Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old into a Rap Legend

theatlantic.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 81 posts

Re: A Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old into a Rap Legend

#41

Post by coldtea »

mapgrep wrote: post #30
coldtea wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Journalists make stuff up all the time in ever more major outlets...

On what basis are you suggesting the Atlantic article is made up?

On what basis are you suggesting I suggested the Atlantic article is made up?

I suggested the more general idea that journalists make up stuff frequently (even in more important and more fact-checking outlets). So my comment was in the line of "don't rule out that possibility".

Also, don't you have it backwards? Isn't the burden of proof of those presenting a story?

Re: A Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old into a Rap Legend

#42

Post by rconti »

ilikehurdles wrote: post #34
klyrs wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I swear, a surgeon killed my dad. My dad's surgery was scheduled immediately after the surgeon returned from Australia -- he drove straight from a 30-hour flight to the surgery ward. His scalpel slipped and nicked a chyle duct, which took another half-dozen surgeries to correct. Sure, the cancer was gonna kill him, but spending 3 months in ICU probably took years away from us. I can't imagine the surgeon's hubris in…

Individual practitioners are usually aware of the dangers of sleep deprivation. The problem is they have very few options when it comes to controlling their own hours and most of those "top ranked" hospitals are often among the most notorious for having these toxic working conditions. Medical residents are also forced to go through these conditions almost as a form of hazing, justified only by attendings who "also ha…

Just like the rest of us, the surgeon could have returned from his trip (presumably a vacation) a day or three early to recover. But you're spot on about the toxic working conditions and lack of concern that medical institutions give to proper rest.

Re: A Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old into a Rap Legend

#43

Post by magic_beans »

heyjudy wrote: post #31
geoka9 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect in some professions hubris is so important that people who tend to be humble simply don't make it in them. For example, Chuck Yeager complained about the arrogance of test pilots and I've heard a couple of times surgeons comparing themselves to fighter pilots. The difference, of course, is pilots kill themselves while surgeons kill their patients. I'm so sorry about your dad.

A drunk, alcoholic US Navy surgeon gave my grandmother a radical hysterectomy instead of an appendectomy, involuntarily sterilizing her. She had my father first, at least. It's also pertinent to recall that surgeons evolved with and into the medical field from surgeon-barbers... yes, the people who give shaves and cut hair also used to cut into people.

How could that have ever happened!? Did she sue? Did she ever get the appendectomy?

That's horrific.

Re: A Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old into a Rap Legend

#44

Post by mapgrep »

coldtea wrote: post #41
mapgrep wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On what basis are you suggesting the Atlantic article is made up?

On what basis are you suggesting I suggested the Atlantic article is made up? I suggested the more general idea that journalists make up stuff frequently (even in more important and more fact-checking outlets). So my comment was in the line of "don't rule out that possibility". Also, don't you have it backwards? Isn't the burden of proof of those presenting a story?

The story is itself a summation of evidence - quotations from interviews, links to other news articles, detailed facts found in research, photographs, etc.

It's reasonable and healthy to question the summation or the evidence, of course, but if you are going to suggest a fabrication -- which is quite a serious charge -- it seems to me you should have some specific facts of your own in support of that. Or at least some specific impressions (e.g. "this particular quote rings false because...").

(To reply to your first question, it seemed you were suggesting fabrication given the context in which you said that journalists frequently make things up, as a reply to a comment defending the newsworthiness of the story topic rather than commenting on its accuracy. Maybe you intended to reply to the parent comment?)

Re: A Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old into a Rap Legend

#45

Post by [deleted] »

nosequel wrote: post #38

For all the people saying it is fake unless there is a video on Youtube, pay attention to the dates in the article. Though clearly there were camcorders in 2000, not many people just carried them around. Some people did art, rap, music, sports, etc. just to do it, they didn't need to record it to satisfy their vanity for likes and comments.

