Rongberg Saboteur
By
JCS
I predicted not long ago that the Evil Vendor and Yellow Journalist, Terry Rongberg, would speak out against the FSU chiro project, and this finally came true with his recent online attack. This should come as no surprise to anyone since he’s assumed the role of obstructionist to any progress in this profession, be it political, legislative, or academic. His hidden agenda is to be the fly in the ointment to draw attention to himself and his self-promotions. Sadly, too many students and field docs are unaware of his self-serving hyperbole as he misrepresents the truth of these issues. Let me comment on his latest journalistic fraud:
Terry A Rondberg, DC wrote:
If the medical contingent at Florida State University has its way, the school’s proposed College of Chiropractic will never become a reality. They think having a school teach such an “unscientific” discipline on their campus will somehow sully their reputation. Studying chiropractic, to them, has about as much value as studying the whereabouts of Bigfoot. [or Big $id? And we must wonder where they got that attitude? Could it possibly come from hearing Big $id say, “The only thing chiropracTIC can’t cure is rigor mortis”? Perhaps they read of the coronation of King Guy as he proclaimed Life to be the resurrection of chirovangelism!
“People are coming to the realization of what the sense of the truth really is about – health care,” he said. “The recognition that life is intelligent; that the body is a self-healing, self-repairing, self-maintaining, a self-developed mechanism.” (MDJ, 7-23-04)
[If our medical colleagues weren’t skeptical of these chirovangelists, I’d think something was wrong! Sadly, the lowest common denominator has long defined our image and in this case, these FSU medical instructors don’t think of reputable chiro college leaders at National, SCUHS, TCC or WSCC, they think of BJ, Big $id or King Guy. Is it any wonder why they’re skeptical?]
In interviews and letters circulated widely in the media and on the internet, these medical bigots have demonstrated their ignorance and narrow-mindedness. They are driven by fear and greed and personify everything that is wrong with the medical profession. [Is this the pot calling the kettle black? While the medical resistance does remind me of a book burning mindset, for TR to denounce any credible professional is astonishing in light of his disreputable past as an obstructionist, a yellow journalist, the prez-for-life of a denounced “alliance” of vendors, and as a general embarrassment to this profession as its biggest loudmouth, ya folla?]
So, along with many other chiropractors, I find myself opposing the school — although for vastly different reasons than the medical community. [I predicted his opposition a few weeks ago since he’s replaced Big $id as the main obstructionist in this profession.]
The fact is, the presence of a chiropractic college at FSU won’t damage the medical profession but it will do great and permanent harm to our own profession. That’s because the chiropractic college proposed for the state school will NOT teach chiropractic, but some perverted amalgam designed primarily to appease the medical community. [Gimme a break. Once again TR resorts to his typical demagoguery to incite fear and prejudice among the field docs. Indeed, if there is a “science” to this profession, what’s his fear of examination? Critical thinking is inherent to higher education, a concept our chirovangelists have never understood as they preach their dogma. As Jay Triano was quoted, “let the chips fall where they may.”]
According to information provided by FSU leaders, the school will compromise the basic tenets of chiropractic and be in direct opposition to the principles of chiropractic agreed upon by all other chiropractic college presidents when they signed and endorsed the ACC (Association of Chiropractic Colleges) Position Paper on chiropractic. [First of all, the ACC needs to be re-written since it as a political statement, not an academic one. Secondly, the metaphysical gobbledygook in the Paradigm was included to appease the chirovangelists at that time, namely Big $id. Thirdly, “the basic tenets of chiropractic” exemplify the a priori gobbledygook of BJ—these are not the foundation of our profession as much as they’ve become the obstacles we need to overcome that have kept a segment of this profession in the Dark Ages for a century.]
That document, subsequently endorsed by nearly every chiropractic organization, states that:
Chiropractic is a health care discipline which emphasizes the inherent recuperative power of the body to heal itself without the use of drugs or surgery — and – [this is not a chiropractic concept exclusively inasmuch as many church-supported hospitals also pray as they treat patients. For chirovangelists to think they’ve cornered the market on mixing metaphysics with the physical is simply naïve, ya folla?]
Chiropractic is concerned with the preservation and restoration of health, and focuses particular attention on the subluxation. [So what? The real issue, as Joe Keating et al. wrote about recently, is to examine the truth of the VSC, not to place it on a pedestal to pray about it.]
