P.J. Sullivan's Blog

Does your dog love you? "Of course," you insist. But how can you be sure? As a rule, if you feed an animal it will stick around. But is that love? Is that loyalty? If you feed a cockroach it will stick around.

If dogs are capable of true love, what about their close cousins, the jackals and hyenas? Are they also inclined to amorousness? Where do you draw the line? Would you kiss a hyena? Would you check into a honeymoon suite with a jackal? And the Big Bad Wolf is closer than you think to canis vulgaris on the mammalian tree.

What about the dogs in Ireland who thrived during the famine by eating their owners? Were those just lovers' spats? And what about the dogs in India that help dispose of the bodies of poor people, by eating them? Is that just all in a day’s work?

A woman told me that she wanted to get a dog. I asked her why. She said she wanted someone to love. She had a six-year-old son. Why did it not occur to her to love him? No, it had to be a dog. Why? Why was a generic dog more lovable than a real live human son? Dogs are beasts of prey. Killers by instinct. Who decided that they are embodiments of love? Dogs attack millions of Americans each year, mostly little children. Is that just frustrated, misdirected sweetness and love?

It all starts with teddy bears. Americans are indoctrinated at birth to believe that love and happiness are about furry critters. And Americans never seem to outgrow their need for teddy bears.

I have been around the block and have learned a few things. Here are a few that I wish I had learned much earlier:

1. Dietary salt is toxic. Throw away your salt shakers.
2. Homeopathy is bunk. Don’t waste your money.
3. Astrology is bunk. Don’t waste your time.
4. Garlic is toxic. Onions too.
5. Obesity is easily cured by fasting. Fasting is safe and easy when done properly.
6. Dogs are not people.
7. Alcohol is poison.
8. The human body is a self-healing organism. In most cases, its healing powers exceed those of doctors and medicines.
9. Doctors and dentists can be helpful, but never forget that they are dangerous.
10. All religions are human creations.
11. "Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear, and greed.”—Albert Einstein
12. Vitamin and mineral supplements in pill form are dangerous because they are concentrated and create imbalances.
13. Cows’ milk is for cows, not for people.
14. We are frugivores. Fruits and nuts are the natural foods of our species.
15. Advertising has zero credibility.
16. Guns don’t make us safer.
17. There are no superfoods.
18. Any damn fool can be president.
19. The United States has never been a democracy.
20. Disease is more often caused by excess than by deficiency.
21. Coffee addicts are drug addicts.
22. Topical use of talcum powder is dangerous.

Authors, disappointed with the sales of your books? What exactly does it take to write a best-seller?

First, pick a trendy topic. Harry Potter teaches us that readers want fantasy, so don’t write a book grounded in reality. Reality is boring, even threatening. Readers want escape, to Never-Never land. Vampires are a hot topic. They have more fans than you or I will ever have, so a book about vampires is a sure bet. And fairies are always popular, especially if they are cute. Gnomes too. Werewolves and zombies don't need to be cute to be popular.

Heartwarming stories about dogs are always winners. Writers Digest said, “You can’t go wrong putting a dog in your story.” Better yet, make a dog your protagonist. There is always a great demand for books written by dogs, as evidenced by America’s first dog during the first Bush presidency—what was her name? Millie? Her book was a smash hit that put yours to shame. So pretend to be a dog, or ghostwrite a book for your dog.

Disease sells! Virtually everyone suffers from stress, anxiety, adrenal fatigue, post nasal drip, future shock, or some other modern ailment, so write a book about how to cope. No need to be a real doctor—Dr. Laura is not a real doctor. Never mind if you cannot cope yourself, you can always fake it. Pseudo-scientific claptrap has a steady niche audience. My book reviews at Amazon are ignored, except those of books about diseases, which rack up most of my “helpful” votes. Book buyers are a sick bunch! And there is always a huge demand for how-to books about losing weight without exercising or changing your food intake.

