Hello again out there in TV land, it's your old buddy Anthony back with another shot at health care.
I just finished watching last Thursday's episode of "The Daily Show". It featured an interview with a large breasted woman (Betsy McCaughey) who is an outspoken opponent of the new health care bill insofar as, in her mind, it is designed to kill old people.
The interview went so long that they had to air only the first 15 minutes or so and put the rest out on their website. It was a really awkward interview mostly because she would read a passage from the bill (that sounded like ordinary English) and somehow twist and morph it into something altogether alien.
Jon Stewart kept trying to point out the crazy in her argument, but she was not to be dissuaded. She also mentioned that President Obama wanted to cut 500 billion dollars from medicare in the next ten years which would almost guarantee that old folks would no longer receive quality health care.
It was the first time I can remember that Jon Stewart seemed genuinely frustrated and angry. He played it off pretty well, however.
I know exactly how he feels. I've got a lot of friends who are conservatives who are convinced that Obama is creating a socialist state and that their guns are about to be confiscated sometime in the next 6 months or so. I try to reason with them, but it's the same situation where, although it sounds like English to me, somehow it doesn't translate correctly on the other end.
Normally, I just laugh (because they're dumb), but it's also frustrating to try to point out the obvious to someone who is absolutely dead-set against seeing it.
Granted, I've been married for most of my adult life (to women) so I realize that some people (half the population) just can't be reasoned with. (I'm looking at you, ladies...) Even so, it's still really annoying to have all the facts, come to a sane conclusion based solely on those facts, and yet still have somebody argue the opposite. It's maddening.
And yet, that's what I deal with on a regular basis.
Thank the gods for Barnie Frank. He recently smacked down some retard in a town hall meeting who was talking about supporting Obama's Nazi programs (or some such horseshit). [It's funny, but I've read "The rise and fall of the third reich" and I don't remember anything at all about Nazi health care.]
Anyway, he basically told her she was stupid and there was no point in arguing with somebody like that. Naturally, he took a little heat for it, but I was wholly impressed. I wish more politicians would follow his example.
As for Jon, he eventually got her off his show and didn't lose his shit. I don't know that she'll be making any repeat appearances, if only because it wasn't particularly entertaining watching the stupid dripping from the set.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Americans are stupid.
That's right, I said it. But, before I begin, let me blow some of the dust off the ol' blog here... Ok, now to begin.
So I'm watching the news about Obama's health care plan and people are freaking out. I'm trying to understand the fear and confusion, but all I'm hearing is the same thing that the morons on Fox News are saying. What I don't hear is anybody attacking any of the actual points in the plan, just the plan itself.
Some of my favorite arguments are:
- They're going to kill old people!
- They're turning us into socialists!
- This is just what the Nazi's did!
- It's going to cripple the health care industry!
- I won't be able to keep my own doctor!
- Why should I have to pay for health care for poor people!
The only one of those that is close to factual is the last one, of course, which is why you will seldom hear anyone admit it openly. Also, few people have the balls to admit that they're just greedy fucks who couldn't care less about anyone but themselves - especially when it comes to poor and/or brown people.
What bothers me most about this isn't that people are greedy fucks (I've come to expect that), it's that nobody actually investigates anything, they just take Rush Limbaugh's word for everything. Or Sean Hannity's, or Bill O'Reilly's, or one of the other bastards on Fox and Friends.
As long as I've been an adult, people have bitched about the cost, or level of service, of health care. I remember 10 years or so ago the big thing was HMO's (remember those?). Talk about socialized and fucked-up health care! That had to be the worst!
Obama's new plan will take money away from insurance companies and give it to doctors and, indirectly, the patients themselves. Boy, won't that suck. Also, people who aren't rich will still be able to get decent health care for themselves and their families. Even worse!
TANGENT: The other day, somebody was telling me how lucky those freeloading welfare families were... I honestly had no response for about 30 seconds. Then, once I finally composed myself, I remembered that I was at work so I couldn't really say what I wanted to say, so I ended up saying nothing.
IRONY: Most of the people I hear bitching about health care for poor and/or brown people are (supposedly) christians! This is the one group of people who are supposed to give a damn about the down and out! WTF. Apparently, they're not as familiar with their mythology as am I. I can probably quote three or four bible passages that would make my point...
