The graphic novel “Un tournage en enfer – Au coeur d’Apocalypse Now”.
The graphic novel “Un tournage en enfer: au cœur d’Apocalypse Now” takes us right to the heart of the creation of Francis Ford Coppola‘s famous film, brought to the screen in 1979. As the director points out, [my translation] “[…] we were in the jungle. There were too many of us. We had access to too much money and too much material, and little by little, we all went crazy…”.
It didn’t start well. Right from the start, the director was unable to convince well-known actors to get involved in his film. In turn, actors such as Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Robert Redford and James Caan refused to join the adventure. Coppola continues his research and interviews.
As readers, we go behind the scenes of the production and hear from those close to the filmmaker. Filming begins in the jungle of the Philippines, even though Coppola has no idea on how the film will end. This would haunt him throughout the production, causing him sleepless nights when he was already quite exhausted.
A page from the graphic novel “Tournage en enfer – Apocalypse Now”.
Cost overruns followed, and the pressure on the director from financial backers increased. He was asked to complete his film as quickly as possible, which he proved unable to do. Coppola came to guarantee the required funds by pledging to pay off the debt himself if box-office receipts failed to reach $40 million.
In addition, it was taken for granted that the U.S. government would provide the helicopter gunships required for the film’s action. But in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, the interest of American politicians in such requests waned. The director had to turn to the then President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos, to obtain helicopters and personnel, in return for certain fees and compensation. But these aircraft sometimes left the scene on Marcos’s orders to go hunting for the regime’s enemies. Coppola was falling behind again…
A page from the graphic novel “Tournage en enfer – Apocalypse Now”.
They thought that Harvey Keitel would be the ideal actor to play Robert Duvall. Many sequences later, the obvious becomes clear: the man just didn’t cut it for a number of reasons. On the verge of disaster, they urgently contacted Martin Sheen and beg him to replace Keitel. Multiple scenes had to be reshot with the new actor, and the delays and associated costs continued to mount.
All sorts of other pitfalls awaited the director and his crew throughout the shoot, including the language barrier with the Filipinos and a storm that destroyed the set. The widespread use of drugs and alcohol by staff and helicopter pilots didn’t help matters either.
The mosquitoes, the heat and Coppola’s constant demands took their toll on the actors. Martin Sheen fell seriously ill, and his brother had to be used for some of the secondary scenes. Rather than use only actors to simulate deaths, a staff member went to the morgue and returned with a corpse. This prompted the arrival of the police force, and the problem was solved with generous sums of money.
There were many other factors that delayed the end of the shoot and increased costs. Marlon Brando’s demands were a case in point. They managed to get him back on set for an extra day, provided that he received $70,000 more than planned.
Shooting finally ended in 1977. The team chartered a private plane to fly 381 kilometers of original film to the United States. Editing the film proved to be an ordeal. There was too much material to analyze. In 2001, Coppola presented a modified version of his original 1979 production. In 2019, he finally delivered a final 182-minute version, Apocalype Now “Final cut” , more than forty years after the initial release.
Earnings met the director’s expectations, and he ultimately won his bet. In all, the film generated $140 million from a total budget of $30 million.
Translated from German to French, this book is titled : « L’extase totale – Le troisième Reich, les Allemands et la drogue ». The original title was : « Der totale Rausch. Drogen im Dritten Reich ». The author is a German journalist and documentarist who worked for Stern and Der Spiegel. He has also written four other books. I tried to translate the quotes to the best of my ability.
The research made by the author shows that in the years preceding the Second World War, the German population regularly used drugs to better support the defeat resulting of the First World War. Drug consumption was a standard phenomenon. It became necessary to curtail this habit.
Front cover of the book “L’extase totale” by Normand Ohler
Hitler is thus presented as a « pure role model […], an ascetic, the enemy of drugs who disregards his own needs » (p.25). But if there is somebody in Germany who is becoming a regular user of drugs and who even has access to his own pusher, namely the well-known Dr Morell, it is Hitler.
