Kultur 2

I found the Kapital 8 Kultur especially interesting, as they tell a different side to how people view modern medicine and the psychological effects that different stimuli have on various cultures. The two articles i found to be the most interesting were "Draftaphobia" and "You Have What?".

In the article "Draftophobia" I found the quote:

"...drafts are responsible for pneumonia, flu, colds, clogged arteries and just about every malady imaginable. Yet the biggest paradox of all is that Germans are busy walking and cycling throughout quaint little villages and busy urban streets on a regular basis"

especially interesting as it does bring a very obvious paradox to the table; why is it that a draft from a window can cause one such extreme illness, yet when one is physically outside and exposed to this "element", there seems to be (in their mind) no ramifications or larger susceptibility to these ailments? I like to believe that this shows a difference in how psychology affects human beings, as if they do seem to find a link between drafts and these illnesses in Germany and not in another area such as America, then that would (logically) postulate something along the lines of  a psychological difference in how the brain can cause the body to be affected, or that there really is something going around in the air in Germany.

The article "You Have What?" continues the theme of "Draftaphobia" but also expands on the way Germans receive medicine, stating that "Aspirin, invented in Germany, is shunned by millions of Germans wary of ingesting "chemicals". The exposure to "chemicals" is a breakthrough in more modern science, allowing us to preserve normal human interactions and well, stay alive, yet the article expands on the fact that German culture shuns these ideas and works more on herbal medicinal uses such as teas. The article explains that the number of days off work due to illness has actually declined, which makes me wonder if this is a result of some untapped resource that we have yet to utilize, or if the power of the brain again helps in curing these illnesses due to the power of suggestion.