupid or dishonest (immoral? maybe even evil?), and therefore their attempts to engage in reasoned debate are not to be taken seriously.

Suggestion to the host: take a good, hard look in the mirror, think about what you wrote, and then maybe take another look in the mirror. It's a nuanced world out there -- you just may be wrong about something from time to time...

"Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it." - T. Jefferson

Comment number: 006516 Posted by: biff on October 26, 2004 08:43 PM from IP: 68.63.130.115