In the documents presented by the author, Hitler is also described as thePatient A : « Hitler is getting used to repetitive shots and to those mysterious substances flowing in his veins to supposedly invigorate him » (p.37).
In 1937, the Temmler factories create the first German methylamphetamine, also known as « pervitin ». There is a widespread use in the German population as well as in the army. Pervitin is the artificial booster that lasts more than twelve hours, « solves problems » and keeps the German soldier awake for several days : « Use of pervitin becomes as natural as drinking a cup of coffee » (p.44).
The German troops, who sleep every two or three days now, rush through Europe. It is the famous Blitzkrieg. The armour do not stop anymore. While the Allied soldiers must sleep on a rotating basis, the German soldiers charge without taking any breaks, energized with methamphetamine.
Poland is the first surprised. « […] provided with a huge amount of drugs, but without dosage indications, the Wehrmacht attacks the Polish neighbour who is not doped and has no idea of what to expect. » (p.63).
Thirty five million doses are ordered for the army and the Luftwaffe. « The Wehrmacht becomes the first army in the world to widely use chemical drugs […]. A new form of war has appeared » . (p.76)
Peter Steinkamp, a medical historian, states that « the Blitzkrieg was led through the use of methamphetamine, not to say that it was planned with methamphetamine in mind » (p.85).
The German officers do not obey orders anymore, exhilarated by the quick victories : « Guderian […] continues his offensive while he has formally received the order to stop » (p.86). It is the same thing for Rommel who does not obey General Hoth’s orders : « He has lost all senses of danger, [which is] a typical symptom of an excessive consumption of methamphetamine. He maintains his offensive both day and night ». (p.88). Hitler does not control the generals of the armoured divisions who now act in an autonomous mode.
Decided to regain control of his officers, Hitler takes a decision that ignores any military strategy. He orders all his troops to stop during ten days, at a moment when they have almost surrounded the Allied. The German officers impress upon Hitler to complete the military campaign but « Hitler wants to show his ground troops that it is him and nobody else who leads this war » (p.95). At Dunkirk, « more than 340,000 French, Belgian and British soldiers escaped by the sea » (p.95).
Backcover of the book ” L’extase totale ” by Normand Ohler
The author refers to numerous research documents pertaining to extensive drug consumption among soldiers and officers. This habit was present up to the highest military ranks. The German population was also keen to use drugs on an extensive basis : « It does not take long before the number of doses that find themselves in the stomach or blood of Germans exceed the million doses » (p.114)
The melting pot of drugs used on a daily basis by Hitler has an important effect on his judgment. He makes a serious strategic mistake concerning the war raging with Russia. He forbids any retreat of the German troops without his official authorization. The Wehrmacht undergoes heavy losses to the elite Russian divisions « freshly arrived from Siberia » (p.135).
Another important strategic mistake happens in December 1941 when Germany decides to declare war to the United States : « Germany is already exhausted by the fights it wages on multiple fronts, while overseas, the industrial giant is ready for the battle » (p.139).
Hitler’s stubbornness « to refuse to give up an inch of the conquered territory has a more profound reason : that the chimneys continue to work as long as possible in the East, in the extermination camps in Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobidor, Chelmno, Majdanek and Belzec. Hold all positions until all the Jews are killed. Distancing himself from the human laws, [Hitler] continues his war against the weakest» (p.140).
The author enumerates other military strategical mistakes made by Hitler. He also details the close relation that existed between Hitler and his personal doctor, Dr Morell. The reader learns about the content of Hitler’s daily drug cocktails, among which Eucodal, cocaine and morphine. Benefiting from his close personal relation with Patient A, Dr Morell also increases his personal influence and fortune.
The reader witnesses the Führer’s progressive decline and the consequences of his desperate decisions. It is quite surprising that among all Hitler biographies, his heavy consumption of drugs and their consequences are barely noted.
The end of the book deals with the harsh experiments made on prisoners in the concentration camps.
