Ignaz Semmelweis , a historical example of a critical thinker.

in blurthealth •  3 years ago 

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Today I would like to introduce you to a historical person of the kind of people you should know about, especially in these crazy times, and that person is Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis. This man made a name for himself as a luminary in medicine, saved countless lives, and died before his research was officially recognized.

As is usually attempted nowadays with people who think for themselves, Semmelweis was called a lunatic, imbecile, etc. by his colleagues, the media and ordinary people during his lifetime. If there had been the same "fighting terms" for system critics and critically thinking people at that time as there are today, probably he would have been called a conspiracy theorist, paranoid, etc., too.

Later, this man became depressed, died a lonely death and, in view of his life story at that time, must have wondered why so many people did not want to hear his theses and even defamed him, although his findings demonstrably saved many lives. If one reads through his life story, one cannot avoid recognizing parallels to the present time, in which some people seem to have learned nothing from history.

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By profession, Ignaz Semmelweis was a surgeon and obstetrician at a time when puerperal fever was spreading, which is why a great many mothers died after giving birth. He then observed that death rates varied in different departments. Where doctors assisted in childbirth, the mortality rates were significantly higher than in cases where midwives were at work and the women giving birth were isolated from the male world.

In the 18th century, it was still thought the reason for this fact was mothers were scared to death when they were exposed and a doctor suddenly came in. Ignaz Semmelweis, on the other hand, pursued a completely different theory, put forward his hypotheses and explained when doctors dissected corpses, cadaveric poison got on their hands and they "did not" disinfect or sufficiently clean their hands after this action. If they helped women give birth after this, they transferred this cadaveric poison to the mothers with their unwashed hands and triggered an infection in them without being aware of it.

Unfortunately, there was no knowledge about microorganisms at that time, talking about it was considered to be absolute nonsense! Because people did not know anything about it, Semmelweis' theses were considered as some crazy "theory" (keyword: conspiracy theorist), which is why especially his colleagues portrayed him as a lunatic who would try to explain complex facts with wild ideas. Of course, the fact doctors were worried about their reputation, which was more important to them than the lives of mothers giving birth, also played a role. All of this resulted in the abandonment of recommended changes in the health care system, what cost many lives accordingly.

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A long time after Ignaz Semmelweis' death, after countless defamations and attacks against this man who found out the truth, wanted to save human lives and was driven into depression and death by ignorant hypocrites because of it, a few years after all these events his researches were confirmed in the end and have saved countless lives since then.

What I want to get at with this example is that it has unfortunately always been the case in history that certain achievements and theories were only recognized after the death of forward-looking people, even if one must be grateful that they were recognized at all over long periods of time. Ignaz Semmelweis is a typical example of the kind of person who today is probably called lunatic, conspiracy theorist and so on, because it is easier to run after a herd and follow the arses instead of forming one's "own opinion" on topics.

If someone should recognize now any connections to the today's time, this will be for the mainstream surely also only again a crazy conspiracy theory, which nobody may believe. Ultimately, it is up to everyone to believe in such cases simply state-loyal journalists or to make themselves a picture of then and today's events, which suggest otherwise, not infrequently show how often "conspiracy theories" already became the truth (keyword: Nayirah testimony) and let everyone suspect how "trustworthy" politics & media really are.

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