# Politically Correct Cancer **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 19, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005 "2009-01-19T16:39:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Vlad\_Igor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Vlad\_Igor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vlad_Igor)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005/41 "2009-01-20T01:02:34Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > Sure, and the “breast cancer” dog seems to be eating a lot of other dogs. The question is why. > > ETA: Also, is the government spending a disproportionate amount of money on breast cancer research? If so, it’s not a matter of charitable giving. With all due deference and sensitivity to **jsc1953** , there aren’t a lot of lung cancer survivors. The 5 year survival rate is pretty dismal, and 10 years out they just aren’t there. Lung cancer is a tough nut, and not nearly as treatable as other forms of cancer. We have made strides in breast cancer because its genetic profile leaves it vulnerable to certain types of treatment. Lung cancer is insidious and all too often undetected until it reaches to point of no return and becomes detectable. I’m not aware of any routine screenings, short of running to the doctor for a chest x-ray every time you have a coughing fit. And lung cancer is non-discriminatory: it killed a wonderful pediatric rehab doctor who got my son back on his feet, who never smoked. Meanwhile, my aunt was a 20 year survivor of breast cancer, as is one of her daughters. My father is battling mantle-cell non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, caused by an incurable genetic translocation event. Each cancer type is different, and the best thing to do is to decide what is most effective for the patient: an attempt at a cure or to put off as long as possible the next relapse. It isn’t fair, but cancer genetics and malignant cell biochemistry don’t care what we think. Vlad/Igor ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005/42 "2009-01-20T01:48:15Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Because, as stated, breast cancer is something that has touched a lot of people. According to [this site](http://coloncancer.about.com/od/cancerstatistics/a/US_Death_CRC.htm), “Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of death due to cancer for men and women combined.” And yet colorectal cancer doesn’t seem to get the same attention as breast cancer. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005/43 "2009-01-20T01:54:08Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > If this is what they are doing, then perhaps they should revise this strategy. Perhaps they should. Perhaps every group should jump onto the identity politics bandwagon. Perhaps men should never have given women the right to vote. After all, what matters is advancing one’s own group’s interests as much as possible, right? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005/44 "2009-01-20T01:54:56Z")
Then give it some attention. If not you, who? If not now, when? You’re reminding me of men who whined indignantly to university administration that there was a women’s center but no men’s center. Their answer: Yes, people made a women’s center. If you want a men’s center, go right ahead. You have that option, and it’s not the job of people who wanted a women’s center to make a men’s center for you. Nobody’s stopping you. I myself give more money to lung cancer, HIV/AIDS, MS, heart disease, and landmine victims than I do for breast cancer. My choice about what I do with my money is an exercise of my freedom, not my oppression by others. Go ahead. Do something. Say why you do what you do. _That_ would be interesting. This is not. Edited to add: > [@](#): > > men should never have given women the right to vote I’ll let that speak for itself. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005/45 "2009-01-20T01:58:07Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > And congratulations on earning the right to speculate. I think her idea makes more sense, however. You are of course entitled to your opinion. > [@](#): > > Find some and we’ll talk about whether or not it’s convincing. See the experiment I proposed above. > [@](#): > > That said I’m not sure we disagree about much. Breast cancer research is very well funded and the link between that research and feminism is probably part of the reason. That and the fact that many people have a “women and children first” mentality. My opinion only. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005/46 "2009-01-20T02:15:32Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > According to [this site](http://coloncancer.about.com/od/cancerstatistics/a/US_Death_CRC.htm), “Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of death due to cancer for men and women combined.” > > And yet colorectal cancer doesn’t seem to get the same attention as breast cancer. Yep - but it has half the incident rate of breast cancer or prostate cancer - meaning it touches fewer lives. Want to start a movement? You need a focus and someone willing to put time and attention towards it. For breast cancer, that focus has been Susan Komen and that person has been her sister, Nancy Brinker. Susan died in 1980, the breast cancer movement has not arisen overnight - its taken a lot of dedication over almost 30 years. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005/47 "2009-01-20T02:18:01Z")
> [@](#): > > You’re reminding me of men who whined indignantly to university administration that there was a women’s center but no men’s center. Their answer: Yes, people made a women’s center. If you want a men’s center, go right ahead. Which university was this and how was this women’s center funded? > [@](#): > > Go ahead. Do something. Say why you do what you do. _That_ would be interesting. This is not. :shrug: This is a message board where people debate stuff. People make observations (and criticisms) and debate them. If you aren’t interested in debating things, then what are you doing here? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005/48 "2009-01-20T02:19:48Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > See the experiment I proposed above. I’m not interested in this tangent about acceptable victimhood or whatever you want to call it. All I’m interested in is whether or not you have evidence for the comment “perhaps men who lobby and/or fundraise in connection with cancer are more likely to do so in a general fashion, as opposed to doing so in a narrow, more sex-specific manner. Perhaps men are less inclined to turn prostate cancer into a political issue.” ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005/49 "2009-01-20T02:23:15Z")