Books about the private lives of celebrities are good sellers, especially if they are not based on facts. And conspiracy theories are forever. Or you could start a new urban legend. Where do those things come from anyway?

Romance novels are popular with unlovable people who will never find real romance outside of their dreams. If it bleeds it leads. Writing is one place where crime really does pay. Serial killings have wide appeal to the depraved instincts of millions of readers, especially if wrapped in complicated intrigues. Remember the formula of the Hearst press: “crime and underwear.” It worked for them! An undraped female on the cover of your crime book will boost sales almost as much as a winsome dog. Better yet, use them both! According to Joseph Medill Patterson of the Chicago Tribune, people are interested in three things: sex (or love), money, and murder. Combine them and you have a winner!

Arthur Schopenhauer said that whoever writes for fools is always sure of a large audience. So if your book is not selling, it is your own damned fault!

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Does homeopathy work? The answer is no. How could it? Homeopathic medicines are too weak, too dilute, to have any potency for good or ill. Then why do they seem to work? Why do so many people swear by them? Because healing does take place. The healing is real, but not due to the medicines. People see a cause and effect relationship which is apparent, but illusory.

The body is a self-healing organism, if not interfered with. The beauty of homeopathy is that it is too weak to interfere, too weak to stop the body’s self-healing efforts. So the body is free to ignore the medicine and proceed to heal itself. The beauty of homeopathic medicines is not what they do but what they don’t do. They don’t interfere. They work by omission, not by commission.

Another benefit is deterring patients from seeking dangerous allopathic treatments. Sick people usually want to intervene, to do something, especially if their symptoms are unpleasant. If people feel they must intervene, homeopathy is a far better option than allopathy, because of what homeopathy does not do. It does not interfere.

So three cheers for homeopathy! It satisfies our emotional need to do something without actually doing something mischievous. Without doing anything at all, in fact.

"The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease."
---VOLTAIRE

Why do people want to go to the moon? There is nothing there! Nothing that can nurture life, human or other. It is a wasteland. It is not habitable. It will never be habitable. So why bother? Mining its minerals will never be cost effective. Are we afraid that the Chinese will grab it? Let the Chinese have it! Let them enjoy it—if they can.

I just discovered that a relative of mine once owned slaves! This according to the 1850 U.S. census. But the circumstances were curious. Five of her six "slaves" were children. One was only two years old. She could not have been making money from them. Why would she buy such unproductive people? It looks like her ownership of these people was protective rather than exploitative. She bought them to rescue them. Or did she inherit them from her late father? He was a prominent member of an abolitionist Baptist church, the same church that counseled Dred Scott to sue for his freedom.

The census taker assumed that these six black people were slaves. But were they?

Widespread misinformation is damaging the health of millions of people. No, I am not talking about Covid remedies. I am referring to salt. Table salt. Dietary salt. Sodium chloride.

Millions of people believe that salt in the diet is harmless. Millions more believe it is necessary for life. Millions more believe it is therapeutic. A best-selling book at Amazon is titled “Salt: Your Way to Health.” It is getting rave reviews. Another book, titled "The Salt Fix," also is a best seller. These and other books exhort readers to eat more salt. This is appalling!

The simple truth is that the human body cannot digest, assimilate, or utilize inorganic matter, and salt is inorganic matter. “Organic" means derived from a living source, a plant or an animal. Which plant or animal gives us salt? We are plant eaters, not rock eaters. Salt is geological; we are biological. Trying to get nutrients from salt is like trying to get calcium by eating sand, chalk, plaster, or dolomite. It doesn’t work because the calcium in these things is inorganic, hence bio-unavailable. We do need sodium and chloride, but only from organic sources—foods—not from salt. As Michael Pollan said, “Never eat anything incapable of rotting.”
Sea salt is no better than table salt because it also is inorganic and bio-unavailable. Sea salt is what makes sea water unsafe to drink.

