Someone stealing credit for the achievements of another person is only unimportant to those who have no achievements.
If you were a pioneer and managed to do something before anyone else did, it would matter to you that you received credit for that. Since Valerie Corral isn't here to defend herself, I have decided to do it for her.
All too often men have taken credit for the achievements of women, and it sickens me. All too often it's been Ted Smith doing the taking, and the fact nobody else calls him on it (or the fact that few view it as an important matter) also sickens me.
Take, for example, all those who call themselves "authors of Prop 215". There are only two genuine authors - Dennis Peron and Anna Boyce. Doctor Mikuriya may have contributed one sentence, but that's the complete list of authors. People should know that.
"Dennis Peron, the recognized founder of the medical marijuana movement opposed the Moderates and pointed out that under their version, “Patients would only be allowed to use marijuana the last half hour of their life.”
Despite intense negotiations, both sides would not budge. Then, the Moderates filed their version of 215, without telling us, which would have made the version drafted by the Moderates, the law today. Of course, when the Radicals found out about this, we were determined not to be chained to a version of 215 we thought was too weak.
Fortunately, the Radicals went down to the Election Department and filed the final version, paying by money order, instead of a check, as the Moderates did. In doing so, the Radicals moved ahead of them and their version ended up on the garbage heap of history.
Now comes the lesson for us all. The very Moderates, who nearly succeeded in eviscerating Prop. 215, and the same folks who got the legislature to set a six plant limit for all Californian’s are now tripping over each other to claim credit. One of the Moderates, who claims to be the author of Prop. 215, has become a TV regular, whenever someone is needed to bash Prop. 215 and medical marijuana.
Missed in all this is the real hero, Anna T. Boyce, RN, who was able to get the California Legislature to pass the first version of 215, twice, only to be vetoed by Governor Pete Wilson. Anna and I attended a 10 year celebration of Prop. 215, held in LA, by Americans for Safe Access. Nobody recognized Anna that night. Instead, we endured a lengthy line of self-congratulatory wannabees.
It is visionaries like Anna T. Boyce and radicals like Dennis Peron who have created a new world for us. Unfortunately, it is moderates who have since bartered away our rights and stolen real victory for us — while they serve up their airbrushed revisionist version of history instead."
http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2009/07/steve-kubby-the-curse-of-moderates/Or take, as another example, Arthur Eichengrun:
Eichengrün has made his name through numerous inventions such as processes for synthesizing chemical compounds. He held 47 patents. Arguably, however, he is best known through the controversy around the question who invented Aspirin.
The standard story credits Felix Hoffmann, a young Bayer chemist, with the invention of Aspirin in 1897. Impure acetylsalicylic acid (ASA, the active compound of Aspirin) had been synthesized already in 1853 by French chemist Charles Frédéric Gerhardt; the 1897 process developed at Bayer was the first to produce pure ASA that could be used for medical purposes.
In 1949, Arthur Eichengrün published a paper in which he claimed to have planned and directed the synthesis of Aspirin along with the synthesis of several related compounds. He also claimed to be responsible for Aspirin's initial surreptitious clinical testing. Finally, he claimed that Hoffmann's role was restricted to the initial lab synthesis using his (Eichengrün's) process and nothing more.[1]
The Eichengrün version was ignored by historians and chemists until 1999, when Walter Sneader of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow re-examined the case and came to the conclusion that indeed Eichengrün's account was convincing and correct and that Eichengrün deserved credit for the invention of Aspirin.[2] Bayer denied this speculation in a press release, confirming that the invention of Aspirin was due to Hoffmann.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Eichengr%C3%BCn
Eichengrun was prolific, with 40 patents to his name and was promoted to the head of pharmaceutical research upon his discovery. (8)
Eichengrun was never given credit for discovering Aspirin. When he was promoted head of research, his assistant, German Felix Hoffmann - the man Bayer claims to this day (9) invented aspirin - was moved to the sales department.
http://www.potshot.ca/pm/index.php?n=Main.AspirinsTwistedHistoryMaybe if Bayer gave credit to Eichengrun for discovering Aspirin, the Nazi's would have had a more difficult time claiming the Jews never contributed anything worthwhile to society. And maybe if Valerie Corral got credit for running the world's longest running med pot operation, people would have more respect for her contribution - and women's contributions - to the marijuana movement.
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