[deleted]

Re: A Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old into a Rap Legend

#47

Post by Bjorkbat »

carlob wrote: post #12

> He was tall and lean, ran six miles a day, and was a strict vegetarian. “I believe a physician should provide exemplary motivation to patients,” he once wrote. “I don’t smoke and have cut out all alcohol.” > “Sometimes I worked from 6 a.m. to 3 a.m.,” he recalled, adding that the pressures had cost him his first marriage. I don't understand how a medical doctor can fail to consider sleep deprivation and overworking…

One other thing to consider is that a vitamin B12 deficiency is associated with elevated stroke risk. We get most of our vitamin B12 from animal products, namely meats.

Re: A Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old into a Rap Legend

#48

Post by soundwave106 »

joshmaker wrote: post #21
pessimizer wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean celebrity rapper KRS-1, who (a long time since he was a success, and when he was trying to start a weird hip-hop religion) met Dr. Rapp, gave him "rap lessons" and planned to write a book or do a record with him (neither of which came to fruition.) This also all happened in 1999, right before the LA Times articles in 2000. This was a KRS-1 publicity project that didn't end up working. BTW, it's a straw man t…

It's a case study of the unusual effects of a stroke on the human brain published to the health section of a news website. Seems like a reasonable topic for a health story to me.

The Atlantic headline is IMHO bad though -- I would agree that applying the "Rap Legend" title is questionable when it doesn't even appear that Dr. Rapp cut a commercial release. Typically in music and art, individuals that get this term applied to them tends to be pioneers, very influential artists, or artists that have some other large notability. (IMHO KRS-One could qualify for the tag, for instance.)

The story is fine and interesting, the headline just detracts from it. The headline from earlier articles (such as the 2000 LA Times article http://articles.latimes.com/2000/apr/03/local/me-15542 -- "The self-prescribed therapy of Dr. Rapp") is much better IMHO.

Re: A Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old into a Rap Legend

#49

Post by jlg23 »

klyrs wrote: post #20
carlob wrote: post #12

> He was tall and lean, ran six miles a day, and was a strict vegetarian. “I believe a physician should provide exemplary motivation to patients,” he once wrote. “I don’t smoke and have cut out all alcohol.” > “Sometimes I worked from 6 a.m. to 3 a.m.,” he recalled, adding that the pressures had cost him his first marriage. I don't understand how a medical doctor can fail to consider sleep deprivation and overworking…

I swear, a surgeon killed my dad. My dad's surgery was scheduled immediately after the surgeon returned from Australia -- he drove straight from a 30-hour flight to the surgery ward. His scalpel slipped and nicked a chyle duct, which took another half-dozen surgeries to correct. Sure, the cancer was gonna kill him, but spending 3 months in ICU probably took years away from us. I can't imagine the surgeon's hubris in…

> but individual practitioners think they're immune to sleep deprivation, exhaustion, and other simple well-understood aspects of the human condition. It's appalling and tragic

Those I know do understand the effects of their working conditions. The "appalling and tragic" aspect is that we accept them until they affect us.

Re: A Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old into a Rap Legend

#50

Post by maxxxxx »

geoka9 wrote: post #24
klyrs wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I swear, a surgeon killed my dad. My dad's surgery was scheduled immediately after the surgeon returned from Australia -- he drove straight from a 30-hour flight to the surgery ward. His scalpel slipped and nicked a chyle duct, which took another half-dozen surgeries to correct. Sure, the cancer was gonna kill him, but spending 3 months in ICU probably took years away from us. I can't imagine the surgeon's hubris in…

I suspect in some professions hubris is so important that people who tend to be humble simply don't make it in them. For example, Chuck Yeager complained about the arrogance of test pilots and I've heard a couple of times surgeons comparing themselves to fighter pilots. The difference, of course, is pilots kill themselves while surgeons kill their patients. I'm so sorry about your dad.

I used to be friends with a surgeon and based on what he told me you need to have a certain level of hubris or arrogance to do that job. He told me of situations during surgery where he had to make a quick decision that could have either severely harmed the patient or led to success. He also knew cases where he had made the wrong decision. It requires a certain kind of person to take that responsibility and live with it.
Post reply on HN