I apologize for this will have to be a hit and run diary - although I'll try to come back later to reply to any comments, but on my lunchtime headline break I saw this article linked to from CNN.com : Sotomayer's Diabetes: Will It Be A Handicap?
W.T.F.?
What CENTURY are we in?
Who in the WORLD would suggest this to be a disabiling factor for a Justice? Good Lord, thanks to the hard work of the American Diabetes Association, diabetics are not only able to live long and productive lives, but their career opportunities are much more secure than ever. Advances in treatment and management are truly amazing-where a diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes a hundred years ago could have been a death sentence, these days it is possible for diabetics, yes even type-1, insulin dependent diabetics, to live normal, long and healthy lives.
So what century is the author, Alice Park, living in when she writes:
The nominee's chronic condition is worth noting, since it puts her at increased risk of several serious medical conditions, including heart disease, kidney problems, blindness and nerve damage — and an increased risk of early death. Studies show that adults with diabetes are two to four times more likely than non-diabetics to die of heart disease.
No, Alice. Her condition is not really worth noting because it is a manageable condition and if she has been living with it as long as you say she has, she is probably doing a pretty good job of doing just that - managing her diabetes.
Would you have written a comparable article of she were a smoker?
The kind of ignorance and fear mongering in this piece smells suspiciously to me of Rove and his RW noise machine. In fact, later in the brief article, Parker does quote the President of the American Diabetes Association, Dr. R. Paul Robertson:
"In the days leading up to this nomination, there were several media reports suggesting that Judge Sotomayor should not be considered for this position simply because she has type 1 diabetes. The advancements in the management of type 1 diabetes have been just amazing over the last two decades and the ability of people to manage their diabetes successfully has been proven. People with diabetes can function and live a long and healthy life."
So great - but within her article there is lots of scary information about the terrible, horrible things that befall patients with diabetes. People that don't manage their diabetes. And yes, the complications are awful and horrible and scary. But writing scary things about the complications of untreated diabetes has exactly nothing to do with Sotomayor's qualifications as a Justice. Unless Parker is insinuting that all these horrible, terrible awful things will befall a diabetic on the bench. The Horror! The Ignorance!!!
Following her opening salvo about why Sotomayor's condition is "worth noting" Parker says the latest data suggests that the disease can be successfully managed for four or five decades without serious complications...she then helpfully points out that the trend in reduced deaths due to heart disease has only been seen "among men", which of course Judge Sotomayor is not.
Way to pick and choose your talking points there. oy.
I am just appalled that this is the kind of reporting we are seeing in a once well-regarded news magazine. I really think this is the kind of negative dirty rumor mongoring that the right wing excels in - getting ANYTHING negative about anyone, in any capacity out into the public's mind through a complicit or ignorant media.
So negative - and so woefully INCORRECT!
I am married to a type 1 diabetic. And yes, insulin shots were a pain, as was checking blood glucose levels regularly. Then, a minor medical miracle - insulin pumps were invented! Those really allow a diabetic to lead a very close-to-normal life! Insulin is administered regularly, at low levels, in a much more natural pattern, and then for each meal, extra insulin is released. Of course, the monitoring and counting and changing pump injection sites never ends for a diabetic. But this is the kind of modern medical treatment that makes this condition manageable, and allows diabetics to live relatively normal, healthy and long lives.
I am appalled at the ignorance of TIME magazin in even publishing an article like this - it is rife with ignorance about this condition and the effect it would have on a Supreme Court Justice. It just seems like a real hit piece, and the kind of under the rader attempt at undermining her candidacy that really surprises me for its ignorant audacity.
I truly apologize for having to post and run, but I am picking up family at the airport soon - in fact, I really shouldn't have stopped to write this but I am really and truly outraged at this kind of low, ignorant "journalism". It just seems like Time is either willfully complicit or ignorantly being played by the right wing rumor machine and I will call them out whenever I see it. Where are our real journalists these days? I mean, HOW MANY college journalism programs are there in the U.S.? How many graduates? And this is the kind of ridiculous drivel that the public gets? Who needs journalism schools when THIS is the kind of silliness that gets published?
Sorry to rant, but I thought this community would find it interesting - they are going to try to knock her down using every trick in the book and they are not wasting any time! They will use any means necessary and this article just looks like one of their more desperate ploys.
Shame on you, TIME.com.