I watched Michael Moore's Sicko last night, and I gotta say it was pretty fucked up.
The fact that insurance companies are literally killing people (knowingly) is absolutely ludicrous. I can't see how it's legal to call life saving surgeries "
experimental, and therefore not covered by your policy" when the operation has been a proven success. That's defacto murder in my books.
Not to mention the people who don't even have insurance in the first place...
I also have to say that I'm growing less and less fond of Moore's tactics. I think he's a plug. A plug who makes a hell of alot of good points and does a service to the country with his work, but a story-spinning plug nonetheless.
The whole thing of sneaking into Cuba with the boatloads of people while yelling into a megaphone at nobody? Come on...
But still it's pretty telling that the allegedly
evil people of Cuba go out of their way to make the Americans feel at home. Plus the Cubans sell them drugs at a ridiculously small fraction of the price they're paying at home.
See, the problem with America is selfishness. Selfishness, and the idea that they are the best country in the world, a view that self perpetuates ignorance through patriotism.
"We're the best because we say we're the best, hence we're the best" is just bullshit rhetoric that doesn't apply to the real world. And it's detrimental both at home and abroad, because people of that mindset generally exert very little effort into making the world a better place. Afterall, why would we need to fix the greatest country int he world? After all, it is the best, so don't fix what h'aint broken ya'll.
It all stems from capitalism, but the US takes things to the extreme. Instead of healthy competition, they view competition (and capitalism in general) as such:
how can I get mine, regardless of how many other decent people I fuck over in the process.See, in the examples of the Canadian and British systems, everyone uses the democratic idea that no matter who you are or how much money you have, you deserve to have good health care. American zealots of the opinion that the aforementioned ideal amounts to socialism (oooh, scary!) are obviously making a mitt-load of money from the current system of
fuck the poor, heal the wealthy. Either that or they're just plain ignorant.
But Canada and Britain are still democracies, and they're doing a hell of alot better in a great many areas that Americans could ever hope to do. And the reason for this...? -- we see ourselves as part of a whole, not merely selfish little individuals who must hoard all of the resources we can.
And the French example hammers home an even more important point, albeit a political one. The French government fears their people, and American people fear their government. Very
V for Vendetta-esque, I know, but it's an extremely important idea. The people in true democracies shouldn't be repressed and scared half to death all the time, just because their government says so.
But again, for a plutocracy that has fooled it's citizens into believing that they live in a democracy, it's not a hard sell when the people believe that they're actually free. Not to mention the usage of that ideal to export a whole buncha democracy around the world at the barrel of a gun and the tip of a missile. Ain't it grand?
Bah, it's all disgusting bullshit.
Oh well, we had a good time, and we saw some kickass costumes. Of note were the real-looking Batman, Spawn's ridiculous suit with glowing eyes, and the Halo character. Didn't get an pics with em, but probably shoulda.
