I, like many others, can not bear to wake up to another news story about another unarmed person shot dead by the police in this country. I generically use the term person but I could very easily put the word black in front of that statement and it would be virtually synonymous.
I had to resist the temptation to pass on a social media article or meme that cleverly describes why #blacklivesmatter is necessary, but those are ubiquitous at this point and those who don't have it by now aren't likely to get it anytime soon.
I hate talking about race with most (white) people. I find it so irritatingly frustrating that I would rather be getting dental work done by my barber. As I wrote earlier in my post about the confederate flag, it isn't because people who don't get it are bad, they just literally can't take the pain. Except unlike people of other hues, they don't have to, so usually they don't. That is what we call white privilege. Hell sometimes I wish I never took the pill all those years ago, my mind would probably be more at ease.
So to those, who like me, feel that #blacklivesmatter is important, here is my point. The black lives matter movement is imperative, not because it seeks to convince white people to be nice, but because it helps black people assert that "yes- I matter also." It is important because it is a powerful statement of self love that asserts "I am important and I will not be silent." It is statement that is diametrically opposed to the reality of most of our collective US history. It is a statement and a movement that seeks to right real and present wrongs- and to begin a reversal of generations of psychological trauma.
Though I believe fervently in the power of the blacklivesmatter movement, I know many who do not believe or do not understand. I am not black, so my understanding of these issues will always be incomplete. So I get it when my brothers and sisters (white and otherwise) who don't want to give credence to black lives matter. Again it is hard to grasp when you don't have to. The inability to grasp the challenges faced by others who are different is not the mark of an inherently bad spirit, it signals a lack of empathy. This does not mean black people are inherently more empathic, it means that they are much closer to the ugly truth on this one. People aren't necessarily bad, many of us just live in bubbles until our bubbles get popped.
So how do we reverse the startling killing of unarmed (mainly black) people by law enforcement agencies? Cameras are good, citizens police committees are good. We also need to work together. This means, speaking for myself, we work with anyone who believes that killing of unarmed people is a problem (including white people, black people, Latinos, Asians, Native people, Muslims, gay people, Jewish people, butchers, bakers, candlestick makers and the 1000's of police officers who who have worked for years without engaging in unnecessary brutality ). On the other hand.
This may sound cynical but this is the United States of America, the ultimate answer lies in capitalism. Over the course of decades the US and individual states conducted massive public health campaigns to end smoking. These public health campaigns were of questionable effectiveness, however the rates of smoking did drop dramatically. These rates dropped dramatically in correlation with rising cigarette prices. In effect the smoking rate didn't change until it hit the pocket book of individual smokers. This effect is a principle of controlled capitalism whereby they increase the price of a commodity to create scarcity or price consumers out of individual markets (kind of like red-lining, gentrification or luxury goods marketing).
So how does this relate to officer involved shootings of unarmed people? It is simple. We can continue to encourage others to be good people and to pay attention, some will. However this issue, like global warming, will not get proper attention until it hits the pocket book. So, if you really want to effect change take one from the Erin Brockovich handbook- SUE!
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
The Confederate flag, the "N" word, racism and why I wish I still had my Boss Hogg action figure.
Should the confederate flag be removed from the state house in South Carolina and other official government places, absolutely! Should the confederate flag be removed from the General Lee on Dukes of Hazzard, meh.
As with everything that is extrapolated to death, this debate was taken to it's least logical conclusion when TV land removed re-runs of a decades old show about an orange Dodge Charger and the people who drove it. This decision served to drum up interest in a bad show with cool car chases; sure to keep Bo, Luke, Daisy and Cooter in the luxurious glow of royalty checks for at least a couple more years. It also highlighted the preposterous, utterly ridiculous nature of what we deem newsworthy and the instantaneous way in which some human beings choose to take offense over the most asinine things.
A couple of days later and social media is littered with posts celebrating the young woman who removed the flag from the capital grounds and defensive memes about how not everyone who flies the flag is racist. First of all flying the confederate flag in an official government capacity is very different from allowing some guy to paint one on a truck, but I will get to that later.
Are you racist for flying the Confederate flag? Maybe you are, I tend to think most people are at least a little bit racist. We tend to treat racism as if it were an exception to the love and harmony we share as people in a nation that resembles a coke commercial. We do not live in that world. We live in a place stained by generations of institutionalized racism that continues to foster inequity in education, economic opportunity and in glaring, searing injustice in our justice system.
Racism is not an exception. It is a living, breathing organism in our society that permeates to our very core. It is a monster that we did not individually create and are individually powerless to stop. It goes well beyond a celebrity secretly caught saying the "N" word or some college fraternity singing drunken, racist songs. But this is what we like to focus on because it makes these issues seem smaller and more easily manageable, instead of what they are, gigantic messes that have no easy fixes and require a level of inward assessment that most people will never attempt, because it is painful and difficult.
