man & nature # 207 ~ reality challenged
Friday, August 14, 2009 at 10:08AM 
Pay no attention to the man (or the mess he created) behind the curtain • click to embiggenIt has been oft stated that ignorance is bliss and, to a certain extent, that may be true. However, no matter how you cut it, ignorance is still ignorance.
Ignorance comes in many forms - there is the ignorance of the uneducated, that of the unaware, and that of the uninformed - all of which mean a lack of knowledge, learning, and information. And, it is worth noting that the word ignorance derives from the word "ignore" which means to refrain from noticing or recognizing.
The reasons for ignorance are many but the one that always amazes me is that of those who choose to be ignorant. That is to say, those who choose to refrain from noticing or recognizing the means and/or opportunities to be educated, aware, and informed or to acquire knowledge, learning, and information.
Why would anyone choose to be ignorant? My suspicion for this choice is that, while it may not exactly induce a state of bliss, it certainly provides a rationale for not dealing with inconvenient truths.
Witness the reality-challenged Paul Lester for whom nothing is unless he personally sees it. Despite numerous media coverage (print, web, broadcast) - replete with video and pictures, including at least one of a person receiving healthcare in an animal stall - of the annual healthcare expedition in Wise, Virginia where people stand in line, sleep in cars, and are basically herded like cattle in order to obtain healthcare that they can not otherwise obtain, Paul Lester has decided to refrain from noticing or recognizing, not only the fact/reality of the event, but that the healthcare system in the US of A is a horrific mess.
Paul Lester defends his ignorance on the specious and frankly quite lame notion that all of the documentation of the event is "hearsay" - he doesn't believe a first-person account of the event, not because that person lied, but because he (PauL Lester) just doesn't believe him (????). Judging from his entry on his blog regarding this topic, he believes it all to be "hearsay" because all media coverage is "spin" and "propaganda" put forth in the cause of supporting an "agenda".
Paul Lester also offered a couple really ignorant "observations" regarding why such an event might be needed (or not) - not that he actually suggested that it did exist:
I'm sure that there are some shortfalls in many rural communities where access to immediate health care is limited because of the poorness of the town, county, or, in the case of West Virginia, possibly the whole state. This could even be the case with health care reform. It doesn't bring the hospital closer.
Paul, here's a news flash for you - the primary lack/denial of access to healthcare is not geography nor is it limited to just poor rural communities. If you weren't so ignorant you would know this.
Paul Lester also stated that, in fact, maybe there isn't a need for such events because:
Also, there are hospitals that take uninsured folks.
Paul, another news flash for you - also, there are hospitals that do not take uninsured folks. And, even if every hospital took uninsured folks, you would know, if you weren't so ignorant, that using hospitals - usually emergency room services - for the everyday healthcare needs of uninsured folks is the absolute worst and most costly delivery method of those medical services.
All of that said, my suspicion re: Paul Lester's choice to be ignorant, is that his seemingly reasoned and rational explanation about why he is "quite careful these days about what I consider truth" is little more than a feint to veil his real agenda (about which I will not speculate - you can draw your own conclusions).
Or, maybe it's simply that he is too damn lazy to spend the time and make the effort to eradicate his apparent ignorance on the subject of the reality of healthcare in this here US of A. You know what I mean - spend the time and make the effort to determine, to decide, to discern what is, at the very least, (and despite the belief that there is no objective reality) more true than not regarding this topic.
However, I won't be holding my breath waiting for that to happen because for so many ignorance is indeed some form of "bliss".
gravitas et nugalis
Featured Comment: "Ron" wrote: "Talking about Ignorance, how are we going to pay for "free" healthcare without bankrupting us all?"
To which "the infamous j" responded: "Ignorance is not recognizing a red herring when one is presenting it ... Name one modern economy that is going bankrupt from providing their citizens with some form of universal healthcare"?
my response: Well, Ron? We're waiting for an answer.
And, here's another question for you - who the hell ever said healthcare was going to be free?
Of course it has to be paid for and, quite frankly, it's very difficult for me to believe that the richest nation on earth can't afford or figure out a method - one that doesn't bankrupt us - to pay for universal healthcare.
And, as long as you brought up the subject of "bankrupt", here's another question for you - care to put up a guess on the number of individual Americans who have lost everything because of a bankruptcy due to healthcare costs? And, as long as we're piling on question-wise - how many of those filing bankruptcy for healthcare related expenses actually had health insurance (at least at the start of their illness)?
Come on, Ron. We're waiting for your answers. (Here's a clue for you on the bankruptcy question - I just can't help wondering how many are Tennesseans?)
Reader Comments (17)
But it is so difficult to challenge my pre-conceived beliefs, and so much easier to attack the credibility of information that contradicts those beliefs.
Too sad that we don't teach kids basic philosophy and psychology in school. Basic concepts such as logical fallacy and cognitive bias should be understood by all. But it is in the interest of those in power to keep the masses in ignorance of anything that threatens that power, hence we have religion and politics...
Right On! Svein-Frode.
Check this out.
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/
I haven't come to any firm conclusions about this, but it does make me think more.
RAM (Remote Area Medical) teams used to operate in poor South American countries. They now operate in the USA.
http://www.ramusa.org/learn/media.html
A few years ago I was vacationing in Cape Cod and got to read local newpapers. One news item that struck me and still does to this day was about a large insurance company pulling out of the area leaving countless people without medical coverage.
Reason given by the insurance company: too many retirees with potentially higher medical needs.
Can't argue with profits!
