The 'working poor,' as they are approvingly termed, are in fact the major philanthropists of our society.
Barbara EhrenreichRead
From the point of view of the pharmaceutical industry, the AIDS problem has already been solved. After all, we already have a drug which can be sold at the incredible price of $8,000 an annual dose, and which has the added virtue of not diminishing the market by actually curing anyone.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote criticizes the pharmaceutical industry's profit-driven motives in addressing health issues like AIDS.
Barbara Ehrenreich highlights the troubling reality that the pharmaceutical industry prioritizes profit over the genuine resolution of health crises, as exemplified by the high-cost drug that treats AIDS but does not cure it. This perspective raises ethical concerns about the motivations behind medical advancements and the implications for public health.
Themes
PharmaceuticalsAidsProfitHealthcareEthics
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on healthcare reform, one might evoke this quote to illustrate the profit motives in medicine.
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I would never call myself a cancer survivor because I think it devalues those who do not survive. There's this whole mythology that people bravely battle their cancer and then they become survivors. Well, the ones who don't survive may be just as brave, you know, just as courageous, wonderful people.
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At best the family teaches the finest things human beings can learn from one another generosity and love. But it is also, all too often, where we learn nasty things like hate, rage and shame.
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Freedom is not a reward or a decoration that you toast in champagne. On the contrary, it's hard graft and a long-distance run, all alone, very exhausting. Alone in a dreary room, alone in the dock before the judges, and alone to make up your mind, before yourself and before the judgement of others. At the end of every freedom there is a sentence, which is why freedom is too heavy to bear.
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