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LETTERS: Annabelle L Mark Consider social anthropology BMJ 2007; 335: 172 [Full text]

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Symbols vs Substance

Hugh Mann   (21 March 2009)

Symbols vs Substance 21 March 2009
Hugh Mann, Physician Eagle Rock, MO 65641 USA Send response to journal: Re: Symbols vs Substance	Society is long on symbols, but short on substance. We are awash in religious, political, professional, and commercial symbols that promise but don’t deliver. Why is there such a disparity between symbol and substance? Perhaps it’s because our language is largely symbolic and subject to misunderstanding, misrepresentation, and manipulation. So let’s try to clearly distinguish between the symbols and substance of society by minimizing the former and maximizing the latter. Competing interests: None declared