Panis et Circenses

[dotinthesky]

[Poll #1445374]

Feel free to expand in the comments section.

Edit: If you are British, please consider "Health Care" as including the National Health Service (NHS). Basically, what I meant by it was an umbrella definition for some kind of system (whether private or not) that offers you health care.

Comments

[olamina.livejournal.com]

I am not in America at the moment, so I can only speculate but I am well aware that people from the left to the right have had health insurance industry money flowing through their campaigns and with that money comes commitments and concessions. The right barely had a pot to piss in since they are in the minority and don't have the white house, but they are GAINING traction with this matter because they commitment on the left and from the center is so weak. The result is that there nothing for people to really support but plenty for people to rail against....thus the situation America is facing now with old people and right wing people in mass hysteria.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Oh dear... it's just so depressing that in this day and age we still witness so much greed and stupidity.

[olamina.livejournal.com]

"this day and age" that phrase always cracks me up. what is so exceptional about this day and age? what have we learned? how have we really changed beyond surface level aesthetic shifts here and there? sometimes i just don't know.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I just mean the access to information, the ability to see beyond our own little worlds - compare and contrast our situation with others. The people interested in withholding health care must know on some level that there is a stronger argument than theirs - but they hold their own interests above others and choose to ignore this (or maybe they are just plain stupid). It's different from other days and ages, where the lack of information was more pronounced (I'm using my own experience here since I grew up in a military dictatorship in Brasil that screened much that came from outside) and disinformation more usual.

Learning is possible - as can be seen by countries that have eventually moved into a fair system of health care. It's just a shame that some countries, like America, learn so slowly - or perhaps not at all.

[olamina.livejournal.com]

the funny thing about the people interesting in withholding health care are actually acting AGAINST their own interests both to spite the uninsured others (surely poor black people, mexican immigrants -- in their collective imagination) and also as pawns of greedy insurance companies. not sure what it says about our glorious information age that so many people are willing to unquestioningly swallow the misinformation that is being fed to them in the name of squashing progress towards health insurance that will benefit that country.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Absolutely! It's almost as if our information age is making it clear that information in itself can be quite subjective, not properly digested by some. It's a terrifying conclusion in my opinion because it means people can't be dissuaded, no matter what.