Knowing It All

WE ARE FORTUNATE IN AMERICA, because we all know everything. We are all experts, on everything. My uncle, who recently underwent intestinal surgery, knew beyond the proverbial shadow of a doubt that the procedure had failed, despite his doctor's assurances to the contrary. he died a week later, proving his point. When I confessed to my doctor that I regularly adjusted unilaterally adjusted the dosage of my prescription medication, fully expecting to be upbraided, he shrugged and said: "no biggie. Everybody does that." He actually said that. I had expected him to either call the police, chew me out, or announce that unless I changed my ways he would not continue to accept me as a patient. Instead, he shrugged it off. Isn't it a legal requirement that all patient's under the care of a licensed certified physician follow the directions when taking prescribed medication? Have we become so accustomed to absolute personal sovereignty and expertise that we so dismissively disregard our doctor's instructions with impunity? Only in America, as the saying goes, do we deny man made climate change in such large numbers. Why? Because we know better, we Americans, than the scientists with doctorates at Harvard and M.I.T., even without any formal training in science beyond high school. We know more medicine than our doctors, we know more law than our doctors, we know more history than our historians. And of course, we all know how to solve all major societal ills, as witnessed by their lack in America. In America, we all know it all.