BTW, Rates per 100,000 2004 (See data for full information, there may be typos and I shortened the descriptions - lung is lung and brochus for instance) [http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/uscs/Table.aspx?Group=3f&Year=2004&Display=n](http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/uscs/Table.aspx?Group=3f&Year=2004&Display=n) It has colon deaths way down at #4. Prostate 145.3 Breast 117.7 Lung 67.4 Colon 49.5 Uterine 23.1 Urniary 21.3 Non-Hodkins Lymphoma 19 Melanoma (skin) 17.1 Kidney 14.1 Ovary 12.5 Mortality Lung 53.3 Prostate 25.4 Breast 24.4 Colon 17.9 Pancreas 10.6 Ovary 8.8 Leukemia 7.2 Non-Hodkin Lymphoma 7.0 Liver 5.1 Urinary 4.4 ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005/50 "2009-01-20T02:23:26Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Want to start a movement? No, not today anyway. Today I want to observe, criticize and debate. And even if I did want to start a movement, I would have no interest in playing at the sort of identity politics which is so popular these days. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005/51 "2009-01-20T02:27:28Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’m not interested in this tangent about acceptable victimhood or whatever you want to call it. It’s not a tangent, it’s the same issue at work. It’s simply less acceptable for certain groups to specifically promote their own interests. If you agree with this, my earlier statement follows. Let me repeat my earlier question: Why is it that death penalty opponents generally do not argue that the death penalty is sexist because it disproportionately affects men? ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005/52 "2009-01-20T02:27:46Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > No, not today anyway. Today I want to observe, criticize and debate. And even if I did want to start a movement, I would have no interest in playing at the sort of identity politics which is so popular these days. Then I think you have very soft footing to criticize those of us actively involved in breast cancer awareness or to question our motivations - my motivation has very little to do with “identity politics” and everything to do with my sister. It isn’t political - its personal. But then again, old school 1970s feminists had a saying about that… ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005/53 "2009-01-20T02:30:23Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Then I think you have very soft footing to criticize You are entitled to your opinion. However, I will try to remember this exchange (and the argument you made) the next time I see you questioning or criticizing any public practice or policy. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005/54 "2009-01-20T02:40:38Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > It’s not a tangent, it’s the same issue at work. I disagree. > [@](#): > > Let me repeat my earlier question: Why is it that death penalty opponents generally do not argue that the death penalty is sexist because it disproportionately affects men? You’d have to ask them. I’m against the death penalty on principle, not just because it’s poorly implemented. I suppose the question here would be whether the proportion of men to women on death row is out of line with the ratio of murders commited by men and women. This is irrelevant, as far as I’m concerned. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005/55 "2009-01-20T02:47:20Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I disagree. Well, if you believe it’s irrelevant, then let’s stipulate for the sake of argument that it’s more politically and socially acceptable to specifically promote the interests of certain groups (e.g. blacks, women, etc.) than those of others (e.g. whites, men, etc.). Agreed? > [@](#): > > You’d have to ask them. Are you honestly telling me that you have no idea why death penalty opponents do not make the argument that the death penalty is sexist? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005/56 "2009-01-20T02:59:05Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > Well, if you believe it’s irrelevant, then let’s stipulate for the sake of argument that it’s more politically and socially acceptable to specifically promote the interests of certain groups (e.g. blacks, women, etc.) than those of others (e.g. whites, men, etc.). Agreed? Yes, surprisingly, groups who have not historically been oppressed have a harder time promoting their own interest at the expense of others. > [@](#): > > Are you honestly telling me that you have no idea why death penalty opponents do not make the argument that the death penalty is sexist? Yes. And you don’t, either. You have an assumption. I don’t think it’s a good assumption, and to this point you haven’t supported it, just like you haven’t supported the idea I asked you about earlier. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005/57 "2009-01-20T03:05:56Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > You are entitled to your opinion. However, I will try to remember this exchange (and the argument you made) the next time I see you questioning or criticizing any public practice or policy. It’s capitalism at work, just on the non-profit side. We aren’t talking about public funds, we’re talking about charity. People aren’t obligated to donate money to any cause just because _you_ think they should. They only give because someone somewhere has made them care about it. If the folks with their hands extended aren’t doing what it takes to make people care, then they really shouldn’t expect their complaints to be taken seriously. If “identity politics” (ooh, big scary buzz phrase there) is the vehicle by which certain charities appeal to their target audience and it yields them dollars and attention in return, then why is this bad thing, exactly? It’s not as if people who donate to breast cancer research would be necessarily be giving money to lung or prostate cancer if it weren’t for those damn pink ribbons. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005/58 "2009-01-20T03:19:14Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > It’s capitalism at work, just on the non-profit side. We aren’t talking about public funds, we’re talking about charity. People aren’t obligated to donate money to any cause just because _you_ think they should. They only give because someone somewhere has made them care about it. If the folks with their hands extended aren’t doing what it takes to make people care, then they really shouldn’t expect their complaints to be taken seriously. > > If “identity politics” (ooh, big scary buzz phrase there) is the vehicle by which certain charities appeal to their target audience and it yields them dollars and attention in return, then why is this bad thing, exactly? It’s not as if people who donate to breast cancer research would be necessarily be giving money to lung or prostate cancer if it weren’t for those damn pink ribbons. Well of course they would. I was in the room when my company decided to give to Komen and not to the American Heart Association. Of course our Director of Public Affairs was also the team captain of our Breast Cancer 3-day walk. You wouldn’t find a prostate in the Public Affairs/Community Relations/Public Relations departments in any of the three major corporations I have worked at. I think this has something to do with it. It is the old boys club in reverse. Not that the old boys have much to complain about yet. In each of these same companies, the only senior executive position held by a woman was HR. Three out of three. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005/59 "2009-01-20T03:44:46Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Yes, So you would agree then, that generally speaking, it’s socially and politically more acceptable to push for public policies and practices which specifically benefit women (possibly at the expense of men) than vice versa? > [@](#): > > Yes. And you don’t, either. Sure I do, since there is only one reasonable explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005/60 "2009-01-20T03:58:17Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > So you would agree then, that generally speaking, it’s socially and politically more acceptable to push for public policies and practices which specifically benefit women (possibly at the expense of men) than vice versa? For about the third time, I don’t agree with your speculation that it’s socially unacceptable to seek funding for prostate cancer. > [@](#): > > Sure I do, since there is only one reasonable explanation. Another unfounded assertion? I didn’t see that coming. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-cancer/482005.md?page=4)