“The words we choose to describe illness are powerful. They carry weight and valence, creating the milieu in which goals of care are discussed and treatment plans designed” (Khullar).
Supports and Develops: I have always been explained my own medical conditions and learned about others in anatomy class through metaphors. The words that are used such as fight or enemy creates a negative connotation with many illnesses and the possible outcomes. The way someone is described their medical condition can impact the way they understand it and the treatment plan they agree too.
“By describing a treatment as a battle and a patient as a combatant, we set an inherently adversarial tone, and dichotomize outcomes into victory and defeat” (Khullar).
Supports: By choosing these words for something such as a cancer diagnosis it adds a negative connotation. Most people say they are combatting or fighting against cancer and are trying to win the war against it. This ultimately results in the thought that someone will either win and survive or lose and die. It is not an optimistic or positive outlook on an illness and can detrimentally effect someones chances of recovering.
“Just as patients are the deciders of the character and duration of their treatment, they deserve to be the keepers of the lens through which they view their illness” (Khullar).
Develop: Metaphors are something that should aways be left open to interpretation. They can reach more people if there is no set response or correct way of viewing it. The patients should decide how they want to view their illness, They should be given the chance to interpret the metaphor themselves with no outside influence. There should be no furniture in the room, the patients themselves should have the ability to decorate and develop a design that suites them.
“When people walk into a new room, it needs to be full of furniture. Eventually, though, the furniture can be taken out” (Erard).
In Erards essay about metaphor designing and what makes one powerful, he describes metaphors as a room with windows showing other perspectives. As described in the quote he believes that when someone encounters a new metaphor that they should be guided by furniture. When someone encounters a new illness or disease they should be able to walk into an empty room and decide what it means to them. No doctor should give them any furniture to start. They should be able to choose what goes into their room. All patients should be able to choose without any family or another person’s influence, how they choose to view their condition and proceed with treatment.
“Metaphor matters because it creates expectations” (Geary).
In a Ted Talk by James Geary he describes metaphors as being something important and something that should matter. One of these reasons they matter is because they create ideas and expectations that can affect how someone acts or decides something. A metaphor such as “destroy rouge cells using all weapons at our disposal” (Khullar). creates the mindset that an illness such as cancer is a war. This then creates the expectation that one must win in order to survive, they must kill the disease or be killed themselves. Associating something such as war to an illness or disease adds extra stress on how the patient views their condition and can negatively effect their mental health.
Works Cited
Erard, Michael. “How to Build a Metaphor to Change People’s Minds – Michael Erard: Aeon Essays.” Aeon, Aeon, 8 Sept. 2019, aeon.co/essays/how-to-build-a-metaphor-to-change-people-s-minds.
Geary, James. “Metaphorically Speaking.” TED, www.ted.com/talks/james_geary_metaphorically_speaking?language=en.
Khullar, Dhruv. “The Trouble With Medicine’s Metaphors.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 7 Aug. 2014, www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/08/the-trouble-with-medicines-metaphors/374982/.
I really liked the quote you inserted at the beginning of your blog! It instantly set the tone for the rest of your commentary! However I think there is a typo in the first sentence of the Supports & Develops section, just to let you know. The way you sectioned each way you talked whether it be support or development, I think it works well to clearly define what you are trying to get at! I think if anything I would maybe add more clearly your position on the subject? I understood what you were going for but I feel if you added a little blurb about your thoughts in the very beginning before jumping right into your arguments! Also, I think it is a very unique tactic of adding a quote from the texts right after one of your paragraphs! It somewhat breaks it up but without disturbing the flow of the blog! Overall I really enjoyed and it was super interesting to get a peak into your mindset!
I believe you’ve started your paper here in blog #4. You’ve found some excellent quotes, and your analysis leads toward a rather cohesive argument. I especially want to commend you on building connections between the texts–for example, when you draw the room metaphor into your discussion about Khullar’s quote.