Dennis Prager Show - Dr. Barke Attacked for His Positions ⎜The Dennis Prager Radio Show
Aired: 2020-05-14
Duration: 04:30


=== Attacks on Me Personally (04:21) ===

[00:00:00]  Good morning, Dennis.
[00:00:00]  Thanks for having me.
[00:00:01]  I appreciate it.
[00:00:03]  Did you ever think you would be a national star?
[00:00:07]  Well, listen, I don't look at it that way.
[00:00:09]  I'm not a star.
[00:00:10]  I'm just an ordinary guy that is speaking out and having the courage to do so.
[00:00:16]  So, no, I never thought that my voice would go national and actually international.
[00:00:22]  But to the extent that I represent literally thousands of physicians around the country.
[00:00:29]  And their voices are not being heard, a rational voice, a different voice than the mainstream narrative, then I'm happy to do so.
[00:00:38]  What is your message?
[00:00:41]  My message is really this.
[00:00:43]  I think we've overreacted in a big way.
[00:00:46]  We are harming people like we've never seen happen before with the shutdown of the economy.
[00:00:52]  You know, I wrote a piece recently that was published in the American Thinker, and I was channeling you as I wrote it.
[00:00:57]  I titled it Better Safe Than Sorry.
[00:01:01]  And what I point out is that we're at depression levels of unemployment right now.
[00:01:06]  We're seeing domestic violence at the highest levels we've ever seen.
[00:01:09]  Our local sheriff here in Orange County, Sheriff Don Barnes, reports that our 911 systems are being overwhelmed by domestic violence calls.
[00:01:19]  And remember, one domestic violence case is lifelong.
[00:01:23]  That person will be affected for many, many years to come.
[00:01:26]  The World Health Organization has estimated that we're going to see Up to 30 million children die as a result of poverty.
[00:01:35]  Make that the World Vision Organization published in the LA Times recently.
[00:01:40]  We are literally letting criminals out of jail, yet preventing Americans from defending themselves by buying guns, at least in California, because gun stores are all closed.
[00:01:51]  There's a report out of Ontario, Canada, where there's How many of your fellow physicians have reached out to you?
[00:02:12]  A lot of them have, but here's the reality.
[00:02:15]  You know, when I recorded a video at a protest, actually my wife turned on the camera, I'd asked her just to take a couple pictures, and she recorded it, and then later posted it on Facebook, and this video literally went viral.
[00:02:29]  The problem is, after that went viral, it's not my ideas that are being attacked, and I'm not suggesting that my ideas are the only correct ones, although I do think I'm correct.
[00:02:41]  We're now being attacked viciously.
[00:02:43]  Not my ideas, but me personally.
[00:02:46]  Threats to call the medical board to try to have my license taken away.
[00:02:50]  Threats to call my local hospital association to have me removed from staff at my hospital.
[00:02:57]  And then my family and kids are brought into the equation as well.
[00:03:01]  I'm happy to defend my position because I think my positions are right.
[00:03:05]  But to bring my family and to attack me personally is just unconscionable and is the epitome of lack of tolerance that we see mostly from the left.
[00:03:17]  The attacks on you have any come from physicians?
[00:03:22]  No, not really.
[00:03:24]  I've had disagreements with physicians about the issue of herd immunity, about whether we should wear masks.
[00:03:29]  And so forth.
[00:03:30]  But they're not attacks on me personally.
[00:03:32]  They're just attacks about my—not attacks, rather.
[00:03:35]  They're just arguments against some of my positions.
[00:03:37]  And some of them make sense, by the way.
[00:03:39]  I learn from criticism.
[00:03:41]  I learn from an interaction about what I believe to be the case and what others believe to be the case.
[00:03:47]  And I've altered some of my positions, even, in having robust discussions with my fellow physicians.
[00:03:53]  But none of them are attacking me personally.
[00:03:55]  They're just discussing my ideas.
[00:03:57]  Give me an example of a position you've modified.
[00:04:01]  So one example, for example, is this idea of herd immunity.
[00:04:06]  Now, I believe, and I've heard you talk about it and others talk about it as well, that the only path forward at this point, since we don't have a vaccination, we will likely not have a vaccination for the foreseeable future, is to expose the young and the healthy.

=== I'll Be Back (00:04) ===

[00:04:25]  All right, good.
[00:04:26]  I want to hear why that's wrong.
[00:04:27]  I'll be back with Dr. Jeff Barkey in a moment.