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Quote by David Smail

“To stand for something, whether in child-rearing or any other sphere, is of course to risk error; it is also to become conspicuous under the gaze of the Other, to give away one's position and to invite rejection. But it is also the only way through which social evolution can take a truly moral direction; it is the inescapable consequence of recognizing and taking seriously the fact that it is we who make the world, not 'it' or 'them'.”

Quote by David Smail

Work

Illusion and Reality: The Meaning of Anxiety

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Author

David Smail

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“For there would be no point in painful struggle, in heroic battle against injustice, in the painstaking achievements of culture and learning, in courageous stance against cruelty or adversity, in loving self-sacrifice for others, if in fact the experience gained by just one tortured and despairing individual could simply be 'adjusted' or 'modified' by the appropriate expert.”

“So, here’s the story about that: I was a member of ACT-UP in New York for two years, from its inception in 1986. I was a young gay man and everyone I knew was dying. In 1988, I moved to San Francisco to become a newspaper reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle, and that ended my life as an “activist.” To attribute my current work on PACE and related issues to what I did 30+ years ago is preposterous. My opinion that the PACE trial is a piece of crap and likely qualifies as research misconduct is based upon my public health training and expertise.”