User talk:Bklynbrn

Eliot Tokar
I wrote about this on the discussion page, but there have been no replies. You are the author of this article. I am not clear on why we need it at all; Mr. Tokar doesn't seem to be a particularly noteworthy person in general.

I did a Lexis-Nexis search of major papers from the last two years on "Eliot Tokar," and came up with only a letter to the editor. Switched to "Medical News" and got nothing. I can find most of Mr. Tokar's journal articles, but very few cites to them in other articles.

But even if we stipulate that the guy is notable, the page reads exactly like a résumé. I don't think we need a complete list of his publications and lectures, since we don't generally have that for other scholars (even ones who have credentials and Ph.D.s). I don't see the purpose of including a bunch of tendentious stuff about "industrialized biomedicine" and so on. Why should his page be significantly longer than, say, Kenneth Alan Ribet's?

I propose deleting everything after the first paragraph. Your thoughts? Zimbardo Cookie Experiment 01:56, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Response to Zimbardo
My apologies, I have been travelling and due to other time constraits have been unable to effectively address your comments until now. Yes, I am the author of the article and am independent of Eliot Tokar. He is a proponent of naturopathic medicine, while I am a committed consumer of conventional modern Western medicine. My entry is also informed by other voices from conventional Western medicine and this runs in counterpoint to ensure a NPOV.

Mr. Tokar is notable for both his accomplishments and his tenacity in following an unconventional path to a profession, which while obscure in the West, has benefited many. Here lies the challenge. As an educational vehicle, an encyclopedia should inform the young, amongst others, that there is more than one way to pursue a life's goal, and that there are examples of success amongst those who have pursued The Road Not Taken. Furthermore, an encyclopedia is useful if it presents factual information, in an unbiased fashion, that flies in the face of conventional wisdom and enables individuals to seek alternative approaches to solving problems. In this case the entry examines a life's work around a system of medicine different from the industrialized Western model, which is collapsing under its own weight of non-sustainable economics and focus on blocking symptoms rather than achieving and maintaining health. People have a right to know that when the dominant system is unable to help them, there is a choice.

In searching Lexis-Nexis you've fallen into a trap of assuming that the conventional western academic publish or perish model is germane to divining knowledge of naturopathic medicine. I'm certain that if you would search for the traditional Tibetan reference sources, you would come up empty handed. Searching for material on folk medicine might be closer, but you would find scholarly treatises from anthropoligists and historians documenting their research as opposed to studies from those actually practicing traditional methods.

But in light of your proposed stipulation, let me propose this. I am planning to deliver expanded background information relative to the above that more clearly describes the journey. Also, additional and reformatted publication information will be made available. I would ask that you remove your comment tag and continue to monitor the page. Afterwards, I would welcome your comments and would be willing to work together to continue to improve the entry.

--Bklynbrn 15:20, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Regarding Dr. Tokar
I have recently discovered this resource so I am writing to you directly. I have place proposed language with citations regarding Dr. Tokar on the discussion page. Merkismum is using your claim to know Dr. Tokar and his disagreement with earlier versions as a basis to disregard these suggestions. I do not know if you actually are in touch with Dr. Tokar but could you please look at the discussion page and chime in on this matter at your eairliest possible convenience .--DesiDoc 17:42, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

File permission problem with File:Eliot_Tokar.jpg
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