Does Dr. Ben Carson really believe everyone should be microchipped?

By: Dr. Samori Swygert

I was listening to a rebroadcast of Roland Martin’s radio show on WOL Friday morning, and during the show he aired an interview he had with retired Pediatric Neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson.  As a young black male with a career in healthcare, I became enamored with Dr. Carson while in undergrad.

I read his books Gifted Hands, and The Big Picture.  They were very inspirational and thought provoking.  It motivated me because his domestic situation mirrored mine.  My mother raised two young black males in an urban city after my father’s death, and I took a true liking to reading and followed the health sciences path for my career pursuit.

However, since Dr. Carson’s retirement, he’s thrown his hat in the political arena.  He doesn’t like to claim any one particular party, and denounces political labeling, but the majority of his recent appearances side with Republican ideology.  I don’t knock him for his beliefs.  I believe people can respectfully and harmoniously embrace or disagree on ideals.  Many times, vitriolic name-calling forces a person to become more defensive rather than receptive to an alternative perspective.

I also agree with him on some points. For example, he believes our budget needs streamlining because the American deficit is out of control ($17 Trillion dollars).    I highly agree!  He also broke it down numerically so that people could understand the enormity of our debt crisis.  Dr. Carson said if America paid $10 Million dollars everyday toward its’ debt, it would take 4,657 years to pay off $17 trillion dollars (YIKES!!). I calculated it, and he was correct.  That’s a serious problem.  My question is, “What is the most fiscally responsible plan to shorten that time frame, without cutting crucial programs that many Americans need?”

Dr. Ben Carson has a chip on his shoulder

Dr. Carson said something else that shocked me and made the hairs on the back of neck stand, nostrils flare, and raise my eyebrows.  He feels that every American should be “microchipped” with an RFID data microchip. 

His position was from a healthcare perspective.  More and more hospitals, clinics, and healthcare systems are incorporating electronic patient medical records.  This is done to maintain a complete profile that is easily accessible and updated incase a patient goes from one institution to another.

This permits doctors to see what kind of care plans, procedures, medications, tests, and diagnoses have been made previously to avoid duplication, unnecessary diagnostics, and etc. ( e.g. you wouldn’t want extra X-Rays if unwarranted).

Dr. Carson feels that if all our personal health information was encoded and injected into a person, it would decrease the loss of data, identity fraud, and other inconveniences.  Moreover,  other healthcare practitioners feel this facilitates a continuum of information in extreme circumstances.  For instance,  a person may be found unconscious or disoriented and can’t communicate the proper health information to emergency personnel.  Medical staff could just scan the chip and retrieve all pertinent data to provide appropriate medical attention.

However, this is a very edgy conversation with a very slippery slope.  Many people are objectionable to this.  We’ve seen how the misuse and abuse of data can be disastrous.  The whole NSA debacle has really put a bad Orwellian — George Orwell based ,1984, authoritarian surveillance state novel — taste on the palate of many Americans.

We’ve seen how millions of texts, emails, and phone conversations were being secretly monitored.  We’ve heard how the IRS was peering into political party financial activities and how the government has been “allegedly” spying on congressional lawmakers.   There would have been no talk of surveillance reform had it not been for Edward Snowden.

We’ve seen how easy Target has been hacked and their customer database compromised.  We’ve also witnessed the shortfalls of the Obamacare website.  So first and foremost, how and who will guarantee the security of everyone’s data?  How do you guarantee the veracity and integrity of character of individuals that access this data?

Imagine if a hacker accessed your data and changed the blood type on your medical record, and you received the wrong blood transfusion! What if a hacker switched your allergy information and you received medication that you are not supposed to have?  What if a hacker posted false test results like you’re HIV positive, or inputs a diagnosis of cancer, or false X-Rays, or false billing charges??  This could be disastrous, but this can also be done without the chip (as long as they access your electronic medical record).

Lastly, who else will have access to this microchip data?  Could the government mandate it as an addendum, amendment, or prerequisite for healthcare coverage in the future?   How will they analyze and apply the data that’s obtained?  For instance, many jobs use your credit score and SAT scores as employment criteria, and many people don’t know this.

This means that unbeknownst to you, some unknown entity utilized information about you to make life altering decisions based on private criteria that they’re only privileged to.  They haven’t asked you to explain your situation, they’ve just prejudged you.  Furthermore, this can lead to permanent GPS tracking, financial tracking, and a slew of other privacy violations beyond what your cellphone, car black-box, and social media reveal.

The idea of microchipping citizens needs to undergo a thorough cogent analysis and consider the rights and wishes of the American citizens.  If America disregards the wishes of its citizens and mandates this, then we have officially migrated to a true authoritarian dictatorship.

Do you want to be “Lo-jacked”?

Below is a link for Channel 7 Eyewitness news video about microchips for humans:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URTV128IeD8&feature=player_embedded