The book « L’extase totale » allows a different understanding of the Second World War and of the psychology of the German population at the time. The reader realizes the very strong impact of the chemical drugs before and during the war. Even the way the Blitzkrieg is traditionnally presented has to be reviewed.
The advanced technology combined with military strategy and extensive use of chemical drugs initially gave the advantage to the German forces. However, with time, a lack of control on pervitin and other drugs had irreversible negative consequences on a huge number of soldiers and officers. It was the cause of crucial military strategical mistakes. An exclusive identity-based nationalism was also responsible for the loss of millions of human lives.
The 2016 televised political debates on CNN between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump put forward the topic of racism in the United States. Chicago was specifically mentioned as it detains the national record for violent deaths. The book “Histoire de Chicago” allows, among other subjects, to better understand what feeds social inequalities between Blacks and Whites since the creation of Chicago.
The reader understands that it is not the cultural deficiencies that are at the base of the problems but an institutionalized racism and the economic choices of the different municipal administrations.
The city grew set against a background in which the color of a person’s skin determined the type of work that he or she was allowed to occupy. Eventually, even urban planning was designed so that Blacks and Whites would be separated: the artificial walls created by the construction of the Dan Ryan Expressway or the Dearborn Park are in themselves good examples.
In 2016, the polls show a strong support for the Unites States republican candidate Donald Trump. Trump knows Chicago very well and he had his “Trump Tower” built there.
The republican candidate takes over in his political platform some of the elements that have made the popularity and success of the Daley family who ruled over Chicago for decades: the exploitation of fear between ethnical groups to build and maintain a political power, the idea of building a wall and the use of torture as a simplistic solution to complex problems.
This populism attracts a certain class of American electors who are easily scared by the differences between people and cultures.
The book “Histoire de Chicago” is very much a reflection of what is happening today and the authors do no fear to raise delicate political subjects.
Cover of the book “Histoire de Chicago” by Andrew Diamond and Pap Ndiaye
Chicago
Chicago became a territory of the United States with the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Subsequently, natives progressively lost their lands through different manoeuvers, among them the signature of contracts while they were drunk. Around 1830, when the Indians were definitely gone, the speculative fever started.
Railways
Starting around 1860, Chicago organized itself to become the main hub for the most important railway companies of the United States. The city grew very quickly. Passengers, livestock, cereals and other merchandise had to transit through Chicago. The city depended on the train to grow, and the railway companies depended on Chicago to be profitable.
The rapid growth of Chicago’s population was essentially the driver of migration from Europe (Irish, Germans, Polish and Italians). The evolving and often violent relationships between Chicago’s ethnic groups is well explained in the book.
Retail stores
Just before 1900, the Chicago population witnessed the creation of the first retail stores in which a customer could order through a catalogue and use credit. New categories of employees and managers were added to the working population and helped shape the middle class.
Black immigration in Chicago
Around 1910, there was an important increase in the Black immigration coming from southern United States. Chicago was an abolitionist city. This does not mean that it was favoring racial equality but that it was against slavery. In fact, Chicago progressively became the most segregated city in the United States.
Blacks were massively arriving from southern United States, not only for economic reasons but also to get away from the slavery, racial violence and segregation that was the norm in multiple states. Although far from ideal, the situation in Chicago was better than in the south of the country.
The First World War considerably reduced the number of immigrants coming from Europe. This created a serious problem for a city that was benefiting from numerous military contracts and needed a very high number of employees in its manufacturing companies. This also favored the “great migration”, which is to say “the spectacular intensification of the Afro-American migration towards the North-East and Middle West major urban centers […]” (p.143)
Chicago’s slaughterhouses
Chicago was renowned for the very high number of its slaughterhouses, in particular its pork slaughterhouses. The smell and pollution created by this activity was terrible. Chemical laboratories allowed for the commercial use of all parts of an animal. The writer Georges Duhamel wrote in his book that in Chicago “nothing leaves the slaughterhouse but the squeal” (p.63).
