1st, let me say I am a liberal, I support this bill mostly. It ain't amazing but if we wait for perfect it will be a bajillion years till something gets done.
2nd, my problem.
WHEN did we lose the ability to disagree about things with each other? When did someone thinking differently automatically become a cause to fight, feud, and defriend on facebook those you disagree with? When did we stop letting people have differing opinions even on big subjects with us?
(did we ever do that?)
Polarization is KILLING us. Not this bill, not the war, not immigration, not abortion, not teenage pregnancy, not education. Polarization. This us/them concept. This whole "you are with me or against me" concept is great for a war but we are not, or at least should not, be warring with our neighbors.
The pundits put our conversations in terms of war, I know this. I know because last night I watched 8 hours of protesters randomly shouting "kill the bill". I know this because Bill O'Reilly has written a book called "Culture Warrior" and puts it in those terms on a daily basis. I know this because Glen Beck (sp?) mentions how he'd love to hurt people constantly. Including strangling the President.
I know this because the reporters take this language and run with it because we watch "Maddow eviscerates Gingrich" faster than "Maddow disagrees with Gingrich and discusses this disagreement".
I also know I hear this language in the people I talk to. I hear it from my mom, from friends, from the newspapers. This language. These 'innocent' words are creating a divide wider and wider between us. Its easy to disagree nicely with people who want the healthcare bill and are voting for it even if you aren't. It is impossible to do so when they are 'ramming it down your throat'. The type of terminology, the violent word choice, is just impossible to stay friends through.
And this latest bill, this Healthcare bill, has just invited so many people to malign each other, to hate each other, to blame each other. You would think that in the interests in keeping our union more perfect the congresspeople would support better verbiage. Maybe lighten the tones. But they get swept up just the same, they blind themselves just the same.
I don't have a solution, if I did I would not be moaning. I would be doing it.
The only thing I know to do is to stop taking the bait and start using my words better.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Moaning Monday: Healthcare
Labels:
communication,
complaining,
healthcare,
moaning monday,
politics,
word choice
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1 comments:
Hello S:
I agree with the premise of your post in the way people so often throw out aggressive words and pretend they don't matter. Zealots in all facets of our life are killing the old America that I grew up in.
I personally disagreed with the healthcare bill. I know the objections got lost in the rancor, but the problem was that this bill is too much too fast. It is big, cumbersome, doesn't address cost containment like tort reform and incentives for good behaviors. If you don't smoke or eat at buffets every night, then you are well on your way to being a MORE healthy American which will benefit us all. How about Pre-natal care and things that can MAKE A DIFFERENCE for ALL, not just a select few?
I thought they should break it into parts so Americans could see what they are getting and possibly spread out the cost a bit. Why were things like the College Loan stuff tacked onto this beast? IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HEALTHCARE. Why would they hide that? I know they pretend that they will cut Medicare to pay for this but when has that ever happened? When Medicare was introduced by Pres. Johnson, they claimed it would cost $8 billion dollars. Upon full funding the tab came in at actually$40 billion. This bill is nearly a trillion dollars and we STILL do not cover everybody in the U.S.??? What if they are even marginally off on the numbers? Can you imagine the debt upon our children? This was NOT the time to 'do it all'. Anyway, I am not saying you are wrong to be compassionate or move the ball forward. Those are noble goals. I guess, I just wanted you to know that the negative reaction was not exclusive to those ultra-political 'win at all cost' zealots. I just thought if you note this post and come back to it in a year - let's see what we've learned by then. I'm afraid, this is a very unfortunate step for America and a genuine dis-service to its people.
Keep writing. I enjoy your work.
W.C.C.
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