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| In Answer to Klaus | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 17 2016, 04:30 AM (102 Views) | |
| Catseye | Jul 17 2016, 04:30 AM Post #1 |
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Pisa-Carp
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From another thread, Aqua said: You can't ever for example be pro-gun rights in this country and be for socialized medicine. Stupid. Then Klaus said: What I find confusing is that many Americans seem to think that there are only two choices: The "free market" system or "socialized" medicine. It's like American movies: Good vs evil. White vs. black. But in fact there is a very wide and multi-dimensional spectrum of health systems. For instance, I'm insured by a private company, but I'll never pay a single Euro for treatments out of my own pocket (with some exceptions for dental work) because the companies must pay 100% of all costs by law. ------ Klaus. Nobody knows what Americans are. This includes Americans. There are 318.9 million Americans; how can anybody know what they are? The closest we can ever come is to accept what some writer or thinker or, god help us, politician or journalist tells us we are. Even the smart commenters like Mark Steyn or Charles Krauthammer don't know who we are. They write, and we pick out the bits that agree with what we think we are, and that's that. But they don't know, and we don't, either. One thing we are, I think we can all agree, is fvcked up. There are many reasons for this, but one is that we are assaulted daily with a hundred different versions of our identity. We're fvcked up because we're confused, and the less awareness we have of this, the more fvcked up we are. We're in trouble. I think we all know that, too. I don't know what we can do about that, or if there is anything to be done. But one thing we could maybe do is to, each of us, build our own identity for ourselves out of whatever materials we feel okay about selecting from the smorgasbord. Instead of saying, Americans are _____, we can start saying, In the part of America where I live, the people tend to _____, and I can't say if it's the same anywhere else. For example, I can say with absolute certainty that where I live, Americans are slobs, are fat, have a phenomenal work ethic and often show great skill at gardening. Are Americans in San Francisco like that? How the hell would I know? They're 2,000 miles away. And when Americans or English or Turks or Japanese make big Edited by Catseye, Jul 19 2016, 03:32 PM.
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| "How awful a knowledge of the truth can be." -- Sophocles, Oedipus Rex | |
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| Klaus | Jul 17 2016, 06:36 AM Post #2 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Thanks for your answer, Catseye. However, I'm a bit unsure in what way your post relates to the question of healthcare in the US. Maybe you can elaborate? |
| Trifonov Fleisher Klaus Sokolov Zimmerman | |
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| Catseye | Jul 17 2016, 06:40 AM Post #3 |
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Pisa-Carp
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It doesn't. I wuz bein symbolick.
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| "How awful a knowledge of the truth can be." -- Sophocles, Oedipus Rex | |
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11:23 AM Jul 11