Black workers did not have the right to work in the Chicago steel industry and had to limit themselves to slaughterhouses where they were hired as manual workers. They had no access to qualified jobs.
The Second World War
During the Second World War, Chicago was competing with other major American cities to obtain huge military contracts. The city did not manage its efforts to show it supported the American government. Chicago eventually received billions of dollars for the construction of tanks, tractors, torpedoes, bombs and aircrafts (among them the B-29 bomber aircraft).
To compensate for the lack of manpower, since a lot of men enrolled as volunteers and had gone to war, women massively entered the workforce. Employers saw an opportunity to maximize their profits by reducing the salaries of working women, which corresponded only to 65% of the men’s salary for the same work. This represents the way women were thanked for their effort and collaboration.
Transformation of the Chicago economy
A United Airlines Boeing B747 is taxiing over the expressway at the Chicago O’Hare international airport (on aviation postcard)
Chicago experienced a profound transformation during the ‘70 s. The closure of the slaughterhouses in 1971, and the diminishing demand for steel mills products signalled the end of the industrial era. It was followed by an opening on the international and the development of a new economy based on specialized services like finance, real estate, insurance, marketing, publicity and legal services.
The Chicago mayor, Richard M. Daley, fostered the establishment of a new socio-professional class of creators in the city (design, arts, music, etc.) by considering it like another “ethnic group” who needed privileged space to express itself.
The development of housing estates and complexes during the ‘60s and ‘70 s
During the ‘60s and ‘70s, the Chicago landscape was profoundly modified. Huge housing estates and complexes were built (Magnificent Mile, Sandburgh Village, Marina City, Lake Point Tower, Dearborn Park) where the White population lived, in the north part of the city. The Chicago Tribune said of Dearborn Park that it was “a fortress reserved for Whites and aimed at protecting the financial district against the Blacks”.
The Daley administration had to fight against urban sprawling and consequently favored the construction of skyscrapers to maintain the presence of Whites in the central area while receiving more property taxes. Two stock exchange institutions were created, the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). The creation of those two institutions as well as of the complexes did not do anything to change the dynamic between the Whites and the Blacks.
The racial segregation
Although Martin Luther King was a dominant figure in the fight for the civil rights of the Blacks in the United States, the authors underline that the black population of Chicago had not waited for a leader to promote their rights as they had already started to mobilize themselves years before.
Martin Luther King’s ideas on the integration of Blacks did not receive the support of everyone in the black community, especially the Chicago black politicians who benefited from a special treatment from the Daley machine, which favored the status quo.
Chicago’s mayor Richard M. Daley experienced much success. To stay in power, the Daley Machine “rested squarely on the continued separation and competition between communities”. (p.322-323) The separation between Blacks and Whites was planned and maintained. There was and there are still two Chicagos.
A highway, the Dan Ryan Expressway, was even positioned in such a way that it would create an artificial wall between the Daley’ s district, Bridgeport and the Black Belt: “This was the most massive obstacle that the city could build, other than a wall, to separate the white South Side from the Black Belt” (p.259).
The Daley Machine
We cannot talk about Chicago without underlining the importance of the Daley family and its political machine: “Through an authoritarian control of the “machine”, Richard J. Daley and his son Richard M. Daley, each one in his own style, dominated the Chicago political scene for forty-three years, between 1955 and 2011.
During that period which saw the development and the subsequent decline of modern civil rights, the ghettoization of huge parts of the West Side and South Side, a massive immigration wave from Latin America and the transformation of the city from an industrial giant to a world-class global services economy center, Chicago barely knew one legitimate municipal election or one real debate at the municipal council” (p.16)
There was rampant corruption and secret budgets in the Daley administration. In total opaqueness, the City Hall diverted the funds reserved to disadvantaged neighbourhood and distributed it to the privileged ones.
“[…] While important businessmen, Mafiosi and others who had links with the Daley machine were getting richer, Blacks and Latinos in need were shot in the street or tortured in the precinct’s’ back rooms” (p.394)
Law firms and entrepreneurs gave huge sums of money in exchange for important contracts. The Daley Machine was never short of money.
