Terry Kirkpatrick's Musings: Kurt Vonnegut's 1981 Article in Psychology Today

I often think of this story as I encounter people who ignore evidence and stick to their beliefs, even when they suffer for it, or more likely, other people suffer for it. And how, at times, the status quo is rigorously enforced and maintained by "shooting the messenger". Kurt and Psychology Today took this piece from a larger address (a commencement speech to Southampton College of Long Island University in New York, May, 1981. Kurt, well known for his hip, glib, and anti-establishment writings blending satire, black comedy and science fiction and for works like "Breakfast of Champions" and "Slaughterhouse Five". It is such a good piece that I think I'll link to a web site that reprints the whole article: http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/Misc/Semmelweis.html

In summary, though, Ignaz Semmelweiss had the temerity to suggest to physicians in Austria in the mid-1800's that their habits of not washing their hands before attending to women in childbirth was causing significant numbers of deaths (from puerperal fever or "childbed death"). In those days to suggest this was an insult to his social superiors. Handwashing was not common medical practice, and in some cases, doctors would come straight from dissecting corpses in the morgue to the bedside of pregnant women in labour, without washing their hands. Despite overwhelming evidence in favour of his idea, handwashing did not become common practice and Semmelweiss was forced out of Austria and died at his own hand when he infected himself with a scalpel.

Vonnegut punches this story out like he's slapping the faces of his audience - wake up, people! sometimes the status quo IS our problem.