[lbo-talk] can't afford health care? bring a chicken to the doc's

[Wojtek S]

[WS:] Politics in a democracy (certainly in this country and probably in
large parts of EU as well) turned into a circus nowadays.  It is all about
who said what and how shocking and divisive that statement was - because
that is what grabs attention amidst mental pollution created by the media
industry.  Just like in entertainment.  Pure bullshit - as defined in Harry
Frankfurt's essay - all posturing zero factual content.  I am pretty sure
that the schmuck who said that was fully aware of the nonsensical nature of
his/her statement -but he/she said it anyway because it is likely to
generate buzz.

While we are at that - this is a general trend in what passes for news
reporting in the US (and I presume in the EU as well, but I do not read
French German or Italian.)  It is like a gossip column - it is all about
which star said what - while what actually happened is largely ignored.
This reminds of of the official Soviet-style news reporting in the 1960s and
1970s --  it was all about what political celebrities said, while the actual
news were not reported.

In short, most of the political 'statements' are equivalent to farting in
public - deliberately obnoxious to grab attention, but otherwise
meaningless.

Wojtek

On Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 10:45 AM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:


> <
> http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/04/lowden-doubles-down-on-health-care-by-barter.php
> >
>
> Sue Lowden, the front-running Republican challenger to Sen. Harry Reid,
> yesterday doubled down on her idea that health care could be paid for using
> the barter system.
>
> Last week, when Lowden suggested "that bartering is really good," it seemed
> that she may have been talking about haggling prices and just had her vocab
> mixed up. It happens to everyone.
>
> But yesterday, on a local news program, Lowden seemed to double down on the
> idea. Asked whether the statement made her seem disconnected, she shot back
> that it's Reid who's disconnected for not knowing "that this is already
> happening in our state."
>
> "Let's change the system and talk about what the possibilities are. I'm
> telling you that this works. You know, before we all started having health
> care, in the olden days, our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the
> doctor. They would say I'll paint your house," she said. "[That's] what
> people would do to get health care with their doctors. Doctors are very
> sympathetic people."
>
> "I'm not backing down from that system," she added.
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