As Gaza Hospitals Collapse, Medical Workers Face the Hardest Choices

From an academic perspective, bioethicists often discuss a health care worker’s “duty to care.” Health care workers are good people and are willing to give of themselves in order to care for the infirm and vulnerable.

Reading a story like this brings the agony and terror of negotiating one’s duty to care in the midst of death and destruction from theory to the reality of life. I cannot imagine the burden these health care workers are bearing on behalf of these patients.

“We choose who gets ventilation by deciding who has the best chance of survival,” [Mohammed Qandil] said. “For us as a team, these aren’t easy decisions. It’s a morally sensitive issue with a lot of guilt.”

This is a tremendous amount of moral distress for health care workers. I pray for peace in the region, for the end of suffering, and that health care workers will have what they need to care for those in need.

Can Humanities Survive the Budget Cuts?

Full disclosure: I have multiple degrees in the humanities. 😃🎓

This article focuses on the state auditor of Mississippi and his judgment of ROI for state spending on higher education. I think there should be a healthy debate on the ROI of a degree & I would offer that most people’s sense of ROI is far too narrow. But, I digress…

Here’s the quote that is stuck in my mind:

Mr. White, the Republican state auditor, said his first questioning was whether state spending on degree programs matched the needs of the economy.

This quote demonstrates the limited–and ultimately harmful–perspective of Mr. White and his peers in the GOP. This perspective places education and students in service of the economy. This is backwards. The economy should serve people. State higher education funding should serve people. Thinking of people as a means to achieve the end of growing the economy is ultimately degrading and dismissive of the dignity each is due.

The U.S. would be much better off if state leaders made funding decisions based on what serves people. Funding humanities programs promotes the common good by empowering the citizenry to think carefully and critically about the world around them.

However, an electorate educated in the humanities may well select different state leadership. Perhaps this is the ROI feared by Mississippi’s elected officials.

An Old-Fashioned With Brandy? This Must Be Wisconsin

This article demonstrates the divisive era in which we live today. (Cheers! 🥃)

Enjoying a fire on the anniversary of my father’s death. #RIP

Finished reading: Black Health by Keisha Ray 📚

I recommend this book to anyone interested in public health, racial justice, and/or the common good. I will likely assign some of this text in my next section of public health ethics.

Separating Fact From Fiction on Social Media in a Time of Conflict

Useful guidance from Bellingcat for anyone roaming around the internet.

After Babel: Digital Theology and Contextualities

The upcoming conference will explore the interrelation between theology, contextuality and digital technology with particular focus on intercontextuality.

I look forward to this #CFP every year. Participating in this #DigitalTheology Conference is always worth my time. I suggest it will be for you, too!

Internet Artifacts

This was a delightful stroll down memory lane.

The use of the word “artifacts,” however, makes me feel super old. I still remember some Strong Bad Emails as if I saw them last week.

I occasionally struggle to remember that I should assume good intentions. I came across this reminder today…

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.