Are The Emotions Necessary?

       Susan M. Reverby recently delivered a speech over her findings in the Guatemalan syphilis experiment. She summarized the events of the Guatemalan experiment as well as the experiment concerning the Tuskegee incident. The Tuskegee experiment involved over 600 African-American men who already had syphilis and were refused treatment. Whereas, the Guatemalan studies affected 200 men and woman who were injected with syphilis, then were undertreated for the disease. Both studies were used to test the effectiveness of Penicillin at the cost of human lives. Reverby spent the majority of her speech on the melodrama focused around the event and not on the event itself. Her main point was that in cases dealing with the mistreatment of human lives it is nearly impossible to solve the problem without addressing the feelings and concerns of the lives affected, but it should not stop there. Melodrama can be useful to stir the general public and motivate them into action, but it does not solve the issue unless serious changes are made to the underlying problem.

            After listening to Reverby give her account of the experiments and the feelings surrounding the events, I realized that I agreed with her overall claim. It does seem impossible to relate a story or fix a problem concerning the loss or mistreatment of human lives without bringing in the feelings and thoughts of those involved. Especially concerning the topic of race. The American society as a whole sees race as a perpetual problem that needs to be fixed but is difficult to find any common ground without bringing in the melodrama associated with the topic.  Looking at the media effectively proves the point. The media is well-known for changing pictures and misrepresenting accounts to play on the thoughts and feelings of their viewers. As I look around I realize this skewing of stories is all around me and may be necessary on some level.  I recognize the need to pull people into a problem by using their emotions as bait, but agree with Reverby when she said we cannot stop there. By stopping there we do not actually fix the problem. We pull people in then leave them without any solution given. I think we need to focus on the underlying problem after the emotions have been put out in the open, which would end in solutions to the controversies.