If you've seen the above videos, contrast that with what Stephen A. Schwarzman Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Blackstone is paying himself.
http://www.thecorporatelibrary.com/
Download the Sneak Peek of The Corporate Library's 2008 CEO Pay Survey
Highly interesting to read about healtcare in the USA. Here in Finland the state-run system covers everyone and provides moderate-to-excellent level of services. Per capita our system is cheap, in 2007 the cost per capita was 2,200 US $ compared with 6,096 US $ in the USA.
What is frightening is that we have some discussion here in Finland about changing the current system towards a model which sound like the system in the USA. And recently there have been cutbacks in the coverage of the healthcare system.
Jimmi, the Zeitgeist-movies are sadly a meltingpot of great ideas, inaccuracies, wrongs, horribly wrongs and simply stupid logical fallacies. However, it is hard not to agree that the world is not the great place it could have been. To keep this discussion on track with the Landscapists original theme I love one quote from Krishnamurti which was used in the movie: It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.
As a reformed "contrarian", I probably shouldn't be sticking my nose into this. Not to mention the fact that I respect both Mark and Paul Lester. Each has much to contribute to discussions like this. So I object to Mark's assertion that Paul is "ignorant". Clearly, he is not. His opinion, at this point, is simply different than Mark's.
It's a little bit like what we're hearing in these so-called townhall debates on healthcare. Name calling might get you thunderous applause from those who believe as you do, but you'll get precious few converts. It just hardens the opposition.
On the other hand, there is ample, verifiable evidence to support much of what Mark says about healthcare. NBC, for example, carried two separate stories this past week of people standing in line for days (in California) to get free healthcare. Thousands of people, some with young children or elderly parents, waited patiently to get care that was unavailable to them otherwise. Some wound up being turned away anyway. The reporter said that the "service" could have been extended for days and the doctors, dentists, and nurses couldn't have seen all who were there.
Clearly, there is a healthcare crisis in this country. This has nothing to do with debates about "truth" or "reality". This is about people who are in pain or dying because they cannot afford basic healthcare. We should all be ashamed that this is happening in our backyard.
Nothing of importance will change just by folks being being aware, talking about it, eating locally produced seasonal food, or driving here, there, and everywhere in their ecologically "friendly" cars. Voting for one of the the machine's stooges also won't change anything of consequence.
I think you won't get anywhere without arming yourselves and taking back what your forefathers stole from the Indians.
Dismantle the USA - it's too big and unwieldy. I suggest forming 25 countries. You could then form an economic union if you so desire. But no federal government. No standing Armed Forces. No pan-continental Wall Street.
Good luck. Remember that the Axis of Evil runs from Boston thru New York City to Washington DC.
As an arthritis sufferer, my wife needed to have bilateral knee replacement surgery, followed by by-weekly and later weekly physical therapy that lasted for a year. She was hospitalized for 18 days.
All she needed was her Quebec public health insurance card. She did not have to obtain approval from any insurance company or anyone else for that matter. It was all decided between her and her orthopedist.
After her physical therapy ended, we spent a month in Paris, taking day long walks.
At about the same time, we were seeing bus loads of people coming into Montreal from the New England states to buy much needed prescription drugs at a fair price. They would come into a designated pharmacy, see a doctor for presciption validation and then talk to the pharmacist. That practice has ended but I wonder how these people manage today to pay for their prescription drugs.
Talking about Ignorance, how are we going to pay for "free" healthcare without bankrupting us all? If you guys want this so bad in New York, why don't you work on a state level to get it? Just leave us Tennesseeans out of it, we know where it leads and we don't want to go there. The national healthcare bill was based on the one we had in Tennessee.
Who is John Galt? And what is really going on?
Ron
"Talking about Ignorance, how are we going to pay for "free" healthcare without bankrupting us all?"
Ignorance is what Ms. Palin is spreading when she says that under National Health Care there will be goverment commitees to decide who lives and who dies.
Under private health care, the USA has one of the highest infant mortality rate of any developped countries. Also, according to CIA World Factbook (2008), the US ranks 45, just ahead of Albania (50) for life expectancy.
As for the cost of health care, the US is probably number one. And these costs are excalading, so much so that they are putting a dangerous burden on the financial health of many american corporation.
When american citizens have to take up collections to pay for a familly member or a friend's health care bills you know there is something wrong.
Ron: "Talking about Ignorance, how are we going to pay for "free" healthcare without bankrupting us all?"
Ignorance is not recognizing a red herring when one is presenting it.
Name one modern economy that is going bankrupt from providing their citizens with some form of universal healthcare?
If one recognizes an injustice and has the ability or power to right that injustice. Then it is a moral obligation to do so.
Whether there are 47 million, 16 million or just 1 individual who suffers for lack of healthcare is a moral failing. And we have a duty to ourselves and our fellow citizens to rectify this moral failing.
PS mark like my new handle? :)
J
Mark,
Your take on things photographic are much respected and appreciated. I would suggest you stay with photography and leave the politics out.We get enough on the national media, if you choose to watch it.
"Name one modern economy that is going bankrupt from providing their citizens with some form of universal healthcare?"
Pick a European country. And if healthcare doesn't do it, pensions will.
It's a constant struggle but quality, comprehensive healthcare is a commitment that won't be given up lightly.
Remote Area Medical, the group doing all of the free medical clinics, is based in Tennessee. Maybe there are some Tennesseans who visit this blog who would be willing to donate some time and money to these folks.
http://www.ramusa.org/index.html
It is interresting to notice that in a country that has made it its mission to save the world from all evil has so many citizens willing to let their own people die of poor healthcare while spending billions of taxpayer money conducting war on the opposite side of the globe...