According to Dr. Sylvester Graham, “Salt is wholly innutritious; it affords no nourishment to any structure or substance of the human body. It is utterly indigestible, entering and going the rounds of the general circulation and leaving the body as an unassimilated mineral substance.” And as it goes the rounds of the circulation it damages the kidneys.

Salt is linked to serious diseases: heart disease, stroke, hypertension, kidney disease, cancer. Dr. Max Gerson and Dr. Albert Schweitzer were among the doctors who linked salt to cancer. It is toxic to living things—including people. Salt is used as an insecticide because it is toxic to insects. As an herbicide because it is toxic to most types of vegetation. As a disinfectant because it is toxic to germs. As a food preservative because it is toxic to bacteria that cause food spoilage. Salt is useful as an antiseptic, de-worming agent, emetic, due to its toxicity. It is useful as a dental rinse because it is toxic to the bacteria that cause tooth decay.

Why is there so much ignorance about the toxic nature of salt? Is ignorance being deliberately promoted for commercial reasons, because salt adds to the shelf lives of processed foods? How much illness and suffering could be prevented if only the truth were widely known? How many billions of dollars could taxpayers save if people knew the truth about salt?

I received a book in the mail. A review copy, from the author. A nonfiction account of one man’s career in aviation, as a bomber pilot in World War II and, after the war, as a crop duster.

I did not request this book. I am not interested in aviation. I don’t like airplanes, noisy machines that pollute the skies. I especially dislike airplanes that drop bombs on people. And I am opposed to crop dusting. So I was not inclined to regard this book favorably.

The book was a class act. Well done, with lots of glossy pictures of airplanes. Easily a 5-star book for an aviation enthusiast. But I was not willing to give it 5 stars. It would be dishonest to suggest that I enjoyed the book.

It would be unfair to trash the book simply because of my personal biases. A book review is supposed to be an objective appraisal. And it would be bad manners to punish the author for sending me a free book at his expense.

So what to do? How to rate this book?

I punted. Recused myself. I posted online an honest description of the book, minus a star rating. What else could I do? I donated the book to a local library, which was delighted to get it.

In school I learned that people in India worship cows. I thought that was ridiculous, and still do. What was wrong with those silly Indians? They have no sense. And I learned that India has a caste system, and that people on the bottom of it have no chance in hell of ever rising. I thought that was stupid, and very unfair. What was wrong with those crazy Indians? Why can’t they be sensible like we are?

It took me a while to realize that Americans are no better. Sure, we don’t worship cows, but don’t we worship dogs? Of course we do! We even invite them into our beds. Indians don’t invite animals into their beds. Indians don’t celebrate the birthdays of their favorite cows. Indians don’t spend fortunes pampering their pet cows. Those crazy Indians don’t treat animals like children, as Americans do. So who are the crazy ones? Cows at least are not predators; dogs are. Why do we make love objects of predators? What do predators have to do with love? Does that thin veneer of domestication really make such a difference? Are Big Bad Wolves cute and cuddly and adorable as infants? They must be, because we dote on their close cousins. Dogs attack millions of Americans each year, most of them little children. Cow attacks are not a problem. So if we insist on making love objects of animals, it seems to me that cows would be a more logical choice.

And don’t Americans also have an iron-clad caste system? Don’t we also have our untouchables mired firmly in place at the bottom of the social order?

I rest my case.

P.S. Of course I know why we make love objects of predators: it is because they don't taste good!

In America, politics boils down to two questions:

1- Should governments take money from the rich and give it to the poor? If YES, how much should they take? If NO, what to do about the millions of starving people freezing to death in the streets?

2- Should governments buy the resources they need from other countries? Or should they take them by force?

That’s it. That is what the political squabbling is all about. Keep in mind that the USA has never been a democracy or a republic. It has been a plutocratic oligarchy since the beginning.

Of course it could be argued that American politics can be boiled down to only one question: Should governments serve the needs of the many, or the greeds of a few?