Reply to Circumcise tomorrow ....what to expect

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]For all of you people that are so vehemently against so circumcision, do you really think that spewing your "amputation" propaganda at those of us that have done it, plan to do it, and/or don't have a boy, but think it's perfectly fine to do it, will change our minds? Do you think continuing to call us stupid (I went to a top 5 undergrad and grad, so stupid I ain't) will have any effect on me or anyone else whatsoever? Here's what's stupid: your belief that there's only one side to this issue. [b]You're like the right-wing crazy pro-lifers who simply *can't conceive* that there are people out there who don't share their beliefs that life starts at conception and that anyone who has an abortion is a murderer.[/b] This is how crazy you sound. You don't like hearing it? Stop shouting at everyone else, then, as if we don't have a legit view.[/quote]

While I understand that it feels like that to you, and agree that the posters who are using a very confrontational tone and vocabulary are not helping their cause, this comparison has a big flaw, namely that unlike the pro-lifers, people who are against routine infant circumcision have the medical professionals of every other Western country but the US on their side. So your analogy doesn't really sting. You can, of course, discount the opinion of this overwhelming majority of medical professionals and insist that there are truly two equally legitimate sides to this issue based on the insular argument made by American doctors, but don't be surprised if the rest of the world doesn't agree with you.[/quote]

So... there's a conspiracy among American doctors and no one else to push a circumcision agenda???[/quote]

The short answer is yes.

The long answer is that I wouldn't call it a "conspiracy" exactly; it is more like heavy cultural blinders...a latent conspiracy, if you will.  Most adult men in our country who came from middle-upper class, educated families, are cut.  Therefore most of the doctors in this country are themselves cut - unlike practically any other western country, where the adult men are mostly intact.  It is exactly the same way female circumcision is perpetuated in the middle east and africa.  When it was inflicted on a person, then they often go on to support it.  Of course, there are differences in some types of female circumcision when compared to male circumcision; however the beliefs supporting the two different practices are alarmingly similar.

Additionally, once a practice is so deeply engrained in our medical system as normal, acceptable, and perhaps even desireable, it is extremely difficult to end that practice.  Because of this bias, doctors tend to believe any piece of information they might hear which supports routine infant circumcision.  People are like herd animals, and unfortunately doctors are not exempt from this mentality.  Sometimes it takes many years for large cultural shifts to happen.  Think the resistance to reducing mammograms or pap smears, despite the overwhelming evidence which has shown in recent years that these procedures are not helpful (and might even be damaging) following the popular schedule.

Fortunately, we ARE in the middle of a cultural shift regarding circumcision.  For the first time in 50 years, newborn babies are more likely to be left intact than to be cut.  As these new intact boys grow up, they will become our future medical care providers and it will become intuitive to reject the practice of circumcision.  My bet is that over the next 10-20 years, we will find far more doctors refusing to perform a routine infant circumcision than those who will agree to do it.  Within 30 years, the practice of medical circumcision will be outlawed entirely, as is happening in other countries around the world.

Lastly, circumcision is profitable.  It is a quick surgery.  Even with the falling rates, several million of these surgeries can occur every year.  Lawsuits are low -- the patient never gets a chance to tell their side of the story or complain and the need for revisions is common so parents tend to accept it as part of the choice they made.  And, the market for foreskins is good.  So, there is an incentive to continue the practice from the profit side of things, although I realize many people are uncomfortable accepting the fact that any medical care is ever undertaken because it could make a buck for hospitals, so feel free to discount this point if it doesn't mesh with your worldview.[/quote]

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