NOW COME ON NOW. ARE YOU SERIOUS???
While I was walking through red square, I was filled with relaxation and relief for having just been released from my 2 hour long sociolinguistics class. I thought nothing could disturb my blissful feeling. But then there it was. A table with pictures of Obama. These weren't just your ordinary media pictures. They weren't the glorifying pictures we usually see of our beloved black/white president. No. In these pictures, someone had copy and pasted a mustache on him strikingly similar to that worn by Adolf Hitler. Now really? Is this what some people have succumbed to? Is this a racist group or just a bunch of over analytical conspiracy theorist attention seekers? I don't think I was the only student who looked at this table with laughter and bewilderment at the rediculousness displayed in poster form and pamphlet form before our eyes. So I went up to the table and asked one of the activists what his opinion on the subject was. Through yellow stained teeth the tall and lanky (by nature physically imposing) man looked down at me (like I must have been hiding under a rock for my whole life if I didn't know what his opinion on the matter would obviously be) and said, "You don't know? You don't know why we would give him a Hitler mustache????" I said no, that I had no idea and repeated that I would like to hear his opinion on the matter. So apparantly this man thinks Obama is Hitler reincarnated because of something to do with health care reform. Apparantly Obama is trying to get something about euthanasia approved in congress.....according to this guy, if this was approved Obama would be able to kill off patients who were costing too much to treat or who couldn't be healed.......(wow).....(not even sure I get it).....so then he said Hitler too got the same euthanasia practices approved which resulted in the mass genocide of the jews and therefore this man at the table basically communicated to me that Obama must be conspiring towards genocide.....genocide of who? I don't know. Unfortunately I felt like my brain had just been sqeezed like a grapefruit of all reason and in shock couldn't come up with a rebuttle for such an insane idea. The pamphlets I was given will be living a happy life in the garbage can stationed behind a friendly cashier in the VU Market. So if you know more than me on the subject or you believe in the conspiracy, please do enlighten me. Otherwise, I'm going to forever see it as rediculous until perhaps I am euthenized in a mass genocide of Americans... or something...
A wise man once told me "You become what you are around" The wise man was my father and his statement was in regards to the friends I was choosing. At the time, being young & dumb, I did not give his words much weight...but in reflection, some 30 years later, those words make a whole lot of sense.
ReplyDeleteThe concerns some Americans have over health care reform or "Obama Care" as some put it is who the President has surround himself with and the opinons of many of those people.
Also no small issue is how do we pay for it? This country already faces TRILLIONS in unfunded mandates. We are spending our kids and grandkids money here, placing a huge debt on them and they don't even have a say in it.
Many are also concerned when they look at other countries that practice "Universal Health Care" and how people are treated (or not treated)in those countires...denied necessary medications or surgery because of their age...or because some national board of health decided treatment wouldn't make any difference and would just be a waste of money...long wait times for treatment...when you are faced with cancer you don't want to wait 6 months to a year...health care is rationed and they believe the same would happen here.
These, and many others, are all valid concerns and need to be addressed. That is why a vigorous debate is needed concerning health care reform. As to my thoughts I don't believe this is the business of the federal government. Show me where in the US Constitution it says anything about health care. This should be left to the states and the free market in my humble opinon. I am not saying the system can't be improved...I just don't agree that it needs to be totally transformed as is being proposed. Start with tort reform, allow folks to shop and buy insurance outside their home state, medical savings accounts, things like these would make a big difference to the average American family. As to the pics with the President looking like Hitler...stupid and unnecessary...things like that only muddy the waters and cause negative emotional responses in people...I am sure that you would have felt the same way when George W. Bush was pictured in the same manner...right? The opposition to health care reform is not a conspiracy...do your research...read some of the writings of the people the President placed as "Czars" (or is it "Tzars") The Health Care Czar, The Regualtory Czar, the Education Czar, the Energy Czar, Comunications Czar.. how many are there now anyway? Guess I gotta do some research of my own! This is to important an issue not to be informed on.
The Obama>Hitler inference IS ridiculous. You can always tell when a person has run out of intlliegent argument... that's when they bring out the Hitler card.
ReplyDeleteI'm on the other side of the coin from Tim on this. I think the way it gets paid for is the same for any type of insurance coverage: people pay for insurance premiums. The only difference is, there is no insurance CEO and boardmembers who skim off 35% for bonus' and profit.
Health care, by it's very nature, doesn't do well in a market driven economy. In a market economy, the "health care product" is driven by supply and demand. But who's going to "demand" health care? Only sick people. Therefore the emphasis is on keeping people marginally sick. And study after study has shown that when the supply side of health care is increased, it means over treatment. More doctors don't drive prices down, they just order more tests and try different regimes.
My brother is wrong about how other countries who have a version of socialized medicine fare. The US does not rank up in the top ten for superb medical treatment. We actually still have kids dying because they can't get a simple infection treated!
A vigorous congressional debate on this subject would be nice, but that isn't going to happen in the hyperpartisan atmosphere that exists. So, perhaps our current representatives ought to do what the last few congresses did and totally ignore the other side's input.
Lisa
Thank you aunty and uncle for the wonderfully educated and gracefully articulated responses! There is a lot of research to be done on my part, but hearing others' opinions always helps me understand what is going on and what the political climate is. I am further inspired to formulate an informed response in the near future to this health care issue after I do some research. Thanks again! :)
ReplyDeleteOH and I actually thought the comparison of Bush to Hitler was also rediculous, but considering how many people have died in this war for oil, I would say the comparison is at least more sensible. Military force used for economic and political gain.... I don't see that being Obama's agenda, but hey I could be wrong.
ReplyDeleteAh...Wendy, Wendy...if it was/is a war for oil how come we ain't getting any????
ReplyDeletegood point :)
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