Looking through last month's
edition of Chat, Beauty & Health (CBH) I notice that
several pages
were given over to an
'exclusive' story concerning a young man who had been a contestant on
the X Factor variety show. Apparently the young man in
question had
his dreams of becomming a singing star crushed after a tragic mishap
at a private health clinic. This unfortunate young man had engaged an
agent to help 'steer him along the road to fame'. Based on advice from
his agent this young man booked himself into a very expensive private
clinic where he was to undergo a course of colonic irrigation. His
agent had managed to convince him that colonic irrigation would improve
his
singing ability, "by getting rid of toxins, you will get greater blood
flow to your lungs, this means that your singing voice will be a lot
stronger." It was during his third session of colonic irrigation that
an awful incident occured, the young women who was acting as CIT
(Colonic Irrigation Techician) had
failed to maintain correct pressure in the equipment. She had been absorbed in playing with her virtual pet, an
electronic Dalmation named Tony. It has since transpired that the young
woman in charge of the machine had not received proper training,
was of low intelligence, in fact she was an imbecile. The pressure in
the machine was such
that it caused severe damage to the victims bowels. This mishap has meant
that far from helping to achieve a powerful
singing voice, colonic irrigation has left the young entertainer
incapable of coherent speech. He can now only produce rather obscene
gurgling noises. Unbeknown to the young man each session was secretly
filmed for inclusion in the televison programme The Spa of
Embarassing Ilnesses, the filming had been arranged by his
unscroupulous agent who happens to be a close friend of the producer of
the programme . Each session of colonic irrigation cost £297,
the
same results could be obtained more cheaply and with a far greater
degree of safety
by performing the procedure oneself. Two pints of liquid parrafin would
cost 19s 7d, a 6ft length of rubber hose 3s 4d,
a funnel 1s 3d, a total cost of 25s 2d. There are a
number of important points to consider in
relation to this story. Had this young man been a member of the upper
class I expect he would not have suffered this dreadful experience. It
is very likely that the operative in charge of the procedure would have
been trained to the highest level had the patient come from the upper
classes, because the patient spoke with a working class accent he
immediately became the victim of snobbery and class predjudice. I fail
to see how a television broadcast of an individual being administered
an enema can serve any useful purpose, beyond satisfying some perverted
need within the viewing public, or a rather squalid desire for fame
and
money on behalf of the subject/victim. If working people are in need
of medical treatment for bowel disorders then surely the NHS
should provide the treatment? In his
pamphlet Facillitating the Internal Health of the Proletariat,
published by the I.L.P.S.P (June 1937), O.V Stein describes his
idea of a modern
clinic where working people could receive medical treatment of the
highest standard in surroundings that would maintain their dignity and
modesty.
"On entering the clinic patients would be directed to one
of a
number of booths in which they would change out of their working clothes
into a hygenic paper gown. Human intervention is kept to a minimum, as
the procedure is highly mechanised. A machine using the latest in
materials and technology would safely deliver the procedure,...
Expelled waste matter would be piped through a series of
devices whereby energy is extracted, and so could be used to power the merry-go-round in the children's play area".
To judge from the newspapers, poltergeists appear fairly frequently but seldom
get a thorough investigation, becuase they will not, as a rule, 'perform' in
the presence of strangers. But there are quite enough authenticated
cases--Mr. sitwell gives detailed accounts of four of the best-known, but there
is a number of others--to suggest that the poltergeist is not imaginary in the ordinary sense of the word.
These cases are almost always very much alike. They consist of a series of
evil-minded and frightening practical jokes, often with an undercurrent of
obscenity. Crockery is smashed, objects fly through the air in an inexplicable
manner, there are rapping noises and somtimes tremendous explosions and the
violent ringing of bells.