NYTimes Letter Watch

Today's Installment: Maureen's Echo

This letter in today's NYTimes to yesterday's column by Maureen Dowd. The writer echos Maureen's general train of thought by stating that Dr. Hagan's beliefs (Hagan is being pushed for the FDA panel on women's health policy) are "antiquated and antithetical to progress, and they will set women's health back years, if not centuries." To really see how silly this statement is, you have to read Maureen's column (linked yesterday), and the quotes from Dr. Hager therein.

How this writer thinks that Hager's views are "antithetical to progress" is beyond me. And as far as "antiquated"... a number of writers have spoken of the modern tendency to "chronological snobbery", i.e. the belief that anything more than about forty years old is outdated and useless, including ideas.

That's bunk, of course. It just might be that a few decades in the future, most people will see Dr. Hager's views as on the cutting edge, and actually more favorable to women's health than those of Maureen Dowd and this letter writer.