Letters to the Editor
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Why this PATHETIC need to find fault with Moore?
Why do so many liberals feel this compulsion not to praise Michael Moore without saying he's "intellectually dishonest", "oversimplifying" or whatever? This is about the fourth review I've read that falls into this camp.
Let me ask all you critics a question: What movie that says anything worthwhile DOESN'T oversimplify its message? It's a MOVIE for Chrissakes. You couldn't possibly cover every side of this issue in a two-hour film.
Moore is making a point. Disagree with it if you want, but his obligation is not to make an irrefutable proof of his thesis in that two hour film. Of course his case is one-sided. Otherwise it wouldn't be a case. Ask any lawyer. The other side is not prevented from making its case. Moore is not obliged to make it for them.
You're not obligated not to criticize, but it seems you're going out of your way to find something to criticize, which is not the same thing. I haven't seen the film yet, but frankly this tidbit about Nixon and Ehrlichman was information I hadn't heard before, and I'm of that generation. Is that oversimplification? Doesn't sound like it to me.
Michael Moore is no more intellectually dishonest than any filmmaker is. You are holding him to a standard you hold no other filmmaker to. Give us a break.
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The worth of a life?
There have been many good points raised, but the problem is many of them call for contradictory solutions.
I'm a surgeon specializing in emergency care, and I feel pretty certain that for immediate life threatening problems there is no place on earth that does a better job, (thus the fact that so many of the world's best doctors do at least some training in the United States). As curmudgeon2 points out, this is part of the problem, as we don't place nearly as much emphasis on preventive and chronic care. Therefore, the Walter Reed patients who are surviving injuries that would have killed them in previous wars, but then having problems with rehab, job training, follow up care, etc.
moishe asks what is the grey area between life and death. RealName has a fairly clear answer, in that 90% of health care is spent in the last year of life. Why is that? I think Jim Rockford touches on that in his title "Denial of Death". Death is inevitable, and resources are finite. American political discussion never raises either of these points. All government controlled health systems place limits on allocation of resources. Hard decisions need to be made. We can't give everything to everybody. Should we deny an infant a kidney transplant (and maybe a year or two of life) if it allows antibiotics so that 20 ten year olds can live full normal lives? Until we can have real discussions about these types of decisions, we will continue to have the patchwork system that is in place, because it allows us to dodge the issue.
The people who think we aren't already paying for it though, are kidding themselves. I personally have never seen a lifesaving emergency operation denied (we never ask for permission, we just do them). The bill gets picked up by the hospital and the county and the federal and state taxpayers. That's partly why it costs so much more to deliver healthcare in this country, because we end up waiting until the last minute to do anything. So in the end there is universal coverage in the US, but you have to be actively dying to get it.
In the United States we already spend the money, and we could clearly spend it better, but until we can better address how to distribute a finite amount of resources while figuring out issues of fairness/justice/compassion vs utility it will be difficult to put together the nuts and bolts basis of a better system.
By the way, my salary is ~1/8 that of the local university basketball coach, and I drive a Japanese econobox.
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Quiz: who is the hero of that TV show "24" and the grandson of Tommy Douglas
Keifer Sutherland.... I guess Michael Moore thought everyone knew that. Every Canadian knows that...
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And the number one reason I am leaving the States to go back to Canada is?
Pure and simply healthcare. I have lived here in the States for 20 years,, employed with good insurance benefits. Yet I want to give up all this and go back to Canada. Here the medical systemis overwhelmed. Even with insurance I have delays. I have lived in England under the national health system, Canada and the States and the states is by far the poorest system. It is largely profit driven. My body is considered a revenue source for physician. As a victim of a car accident. I consider it shameless that some physicians absolutely refused to treat me because of insurance issues. It was scary because had I not had my regular health insurance I simply would not have been treated until the insurance companies had worked out who was at fault. I had spinal injuries.I absolutely do not want to depend on the medical system here for health when I retire. As for Canada having a smaller population true, but England has a higher population density and their health care is excellent. I never had to worry about paying for health care until I came here. Not to have to worry about medical care between jobs is freedom. Or to be able to work at any job without worrying about medical care. The medical care in Canada is superb. My father had a six month stay in an excellent hospice before he died (he died broke) but his medical care was never contingent on his finances - compare that to any assisted living facilty here. Not. In Canada mental health is considered necessary medical care instead of a useless luxery. Oh give me the option of living somewhere where people are treated with dignity.. Oh and that lie about taxes. I pay easily 11% of my income on taxes here but my property taxes are astronomical and because I live in Florida the insurance is killer. Oh give me the cold and a respectful health care system and I am gone. Literally. I am moving in about two months. The other thing it is going to take so long to fix it here. It really is. I don't even want to wait for the contentious battle that it is going to shape up to be. Do you really think big insurance and big pharmaceutical are going to give up their strangeholds easily. Not. Sorry y'all not taking you with me. I was born Canadian and proud of it.