Bad Medicine

I knew about some of the human experiments that were conducted in the past, however, it still did not help me from getting extremely disturbed by the historical facts revealed in the reading. While reading the descriptions of the experiments as well as the reasoning behind those cruel experiments, what the College of Lucidity in Pox Party was doing made more sense. There were many inhumane practices that were illustrated in the novel that were described in the reading. Such examples include conducting experiments on mentally handicapped, omitting "unfavorable details," notion of "greater goods," lack of informed consent, and forcefulness of obtaining experimental subjects. Tuskegee Syphilis experiment was one of the experiments that was guilty of committing most, if not all, of the mentioned practices discussed in the reading. The victims, or subjects, of the Tuskegee experiment were deceived, lied, and plainly observed while they were suffering and dying. In addition, it mentioned that the funding cut was the main reason behind not properly treating the subjects. These things highly overlapped with what went on in Pox Party, suggesting how common of a practice harmful human experimentations were in recent history.
As I was reading, I was horrified how horrendous these "scientific" experiments were, but at the same time, it raised a question of how to determine what is cruel and inhumane, and what is not. As stated in the reading, main population were incapable of fully understanding what these experiments meant, letting scientists and doctors get away with their actions. The immorality of human experimentation without consent is very clear to us now, but it was not back in the day. It makes me wonder how much scientific experiments, policies, and incentives we accept as "norm" and "better for the society" are actually very harmful and cruel, just as the human experiments. We may simply be led to believe that there is no other ways, or simply deprived of "unfavorable details" about what is actually happening around us in the society, letting some people get away from their responsibilities. It is a scary thought that there are plenty of cruelty going on without anyone actually noticing that it is, in fact, a cruelty.