SOCIAL KILLER 18/05/18

Social Killer, Serial Killer or Social Disease share the same connotation that wears a cliché to disguise the intended meaning. Technically, 140 over 90 is stage 2 of High Blood Pressure (HBP) or Hypertension. Since the individual does not know he/she has high blood pressure, the technical term does not make a connection to feelings and awareness or experience. It is a silent epidemic.

I have referred to a 'character of death' in my previous article Hades; a silent killer in our midst. It's the characterisation of the relationship between lower socio economic sectors and HBP. HBP in turn gives rise to heart disease, which is a major cause of death.

Associated with HBP is obesity and diabetes that further foster our local epidemic. But most data generally available involve symptoms and linear development. Their findings are analysis of statistics in technical terms. Yeah right! The heart is exhausted pumping blood because arteries are hardened from diabetes.

What is missing is explanation of events from experience of victims of High Blood Pressure. A social explanation of the disease can make sense in prevention more than cure. It is changing lifestyles for the better that connects than the sound of seeing a clinical physician who dishes out a series of medication.

I am not an advocate for alternative medicine; rather I am a realist who is honest about reality. And reality is a process of objectivism from subjective materialism and taking control of your life and be responsible rather than dependence upon a drug.

Lets establish a social fact in here that HBP is a social disease that is prevalent among folks in lower socio economic areas.

Apart from Sexual Transmitted Disease (STD), a social disease originates from social behaviour and interactions among a specific group. Their share activities provides a hotbed for the rapid spread of the disease or endemic in their group.

There may be individuals in other status groups who share the same symptoms, but their social activities and motivations are not the same. A rich group for example may have a rich selection of diet and spend most of their time in pastimes and leisure while a poor group may spend all day working and worrying about bills and commitments.

It is general knowledge that poor folks opt for cheap food in order to go around. But these foods are lack nutritional values that contribute to obesity and diabetes. Folks in poor areas are more likely to work two or more jobs to make ends meet, but would zap their energy thus giving little time to their families and whanau. And if they can't find jobs, these folks not only endure worries about their circumstances but harsh criticism from society for being on a benefit. Not to mention media pressure on being left out of the latest gimmick.

All the above is known to have caused stress and depression. It is the static position where families are broken and individuals resorted to creative measures of coping including addiction to alcohol, drugs, crime and violence.

Stress, the 'hotbed' of creation forces pressure on the mind; the individual is under enormous pressure, he/she is vulnerable. All the individual needs is a slight trigger to explode. Now what is the effect of 'living on the edge' do to one's nerves when exposed to the experience for a long time?

Under stressful and conditions whether fear or anxiety, the heart works overtime to pump blood through to body when we need it the most. When the blood passes through vessels and blocks by hardening of arteries, one is vulnerable to a heart disease.

HBP is when the blood is pumped through blood vessels with force against the walls of the artery. But when the artery is damaged by obesity and diabetes that you are likely to have a heart disease; a major cause of death.

It's not new, all this has been documented by many students among scholars before. Minority ethnic groups among the disadvantaged work low paid menial jobs that cannot afford them comfortable abodes live in low maintenance housing. They cannot afford proper health care and live in communal lifestyles in overcrowding houses to minimise costs.

You see, HBP is a serious social issue prevalent among low income families. This is typical of Maori and Pacific families. Now this group share the same experience and realised the awareness of a struggle.

Their group is the last on the queue of state distribution of wealth and access to resources of society. Typical bureaucratic and institutional attitudes have made disadvantaged conditions. And their economic standard has naturally developed a lifestyle that foster the characteristic of HBP. Their social position is therefore directly related to the development of HBP.

One has to be extremely healthy and fit not to mention a holistic balance to live on the edge. But in our reality, we are depended upon a linear material economy. Life on the edge is internal exposure to an external disease of the material economy. If we are not fit and healthy, social deviations has proven to give rise to endemic crises.

The economy must not be symbolised by the image of a social killer.

While individuals among families are encouraged to change their lifestyles for the better, initiatives would provide an attractive stimulant for motivations. We have learned from experience that dealing with addiction is easier said than done. We have tried not to reward the bad behaviour to no effect; we have tried to switch on the logic portion of the brain also to no effect. Therefore it would be proven that practice makes perfect in the long run and motivated by an attractive stimulant is conditioned to succeed.

Don't preserve the symptoms of HBP, instead, preserve your progenies. Sufferers may pass on the gene to future generations. That is why it's important to terminate this defect by changing your lifestyle now.