TANGENT #2: christians don't get a damn about you, or your soul, or your well-being. The only thing that these repressed fuckwads give a shit about is stopping you from doing something that they'd really secretly like to do themselves, but haven't got the courage to potentially piss off their invisible man. I have to imagine that they believe that if they don't get to have any fun, nobody else should either.
Don't people realize that the people who are telling them that this new plan is bad are the same people who fucked over the economy and got us into at least two effectively unwinnable wars? Are Americans really this stupid?
Um, turns out - yes.
I was listening to the radio today and I heard an ad about how bad this new plan will be. They had the sound of a train in the background and I guess the idear was that the train was going to run us over or something. It reminded me of the "wolves in the forest" ads that they ran when "W" was running against Kerry. It turns out that fear might actually be the best motivator after all...
In the end, I don't really give a shit. I make a lot of money and my family and I are reasonably healthy, so I don't worry about health care. I don't like spending $300 a month, but I guess that's the cost of doing business in this wonderful (and apparently infallible) country of ours.
Don't you just hate freedom of speech? ;-)
So I'm watching the news about Obama's health care plan and people are freaking out. I'm trying to understand the fear and confusion, but all I'm hearing is the same thing that the morons on Fox News are saying. What I don't hear is anybody attacking any of the actual points in the plan, just the plan itself.
Some of my favorite arguments are:
- They're going to kill old people!
- They're turning us into socialists!
- This is just what the Nazi's did!
- It's going to cripple the health care industry!
- I won't be able to keep my own doctor!
- Why should I have to pay for health care for poor people!
The only one of those that is close to factual is the last one, of course, which is why you will seldom hear anyone admit it openly. Also, few people have the balls to admit that they're just greedy fucks who couldn't care less about anyone but themselves - especially when it comes to poor and/or brown people.
What bothers me most about this isn't that people are greedy fucks (I've come to expect that), it's that nobody actually investigates anything, they just take Rush Limbaugh's word for everything. Or Sean Hannity's, or Bill O'Reilly's, or one of the other bastards on Fox and Friends.
As long as I've been an adult, people have bitched about the cost, or level of service, of health care. I remember 10 years or so ago the big thing was HMO's (remember those?). Talk about socialized and fucked-up health care! That had to be the worst!
Obama's new plan will take money away from insurance companies and give it to doctors and, indirectly, the patients themselves. Boy, won't that suck. Also, people who aren't rich will still be able to get decent health care for themselves and their families. Even worse!
TANGENT: The other day, somebody was telling me how lucky those freeloading welfare families were... I honestly had no response for about 30 seconds. Then, once I finally composed myself, I remembered that I was at work so I couldn't really say what I wanted to say, so I ended up saying nothing.
IRONY: Most of the people I hear bitching about health care for poor and/or brown people are (supposedly) christians! This is the one group of people who are supposed to give a damn about the down and out! WTF. Apparently, they're not as familiar with their mythology as am I. I can probably quote three or four bible passages that would make my point...
TANGENT #2: christians don't get a damn about you, or your soul, or your well-being. The only thing that these repressed fuckwads give a shit about is stopping you from doing something that they'd really secretly like to do themselves, but haven't got the courage to potentially piss off their invisible man. I have to imagine that they believe that if they don't get to have any fun, nobody else should either.
Don't people realize that the people who are telling them that this new plan is bad are the same people who fucked over the economy and got us into at least two effectively unwinnable wars? Are Americans really this stupid?
Um, turns out - yes.
I was listening to the radio today and I heard an ad about how bad this new plan will be. They had the sound of a train in the background and I guess the idear was that the train was going to run us over or something. It reminded me of the "wolves in the forest" ads that they ran when "W" was running against Kerry. It turns out that fear might actually be the best motivator after all...
In the end, I don't really give a shit. I make a lot of money and my family and I are reasonably healthy, so I don't worry about health care. I don't like spending $300 a month, but I guess that's the cost of doing business in this wonderful (and apparently infallible) country of ours.
Don't you just hate freedom of speech? ;-)
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