Warning: You Are Now Entering The Rant-Zone. What You Read Below May Be Very Disturbing To Sensitive Readers
"We just keep on playing those mind games."
- John Lennon
Lately I have noticed that a new phrase has entered the realm of The Wacky World of Workers' Compensation. (WWWC).
Up until recently I thought of workers injured on the job as "Injured Workers."
Now we have a new category, which is:
"The Truly Injured Worker" (or T.I.W.)
I'm not sure exactly when this term surfaced but I believe it emanated from governor Schwarzenegger in the early stages of the push for Workers' Compensation "Reform."
This term is becoming more and more pervasive and is being used in a similar fashion as the term:
"The Company Doctor"
I submit that the use of this new term, "The Truly Injured Worker," is a subtle, yet powerful, tool used to condition everyone who comes into contact with it. It's a form of mind control.
In Orwell's novel, 1984, the totalitarian government was intentionally changing the language. It was called NewSpeak.
For example, the concept of good has many variances. Pretty good, very good, really good, incredibly good and so on. The concept of good was to be reduced to a simple phrase. Good or Double Good. That's it. No other adjectives to enhance or clarify the concept of good.
The point of NewSpeak was to reduce vocabulary. Without vocabulary it's virtually impossible to transmit concepts such as revolution or dissent.
Children brought up under NewSpeak would never even be able to formulate the concept of dissent let alone enunciate it to form any counter position to the government. Total control through mind control.
In the Orwellian world of 1984 SB899 could only be described as good or double good.
If you even attempted to describe it as bad or double bad you would get a dose of RM101. After that your mind would see SB899 as only double good.
The term "The Company Doctor" is a form of NewSpeak. Within it are all kinds of implications, inferences and meanings. In simple terms all of the bias of the employer selected doctor and other inferences are included.
Just ask anyone if they are injured at work if they want to treat with The Company Doctor.
I asked an injured worker what that term meant to them and they responded a doctor that works for the company who is there to put the kabash on the injury. She actually believed that The Company Doctor is an employee of the company.
Who knows where that term came from but it serves its purpose. For us that is. No need to go into a long explanation why the doctor The Truly Injured Worker was referred to by the employer is not be in their best interest. All they need to here is the term "The Company Doctor" and you have convinced them that they need to change. The MPN is double bad because it is comprised only of The Company Doctors.
It's a similar response that Skinner's Pigeon's displayed in his invention "The Skinner Box". It's a form of operant conditioning. In humans it's "double" more sophisticated than a pigeon, but it's the exact same principle. In our case we are conditioned by verbal behavior. Words form concepts that relate to important reinforcers in our environment. Concepts like food. I'm The Truly Injured Worker, and I can't get money and without money I can't get food. You can't eat money but you learned that money gets the positive reinforcer , that is food.
Thus we kill ourselves daily not to get food but to get money! Animals kill each other usually for food. Schwarzenegger kills for food money and "double" power. What does that make him? A Terminator perhaps!
So the term The Truly Injured Worker is being designed to condition people to have a specific mental response. Republican meaning: I hate injured workers but ok not the VERY FEW who are The Truly Injured Workers.
So what does the term "The Truly Injured Worker" really mean?
I noticed that Mr. Sweet in his highly lauded memo used the term several times. He also used the terms "severely injured workers" as well as "legitimately injured workers".
In fact his memo heading is "Are The Truly Injured Workers Adequately Compensated For Permanent Impairment"?
I had the pleasure of listening to the Andrea Hock confirmation hearing tonight and paid special attention to the use of this term. One of the union representatives used the term at least seven times. A representative from Injured Workers who Vote, (they need a new name, maybe Truly Injured voters who used to work), used the term only once. One of the democratic senators who voted no used the term "True Impairments" two times. Even our beloved webmaster, Peter Goldberger, has used the term in a few of his editorials (don't feel bad Peter; you were unconsciously conditioned to do so).
I asked a judge today what he thought the term meant. He thought it meant severely injured worker. What reaches the level of severe?
When I asked an employer at the Board how she felt about workers' that filed a work comp claim she, with a skeptical look, responded that she didn't mind if they were legitimately injured. I said you mean if they are The Truly Injured Worker and she responded "exactly." I'll bet the next time she says that she doesn't mind claims from a T.I.W..
We know the effect that the term The Company Doctor has but what is the effect of the new term The Truly Injured Worker?
In the first place it divides injured workers into two groups. Those that are Truly Injured Workers and, I guess, those that are not Truly Injured Workers.
It's similar to qualifiers in ratings, (at least by the old schedule soon to be a relic of the good old days). An injured worker who had a ranting of no prolonged, repetitive standing probably would not qualify as The Truly Injured Worker, because his disability isn't severe, right?
Or maybe there are only Truly Injured Workers and the rest are frauds?
The term is in its infancy so there is no telling what its final destination is.
However, if we keep using the term as the republicans would like we are succumbing to being cornered in future negotiations in the restoration of benefits.
We know that the forces of evil would like to paint every injured worker as a malingering fraud. They know, they can't win that argument because there are many Truly Injured Workers who are legitimate and who have severe disabilities.
While it may be palatable to the government and the general voting public to stiff UN-Truly Injured Workers they cannot maintain that position for the severely injured because that is socially and politically unacceptable to almost everyone. It would be our linchpin to winning voter approval because even employers and some defense attorneys concede that we must take care of the T.I.W.
They know they will have to go back to the bargaining table soon because the unions are raising a stink. The democrats look like they sold out cripples and that's not going to be good for business. They need the unions.
Finally, Arnold's only real "achievement", to date is SB899. He has gone on record that he would never support a law that hurt Truly Injured Workers. The evidence is mounting that in fact SB899, at very least, hurts Truly Injured Workers and the democrats are going to use this as a political front. It's a win-win situation for them. If the guy agrees to renegotiate that is good because it will pacify the unions. If he refuses he will appear to be a liar who really didn't keep his promise to the injured workers and his only achievement will lose its halo.
So the first level of reinstating benefits will be at the level of The Truly Injured Worker.
Therefore, its in our, and our clients', best interest to broaden the concept of the T.I.W. as it relates to the severity of the disability and the type of injuries that bring the injured workers into the category of a T.I.W.
You can be sure that the forces of evil are already narrowing that definition. Mr. Sweet used back injuries as his examples. Wrists, elbows and hands are to be eliminated. Back injuries that are non surgical will be left behind as these people are not T.I.W.'s, right? Knees and ankle are up for grabs. Psyche claims??
In the future, we should talk about Truly Injured Workers in the broadest terms so that when the day comes, AND IT WILL COME, as many as possible will be restored to the Freedom and Dignity they lost on April 19, 2004.
A weed has entered our garden. Some weeds are bad but some weeds are good and some weeds are double good. Maybe we should let this weed stay in our garden and see what use it might be to us.
- J. Geller
May 9, 2005
