May 29, 2002

Madness Issue #1

Those who rule have the ability to define the rest of us as mad. And sadly so, many accept these definitions. The official reality, in other words, is the one by which we tend to live our lives. We live by a reality that is constructed for us by those who have everything to gain from it and believed in by those who have everything to lose. Our imposed madness can remain only as long as we fail to transcend the official reality.

The above provocative passage is written by Richard Quinney, a sociologist whose reputation, to some degree, was based on challenging the limitations of what he called "reality construction." Quinney was my Ph.d thesis advisor in sociology at New York University and his comments above are taken from his introduction to a book I wrote back in 1971. THE DRUG ADDICTION BUSINESS: A Denunciation Of The Dehumanizing Politics And Practices Of The So-Called Experts was my very first book and it was published by the Dial Press, New York.

The other day, I was flipping through it and focused on Quinney’s comments. He was, of course, pointing to the process by which we allow ourselves to become enslaved to the dominant order. And it prompted me to think of the many health-related issues of our times that are lorded over by those who question any form of criticism. Pick your topic: those in control use tactics to disarm, humiliate, and to destroy reputations. Little wonder that so many people, fearing for their jobs, friendships, and even their lives, opt for conformity to the status quo.

As editor of Redflagsweekly.com, it gives me great pleasure to point to people who have the courage to stand up and question the entrenched medical realities.

Today, here is the first of many special "Madness" issues we hope to run in the months ahead.

As Quinney put it so pointedly in his introduction to my book on drug addiction, "Certainly we must release the dead hold of our current reality."

NICHOLAS REGUSH
Editor