If an FSU “College of Chiropractic Medicine” (and I have no doubt they’ll manage to get the term ‘medicine’ in the name) [More demagoguery. FYI: “medicine” is a generic term that means the health professions as a whole, not just allopathy.] is ever started, it’s unlikely that the word “subluxation” will ever be uttered except in a derogatory context. [More demagoguery to incite fear] In fact, school officials don’t even think the DC degree is worth anything by itself. Instead, according to FSU Provost Larry Abele, the school will offer only joint degrees, with chiropractic being combined with a master’s degree in one of five areas: aging studies, food and nutrition, movement science, health policy, or public health. [Just how does that diminish anything? Is it wrong if smart DCs know more than simply Life’s version of a pop and a prayer to Innate? This is the same stupid mindset that condemns the chiro universities that have included adjunctive healing arts. BTW: I find it odd that TR hasn’t bashed Life Diploma Mill for its masters program in nutrition!?!]
That’s also the plan put forth by Alan Adams, DC, who’s been hired as the principle consultant to help form the new school and who appears in line to be its first dean. Dr. Adams is the former vice-president of the Southern California University of Health Sciences, which used to be called Los Angeles College of Chiropractic before it decided to distance itself from the very word chiropractic. [There he goes again (as Prez Ron Reagan would have said) with his demagoguery. Again, some universities realize there’s more than one way to help patients get well, but simple-minded chiro terrorists like TR fear that since it’s far outside his comfort zone.]
I think Samuel Homola, arch chiropractic critic, summarized the situation when he stated recently on an internet mailing list:
“… a science-based chiropractic college with a new approach and a new definition of chiropractic, associated with a major university, may force changes that will reduce the number of subluxation-based chiropractors, which would be a change for the better. But if this means duplication of services that could be provided by physical therapists and other health care providers, is a new chiropractic college really necessary?” (emphasis added)
That’s just the point. To become accepted by FSU (which is dominated by the medical profession and receives millions of dollars in royalties from the drug industry) would require us to “re-define” or more accurately distort the entire premise of chiropractic. [Yes indeed! Perhaps as real researchers and open-minded professors study our science, they’ll improve upon the outdated premises that have long held some within our ranks back intellectually. Instead of talking in terms of Innate, ADIO, or stepping on hoses, perhaps they’ll understand the effect of VSC on action potentials, or the dorsal horn, nociceptive axons, mechanoreceptor axons, sympathetic vasoconstriction, joint instability, reflex muscle spasms, descending inhibitory pathways, ya folla? Indeed, the more these medical investigators learn, the more they’ll come to the conclusions of our own scientific folks like Seaman, Triano, Haldeman, Meeker, and such.]
Naturally, Homola believes it to be a change for the better, but even he recognizes that doing so will mean turning DCs into nothing more than physical therapists or medical technicians. [As if our straight chiropracTORs aren’t that already? I find it odd that these straight and simplistic chiropracTORs who pop and pray to Innate are insulted to be compared to PTs when, in fact, many PTs are more competent and knowledgeable about spinal care than straight chiropracTORs!] A new chiropractic college won’t be necessary and neither will chiropractors. We’ll become irrelevant in the health care system and pass away into oblivion. [While that may be true for these simplistic chiropracTORs who do little but pop and pray, for those comprehensive DCs who do a lot more, the truth will show our medical nemesis that we’ve been on the right track all along.]
It’s clear from this entire Florida fiasco that there are two things we must do, not only if we are to survive as a separate profession, but assume the mantle of health care leadership in the coming decades. [Okay, stop laughing! When TR states, “assume the mantle of health care leadership in the coming decades,” we know he’s using psychotropic drugs. Does he really think simplistic chiropracTORs will ever gain leadership in anything since they don’t even have leadership within our own profession? This is just too funny, but typical of this misguided demagogue.]
