"So, tell me dear, how did you find being raped? Just explain calmly without getting too excited."
I'll get to the bit about rape later, so please be patient - a word which you could say is my theme today.
One of my heroes is Dr. Vernon Coleman, who writes his own books - and magnificent advertisements to sell them.
He is a better copywriter than I am and hugely cynical about many things, a sample being this on that rapacious shit Tony Blair:
- We'll negotiate a withdrawal from the EEC which has drained our natural resources and destroyed jobs.' - Tony Blair, 1983
- `On the day we remember the legend that St George slayed a dragon to protect England, some would argue that there is another dragon to be slayed: Europe.' - Tony Blair, 1997
- I am a passionate pro-European. I always have been.' - Tony Blair, 2005
Dr. Coleman's approach seems to work pretty well: so far he has sold around two million copies of over 90 books - all of which he published himself. The key to selling a book is a good title, and one of his best is How to Stop Your Doctor from Killing You.
From that you may gather that Dr. Coleman - well-qualified to have an opinion - is utterly cynical about doctors; and please don't knock cynicism: Jesus Christ uttered one of the most cynical lines ever: "Let he among you who is without sin cast the first stone" when a woman taken in adultery was about to be stoned to death.
Anyhow, all this came to mind when in my morning free paper the front page reported that a Dr. Claire Wilson, combining arrogance, insensitivity and stupidity in equal proportion, told a rape victim she can’t have therapy because the poor woman found “talking about it was very difficult and anxiety-provoking”.
What a surprise! If a large violent man raped Doctor Wilson would her medical training enable her to discuss the matter with ease in a calm, reasonable manner unsullied by any frissons of anxiety? Would she feel the need for therapy – or pass the whole thing off as part of life’s rich tapestry?
What do you think?
Posts