Beechcraft N35 Bonanza N545T in flight during the years when the Daley family was reigning over Chicago (on aviation postcard)
Racial tensions and repression policies under Mayor Daley
“By the 1930s, Chicago had become, according to the historian Frank Donner “the national capital for police repression” (p.321)
The black migration that took place during the 1940s and 1950s scared the Chicago population that felt besieged. This increased racial tensions that were already present and maintained. It was easier to accept more policemen than social housing.
The muscled tactics of Mayor Daley were the most obvious during the 1968 Democrat Convention, when policemen and 7000 National Guard soldiers “went down hard on the [crowd of 10,000 young protesters] in an explosion of mindless violence” (p.315)
The exploitation of racial fears was quite successful. Daley was defending his policies by saying that “ most people are more worried about a black uproar than of a mayor that orders the use of lethal force to put an end to it and they recognized themselves far less in pacific protesters than in policemen that hit them with truncheons” (p.319).
Media propaganda and the Daley Machine’s police were efficient in convincing the Blacks to respect the established order. Torture was common in the zone 2’s precinct, in the South Side, between 1972 and 1991.
The expected arrival of a new black mayor, Harold Washington, during the 1980’s, increased the fear that everything would change in Chicago. Everything was done to undermine Washington’s candidacy, but he eventually won helped by the black vote.
There were several left-wing political movements which all had their own objectives and were unable to unite under the same progressist banner. This provided the necessary margin of manoeuver to the Daley Machine, who worked in cooperation with the federal authorities to organize the state repression.
Back cover of the book “Histoire de Chicago”
Social problems in disadvantaged neighbourhoods
During the 1995 heat wave, 739 persons died in Chicago. The social precarity helped increase the number of deaths, but it was easier to determine that the victims were responsible of their fate.
The Blacks and Latinos believed, and still do, that the problems related to their school system and neighbourhoods come from some cultural deficiencies, but in trying to understand the real nature of their problems, they overlook the ongoing racism and economic choices of the different city administrations since the creation of the city.
“The 1980 census showed that ten out of sixteen of the poorest neighbourhoods in United States were in Chicago, in the Black Belt, of course”(p.334)
In 2002, Chicago was the American murder capital, with 647 victims. In 2008-2009, the city held the record of students killed in public schools which were gang related.
Today, there are two Chicagos
Today, Chicago benefits from well-defined ethnic neighbourhoods that attract tourists in search of diversity. However, the sustained racial segregation policies have isolated the black neighbourhoods and in 2016 Chicago still has the sad reputation of being the murder capital of the United States.
“The Chicago situation looks more and more like a science-fiction scenario. While part of the city has an economic capacity that sets it among the five first in the world, the other part is frozen in an austerity situation that could very well become irreversible” (p.443)
“The Psychopath Test” is a very interesting book for those who want to demystify what lies behind the term “psychopath” or “sociopath”. The author also writes about what leads to a medical misdiagnosis of a mental illness in a person. Despite the fact that writing on psychopaths is a serious task, the text is written with a bit of humor and derision, the author often putting forward his own insecurities and neurosis.
Although the book’s main theme is about psychopathy, the spectrum of subjects is quite large and all the stories are interesting, if not surprising. Numerous cases that have made the news throughout the years are brought back to memory, but with new details that allow a deeper understanding.
Jon Ronson’s “The Psychopath Test” Book Cover
Misdiagnosis
It is quite surprising to realize how easy it is to make mistakes in the diagnosis of mental illnesses. There are also several mental illnesses that can be attributed to individuals who do not have a behavior that is considered as strictly “normal” in our society. But since what is standard and acceptable vary throughout the years and societies, it seems obvious that a mental illness can be attributed to a person who is not really sick.
It is quite troubling to realize that mental illnesses will be attributed to children while the particular symptoms of those illnesses are known to become apparent only when a person becomes an adolescent or adult.