First, we must safeguard our unique identity as non-medical, subluxation-centered wellness providers. [There he goes again with his hyperbole. With the trend to integrative healthcare, his demonization of anything “medical” is antiquated; “subluxation-centered” is also archaic in that progressive DCs think in terms of “patient-centered”; and the biggest laugh is his marketing of straight and simplistic chiropracTORs as “wellness” docs when, in fact, they know the least about wellness since they have disdain for holistic healing arts (except for Footlevelers, ya folla?)] We can’t merely be one of a slew of practitioners offering spinal manipulation for neuromusculoskeletal disorders. [Actually, straight and simple chiropracTORs wouldn’t qualify as NMS specialists since they know nothing about rehab or anti-inflammatory methods.] Subluxation correction is the one thing we do that no one else does, [There he goes again with his distortion. I daresay some PTs, DOs, and MDs also adjust the spine, plus many non-SMT DCs who use clickers, thumpers, and other experimental methods may not even correct VSC as much as prove the placebo effect.] and this will be the key to bringing patients into our office and helping them lead healthier lives without drugs and surgery. [Sadly, the second most common reason for malpractice suits against DCs is for non-referral, no doubt emanating from this anti-anything-medical attitude that Big $id, Tedd Koren, and TR have preached for too long. Secondly, simply teaching simplistic straight chiropracTIC is not the alpha-omega of all things required to be healthy. Until these chiropracTORs understand there’s more to health care than a pop and a prayer to Innate, our image will continue to suffer, fueling our medical critics.]
Second, we must absolutely inundate our critics with valid, incontrovertible scientific research that will finally and completely silence those who continue to claim we are an unscientific profession. [Ironic that this shyster who’s profited from chirovangelism is now calling for scientific inquiry and proof. Indeed, for 28 long years, Big $id kept hyping that chiropractic will cure the world of all disease, but he never proved it. Is this typical double-talk or what?] People like attorney Jann Bellamy (a relative perhaps of orthopedic surgeon Dr. Ray Bellamy who is leading the attack on the FSU campus?) who recently said in an editorial for The Tallahassee Democrat that:
“While chiropractic employs the language of medicine — physician, diagnosis, subluxation, board certification, for example — at present the hard science behind chiropractic practice is between slim and nonexistent. This is partly because, as a consultant’s report commissioned by FSU itself points out, chiropractors have never rigorously researched their methods.” [He’s obviously unaware of the worldwide research and guidelines that support SMT for NMS disorders like LBP and neck/headaches. But he’s probably coming from the position of reading Big $id, King Guy and TR’s gobbledygook through the years, so it’s completely understandable why he thinks this way. Wouldn’t you too?]
We need to rigorously research our methods and the results we obtain with them. [Geez, TR, that’s already in the works. If you weren’t so self-consumed in your demagoguery, you might have known that.] Publications like the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research [Okay, stop laughing. Once again, TR stoops to self-promotion of his WCA cronies like Matt McCoy without mentioning the real medical indexed chiropractic journal, JMPT.] are already disseminating some of this research, and programs like the newly founded RCS (Research & Clinical Science) provide the means to conduct studies on a massive scale. They are leading the charge in defense of chiropractic and soon we’ll have the scientific evidence to validate chiropractic subluxation correction in all its aspects. [Okay, stop laughing again. I seriously doubt Gentempo, Kent, McCoy or TR will have any legitimate impact on any scientific endeavor unless they profit by it. If TR is so concerned, why didn’t he mention the credible research at our reputable chiro colleges that’s already happening? Can we expect to see him at the next RAC/ACC seminar in Lost Wages? Once again, he’s misleading his readers as he’s done so often into believing that he’s on the vanguard of progress when, in actuality, he’s the biggest obstacle we’ve seen since Big $id. What a con-artist!]
We have to hold on. [TR needs to get a grip on reality, methinks!] We can’t wave the white flag now, [Geez, I wish TR would capitulate to reason, but that’s not the nature of this sociopath.] just to be able to say we’ve been allowed to open a college at a state university. [Now he trivializes a huge step forward in chiro research and education] Not when we’re so close to victory. [Now he wants to appear to be our savior! Oddly, doesn’t this sound a lot like Baghdad Bob who pronounced victory as American bombs were dropping?]
Sadly, not only is TR badly misguided and should be ignored, but his yellow journalism continues to misguide the young and naïve students who don’t understand how TR uses demagoguery to profit by. I urge all chiro college presidents to continue their boycott of his rag, his SWCA clubs, and his wish to speak on their campuses. Although TR has the power of his poisoned pen to misinform, I urge all DCs to use the internet to warn others about this Evil Vendor by sending these commentaries to all your colleagues. A good starting point is to have them logon to www.StopRondberg.org so they can read for themselves how the Axis of Evil Vendors operates.