“Farmer points to what he calls "structural violence," which influences "the nature and distribution of extreme suffering." The book is, as he explains, "a physician-anthropologist's effort to reveal the ways in which the most basic right-the right to survive-is trampled in an age of great affluence." He argues: "Human rights violations are not accidents; they are not random in distribution or effect. Rights violations are, rather, symptoms of deeper pathologies of power and are linked intimately to the social conditions that so often determine who will suffer abuse and who will be shielded from harm.”
― Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor
― Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor
“I want movement, not a calm course of existence. I want excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love. I feel in myself a superabundance of energy which finds no outlet in our quiet life.”
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“WL’s [White Liberals] think all the world’s problems can be fixed without any cost to themselves. We don’t believe that. There’s a lot to be said for sacrifice, remorse, even pity. It’s what separates us from roaches”
― Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World
― Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World
“Do we see [human disparity] as a human predicament--an inescapable result of frailty of our existence? That would be correct had these sufferings been really inescapable, but they are far from that. Preventable diseases can indeed be prevented, curable ailments can certainly be cured, and controllable maladies call out for control. Rather than lamenting the adversity of nature, we have to look for a better comprehension of the social cuases of horror and also of our tolerance of societal abominations.”
― Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor
― Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor
Jessie’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Jessie’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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