Faking madness to avoid prison time is not particularly wise…
The author shows how different personal interpretations by all kinds of “specialists” on the multiple criteria used to diagnose several mental illnesses sometimes result in a person being sent wrongly to a mental institution where she will be heavily medicated for a very long period.
A particularly interesting story is that of a man who faked madness after having committed a violent crime in order to avoid being sent to jail, thinking that he would instead be sent to a psychiatric institution where life is relatively comfortable. He was sent, like he wanted, to a psychiatric institution, but not the one he expected. He spent more than twelve years at Broadmoor, in England, an institution where serial killers and pedophiles are imprisoned.
In his case, the Robert Hare’s list was used. This is a list which is used to determine if a person is a psychopath. His luck turned when the “specialists” considered that he met most of the criteria on the list. He then had to fight for years to prove that he was victim of a wrong interpretation…
Some particularly weird psychotherapy sessions
The author mentions some of the weird experiments that went on to heal patients, experiments that were destined to fail before they even started. For example, the reader learns of psychotherapies where the patients were nude and under LSD influence. Another experiment involved criminals who had to heal each other: they could not stay away and distant from each other as they were taped together, like this serial killer of three children in Toronto who was taped to a car thief…
The negative effects of psychopaths that are highly placed in society
The author tries to verify, using the Robert Hare’s list, if it is true that psychopaths are ruling the world. He admits he partially failed. This seems reasonable since there is about 1% of the population that is composed of psychopaths, and that percentage grows to 3% with politicians and corporate leaders. So, from 3% to 100%, it seems obvious that this was a tall order to start with.
The author quotes one of his sources, Essi Viding, who studies psychopaths: “Psychopaths don’t change. The best you can hope for is that they’ll eventually get too old and lazy to be bothered to offend. And they can seem impressive. Charismatic. People are dazzled. So, yeah, the real trouble starts when one makes it big in mainstream society” (p.60)
Active psychopaths on the stock market can be as dangerous as psychopaths that are serial killers. As Robert Hare writes it: “Serial killers ruin families. Corporate and political and religious psychopaths ruin economies. They ruin societies” (p.112)
“The Psychopath Test” book back cover by author Jon Ronson
The twenty-point Hare PCL-R Checklist to establish if somebody is a psychopath
Here is a summary of the twenty points included in the Robert Hare’s Checklist. If a person scores 30 or more out of 40, she is considered as a psychopath:
1. Glibness/superficial charm 2. Grandiose sense of self-worth 3. Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom 4. Pathological lying 5. Conning/manipulative 6. Lack of remorse or guilt 7. Shallow affect 8. Callous/lack of empathy 9. Parasitic lifestyle 10. Poor behavioral controls 11. Promiscuous sexual behavior 12. Early behavior problems 13. Lack of realistic long-term goals 14. Impulsivity 15. Irresponsibility 16. Failure to accept responsibility for own actions 17. Many short-term marital relationships 18. Juvenile delinquency 19. Revocation of conditional release 20. Criminal versatility
The twenty-point Hare PCL-R Checklist applied to a candidate of the Republican Party, Donald Trump, during the 2016 American Presidential elections
At the time I am reading “The Psychopath Test”, American television is reporting on a daily basis the whereabouts of the American candidates competing to lead the Republican Party for the 2016 American Presidential elections. Every day, I am hearing reporters and political analysts complain about the behavior (point 10) and irresponsible speeches (point 15) of one of the candidate, Donald Trump.
On several occasions, what that candidate has said has been found to be inexact when verified (point 4). I regularly notice his impulsivity when faced with unforeseen events or contradictions (point 14).
Moreover, he refuses to accept responsibility for his actions or words (point 16), does not seem to regret anything which makes any excuses pretty hard to formulate clearly (point 6). According to several well-known and respected political analysts, his long-term goals as to what he would realize if he was elected President of the United States are not realistic (point 13).
