Convenient untruths
We all have myths we hold onto, to defend us from the full horror of existence: the good guy wins in the end, virtue is its own reward, England are one of the teams that can win it… but if you really want to make things better you have to start with some cold-hearted analysis before you can get anywhere.
It’s an odd and broad contrast between Britain and America that the UK’s national myths are profoundly pessimistic, while America’s are basically optimistic. Both have advantages, but in extremis both can poison the discourse. What my wife and I have noted from sitting over here on the west coast is that those shouting loudest in the UK (and as we all know from Colbert , truth is now simply a matter of who shouts loudest) are possessed with a dishonest, hate-filled, nihilistic contempt (and this is the single biggest motivation for us not to bother returning). The extremist perversion of US optimism is somewhat more complex, on the one hand it becomes the uncritical and starry-eyed, “best-nation on earth, God’s-own-people, type schtick” on the other its way of dealing with the fact that the world is less than perfect is to find external and internal enemies who have poisoned the Edenic existence. And this is true of both sides – either “Bush, religious fundamentalists, Big Oil, Big Pharma, military industrial complex, Fox Noise” are to blame or “The Clintons, illegal immigrants, secular progressives, godless yurpeens, eco-fascists, femi-nazis, New York Times” are.
The common local understanding of healthcare shows many of these traits. Actually the most common response is "Yeah-healthcare's-a-real-worry-my-premium-goes-up-every-year-oh-look-Anna-Nicole-Smith's-just-died". But where there are strong views they divide in the following ways. The left tends to argue that healthcare would be great but is broken because big pharma and insurance companies are screwing the little guy – and if only we had a European system we’d be sorted. This is too simplistic, but it’s a logically coherent position, to which you can call some facts and arguments to support – the conspiracy theory bit is what can’t be supported (and which probably stops reform).
The approach of the right though is far more interesting in that it creates a fascinating double think which is very hard for an outsider to understand. American healthcare is simultaneously the best in the world and bad because of bad people. This is bizarre but the following is a useful summation of the points that you will often see made by the same people three sentences apart. Interestingly these arguments are not only factually incorrect but frequently logically inconsistent so showing the evidence and unpicking the flawed logic of will take an entry for each, but here they are, in all their inglory.
Convenient untruth 1: The uninsured problem isn’t a problem because every one still gets good care which is better than anything else in the world and the only uninsured people are bad people, so it’s their fault that they get bad care.
Convenient untruth 2: Any sort of socialized medicine is a bad thing because it leads to rationing but health savings accounts are good because they limit the care that you can buy to what you really need (which isn't rationing... how?). Oh and by the way we shouldn’t have so much bureaucracy in our system.
Convenient untruth 3: We can see who we want – when we want – you have to wait
Convenient untruth 4: We have to have responsibility for our own health...yum donuts
Convenient untruth 5: It’s all the fault of illegal immigrants
The next series of posts deal with each of these arguments in turn.
It’s an odd and broad contrast between Britain and America that the UK’s national myths are profoundly pessimistic, while America’s are basically optimistic. Both have advantages, but in extremis both can poison the discourse. What my wife and I have noted from sitting over here on the west coast is that those shouting loudest in the UK (and as we all know from Colbert , truth is now simply a matter of who shouts loudest) are possessed with a dishonest, hate-filled, nihilistic contempt (and this is the single biggest motivation for us not to bother returning). The extremist perversion of US optimism is somewhat more complex, on the one hand it becomes the uncritical and starry-eyed, “best-nation on earth, God’s-own-people, type schtick” on the other its way of dealing with the fact that the world is less than perfect is to find external and internal enemies who have poisoned the Edenic existence. And this is true of both sides – either “Bush, religious fundamentalists, Big Oil, Big Pharma, military industrial complex, Fox Noise” are to blame or “The Clintons, illegal immigrants, secular progressives, godless yurpeens, eco-fascists, femi-nazis, New York Times” are.
The common local understanding of healthcare shows many of these traits. Actually the most common response is "Yeah-healthcare's-a-real-worry-my-premium-goes-up-every-year-oh-look-Anna-Nicole-Smith's-just-died". But where there are strong views they divide in the following ways. The left tends to argue that healthcare would be great but is broken because big pharma and insurance companies are screwing the little guy – and if only we had a European system we’d be sorted. This is too simplistic, but it’s a logically coherent position, to which you can call some facts and arguments to support – the conspiracy theory bit is what can’t be supported (and which probably stops reform).
The approach of the right though is far more interesting in that it creates a fascinating double think which is very hard for an outsider to understand. American healthcare is simultaneously the best in the world and bad because of bad people. This is bizarre but the following is a useful summation of the points that you will often see made by the same people three sentences apart. Interestingly these arguments are not only factually incorrect but frequently logically inconsistent so showing the evidence and unpicking the flawed logic of will take an entry for each, but here they are, in all their inglory.
Convenient untruth 1: The uninsured problem isn’t a problem because every one still gets good care which is better than anything else in the world and the only uninsured people are bad people, so it’s their fault that they get bad care.
Convenient untruth 2: Any sort of socialized medicine is a bad thing because it leads to rationing but health savings accounts are good because they limit the care that you can buy to what you really need (which isn't rationing... how?). Oh and by the way we shouldn’t have so much bureaucracy in our system.
Convenient untruth 3: We can see who we want – when we want – you have to wait
Convenient untruth 4: We have to have responsibility for our own health...yum donuts
Convenient untruth 5: It’s all the fault of illegal immigrants
The next series of posts deal with each of these arguments in turn.
posted by Exiled in mainstream at 9:23 AM
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