Similarly, his lack of empathy towards millions of American citizens is regularly making the news (point 8). He sometimes refers to himself at the third person, continually putting forward his own self-worth (point 2). I did not spend more time researching other connections with the remaining points in the checklist; I leave it to you. CNN nonetheless took the time, in September 2016, to mention some details on the personal life of Mr Trump and if I believe what is said, then points 11 and 17 would also apply here. Having no experience in psychoanalysis, I used the Robert Hare checklist for fun only and no serious conclusion should be drawn here.
The psychopath Emmanuel (Toto) Constant and Haiti
Talking of American politics, the reader discovers Emmanuel (Toto) Constant and the consequences of his actions for Haiti. He is a mass murderer, psychopath, who was working for the CIA in Haiti. He was released from jail when he implied that he would reveal secrets on the American foreign policy in Haiti. Emmanuel Constant “profoundly altered Haitian society for three years, set it spiraling frantically in the wrong direction, destroying the lives of thousands, tainting hundreds of thousands more.” (p.129)
Reality TV and selected mental illnesses
The author also develops the reality TV theme, where guests face each other and fight aggressively, verbally or even physically. He interviewed a person who was in charge of finding the appropriate guests for each program. He learned that the candidates were chosen according to the type of drugs they were taking to stabilize their mental illness. This is not done without making some mistakes and he learned that a member of a family killed herself because she felt guilty about the way she behaved in preparation for the TV program.
Are you a psychopath?
Are you a psychopath? “If you’re beginning to feel worried that you may be a psychopath, if you recognize some of those traits in yourself, if you’re feeling a creeping anxiety about it, that means you are not one” (p.114). The psychopath has no emotions about his own situation: he is not sad about it, does not question himself as to his situation no more than is he happy to be classified as a psychopath.
The financial interests of huge pharmaceutical companies
Obviously, huge financial interests are at play when it comes to prescribing medication to millions of patients susceptible to be diagnosed with a specific mental illness: the role and pressure exerted by pharmaceutical companies are rightly raised in the book:” There are obviously a lot of very ill people out there. But there are also people in the middle, getting overlabeled, becoming more than a big splurge of madness in the minds of the people who benefit from it” (p.267)
Some personal comments
On few occasions, the author’s reasoning surprised me. For example, he founds abnormal to take the time to write articles on a blog since there is no pay to be expected. Should I assume that every act of creativity in society has to be done in exchange for money, otherwise it makes no sense? In another chapter where there is a mention of the 9/11 attacks, he writes: “9/11 obviously wasn’t an inside job”. The word “obviously” replaces what should be an appropriate research on the subject since half of the American population still has unanswered questions about those attacks.
Conclusion
As a conclusion, here is quote that, I think, best resumes the author’s thoughts: “There is no evidence that we’ve been placed on this planet to be especially happy or especially normal. And in fact our unhappiness and our strangeness, our anxieties and compulsions, those least fashionable aspects of our personalities, are quite often what lead us to do rather interesting things” (p.271).
In 1990, Stacey Campbell, a News North journalist, wrote an article that she titled: “Iqaluit Drug Haven”. She wrote that the Iqaluit airport was the main point of arrival for the entire drug being used all over the Baffin Island region, in the Nunavut. Mail was also another tool used by drug trafficker. It was quite easy to find marijuana, hashish and cocaine.
On the top floor of the eight stories building in which I lived, there were an increasing number of drug users. While only a year ago the place was relatively quiet, it was not the case anymore. From my small apartment, I could hear the shouting in the corridor or in the neighbouring rooms and the “OPEN THE DOOR!” ordered by the RCMP police officers.
There were cases of domestic violence, fights, people which I had to step over to walk in the corridor as they were lying down on the floor in their vomit, totally intoxicated. Near where I lived, somebody was thrown out of an apartment in a rather radical way: the door and its fittings were now missing and there was blood on the wall. The place is far less peaceful than last year.
At the center of the picture, a high rise building inhabited by single people in Iqaluit in 1988.
In a nearby room, several drug users met, mostly on Friday nights. Quite often, tension rose between card games. The place had become unsuitable for somebody trying to rest while on a seven days a week shift work providing air traffic services at the local Transport Canada flight service station.
I remember one time when somebody started to kick on my door while I was studying quietly in my room. I could hear him shout: “I am going to kick your ass!” Since I had no idea of what was going on and as it seemed that I was directly concerned, I opened the door.
I then recognized a person whom I politely asked, at least six months ago, to try to lower the noise level. All those months went by and tonight, in an altered state, he suddenly remembered that request. He visibly took my request as a personal insult. He was now under the influence of an unknown substance and was angry.
He was standing in the corridor. Any moderate reaction on my part seemed useless, considering his situation. It appeared that only a quick and radical move would bear some success.
I tried to slowly close the door but he blocked it with his hand. The situation was getting worse. I waited few seconds and tried again, calmly and without a word. In few seconds, if nothing was working, there would only be one solution left. I gently pressed on the door and he totally surprised me by letting go so that in about twenty seconds, the door was closed again.
All this was done in total silence. In my room, I stood few feet away from the door, expecting it to be slammed open but nothing happened. Only that silence all around. After few minutes of having stood still, waiting for the next logical step, I realized that everything was over. What a weird night! This would not have ended the same way in a big city down South.
I can really say that in 1990, Iqaluit was in fact a drug heaven. Moreover, the floor where I had my room was no exception. I was eventually able to move to another floor where there were people with a more balanced lifestyle and the need to sleep once in a while…
(Previous story: Inukjuak: last hope for a Twin Otter low on fuel)
Once in a while, an Inuit carver would visit the Transport Canada flight service station (FSS) and surrounding Environment Canada buildings in Inukjuak, in the Nunavik, to offer one of his new creation. The main problem is that these visits were forbidden by the workers co-op. If the carver was caught selling a sculpture without going through the co-op, he lost his right to sell his regular production to the cooperative. But the temptations to bypass regulations were strong.
First, some sculptors considered that they were not receiving enough money from the cooperative for their work. Most knew the real sale price of their carvings once those ones were displayed in specialized stores down South. Secondly, there were sculptors who suffered from alcoholism. They could not buy alcohol in Inukjuak but knew that Whites had generally a small quantity of it in their ownership. Some sculptors were taking a chance and visit Whites at their working place during night time.
Some Whites took advantage of that alcohol addiction and acquired beautiful sculptures in exchange of a bottle. There was and there are always several problems associated with such an attitude, the most important being that the Whites help perpetuate the difficulties lived by native communities with regard to alcohol. The devastation caused by alcohol and drugs in certain villages of the Northern Canada is well documented and this is why several locations have put in place a strict ban on alcohol consumption. No store can sell it.
But an inhabitant of a northern village knows that Whites have some alcohol in their possession. People sometimes came back home after a day of work only to notice that the house had been visited by an intruder. Nothing had been stolen except the alcohol, although other valuables were immediately available to the thief. The problem is that violent acts are mostly committed when alcohol and/or drugs are involved. It is thus important to avoid being an indirect actor of a potential drama.
The sculptor being the author of his creation, he has the right to take a risk and try to get a better price for his work by avoiding the workers co-op. However, it is risky: his attempts are going to bring him more money until he is caught.
A rare opportunity to buy a sculpture directly from the carver was given to me one winter evening while I was working at the flight service station. A sculptor showed up with his carving which he deposited on the briefing counter. It seemed to be large-sized piece, at least according to the size of the packaging. It was protected by a simple blanket and was about 18 inches high by 12 inches wide.
He told me that he wanted spirits for his work and nothing else. I replied that I did not have spirits in my possession. He then asked for beer. I had some beer in my room, but refused to tell him. I offered him money which he clearly refused: he only wanted alcohol at the approach of the weekend. I refused to modify my line of conduct and, a few seconds later, saw the sculptor disappear with his creation, confident that he would quickly find a more flexible customer.
(Next story: assertions concerning the massacre of dogs of sleds during years ‘ 50 and ‘ 60)