I imagine most people who fly the confederate flag, for whatever reason, don't really think about institutional racism or the legacy of inequity when doing so. They probably think that they are good people who do nice things for others, maybe they are. They probably think they can fly the flag because it is their right to do so, it is. They may think they are honoring their ancestors, I could speak volumes to my disagreement with this but that is another post entirely. Maybe they just want to hear Skynard play Free Bird, well so do I, as long as I never have to Hear Sweet Home Alabama again!
If you fly the confederate flag, let me admit, I don't get it. Most of my relatives who were in the US at the time of civil war were confederates, but I am not a southerner. I am a westerner and not one given to romantic notions of how the past was somehow better. What I would ask of anyone who flies the flag is to really think about their reasoning and consider other perspectives.
The confederate flag may be a point of ancestral pride to some but to others is a frightening reminder of slavery, intimidation, segregation and lynching. It is frightening to many, who have a core visceral reaction to the very sight of the stars and bars. It is a reminder of a terrible ancestral legacy to those who watched the flag used first for the confederacy and then co-opted by the KKK and other groups who sought to intimidate black people, Jewish people, Asians people, Latinos, immigrants and even Catholics.
Maybe those who fly the confederate flag are trying to rehabilitate it as a symbol. Maybe, like with African Americans who use the "N" word, they are trying to put some kind of good spin on an inanimate thing that has been used to for the purposes of evil. If this is the case, I offer the same argument I would to those attempting to rehab the "N" word. Words and symbols have power, they have legacies and meanings. We did not create these legacies and meanings, we cannot change them.
My personal hope is that the confederate flag would die to history, just like the "N" word. Does this mean that I believe people who fly it are bad? No! I have met people who said the most ignorant things and yet, when it came down to it, showed the deepest levels of human compassion. I have seen people who talk about helping others on a large scale yet ignore the suffering of those right in front of them. Life is too long and complicated for labels that fit into facebook memes or for simple solutions to deeply rooted problems.
As for allowing the confederate flag to fly on government property. Let me first admit that I loved my General Lee toy car and Boss Hogg action figure as a child, I still wonder what happened to them.
The flag of the Confederacy was the flag of a nation that began in open rebellion with the United States of America. This was in essence the flag of a self declared nation at war with the United States. In this vein of logic the confederate flag would be on par with the flags of Britain, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Germany, Japan, North Korea and the Ottoman Empire.
As to the heritage argument. Yes many people have ancestors who fought for the confederate nation and live in the 11 states that formed this nation. We also have several states that were a part of Mexico until they were lost during the Mexican American war. There are many people living in the United States who are descendants of Mexican veterans of the Mexican American War. Imagine the uproar if a state decided to fly the Mexican flag on official government property, let alone any preposterous attempts to fly the official flag of the Ottoman Empire.
Beyond these arguments, there is a human one. The government, as flawed as it is, is supposed to represent all people. Openly endorsing a symbol that is so deeply offensive to a large portion of the population falls far short of this aim. So yes, it is your right to fly the Confederate flag on your scale model General Lee or rock the stars and bars on that old Skynard t-shirt, but no, this is not the same as flying the flag high on the grounds of a state capitol, it is not the same at all.
As with everything that is extrapolated to death, this debate was taken to it's least logical conclusion when TV land removed re-runs of a decades old show about an orange Dodge Charger and the people who drove it. This decision served to drum up interest in a bad show with cool car chases; sure to keep Bo, Luke, Daisy and Cooter in the luxurious glow of royalty checks for at least a couple more years. It also highlighted the preposterous, utterly ridiculous nature of what we deem newsworthy and the instantaneous way in which some human beings choose to take offense over the most asinine things.
A couple of days later and social media is littered with posts celebrating the young woman who removed the flag from the capital grounds and defensive memes about how not everyone who flies the flag is racist. First of all flying the confederate flag in an official government capacity is very different from allowing some guy to paint one on a truck, but I will get to that later.
Are you racist for flying the Confederate flag? Maybe you are, I tend to think most people are at least a little bit racist. We tend to treat racism as if it were an exception to the love and harmony we share as people in a nation that resembles a coke commercial. We do not live in that world. We live in a place stained by generations of institutionalized racism that continues to foster inequity in education, economic opportunity and in glaring, searing injustice in our justice system.
Racism is not an exception. It is a living, breathing organism in our society that permeates to our very core. It is a monster that we did not individually create and are individually powerless to stop. It goes well beyond a celebrity secretly caught saying the "N" word or some college fraternity singing drunken, racist songs. But this is what we like to focus on because it makes these issues seem smaller and more easily manageable, instead of what they are, gigantic messes that have no easy fixes and require a level of inward assessment that most people will never attempt, because it is painful and difficult.
I imagine most people who fly the confederate flag, for whatever reason, don't really think about institutional racism or the legacy of inequity when doing so. They probably think that they are good people who do nice things for others, maybe they are. They probably think they can fly the flag because it is their right to do so, it is. They may think they are honoring their ancestors, I could speak volumes to my disagreement with this but that is another post entirely. Maybe they just want to hear Skynard play Free Bird, well so do I, as long as I never have to Hear Sweet Home Alabama again!
If you fly the confederate flag, let me admit, I don't get it. Most of my relatives who were in the US at the time of civil war were confederates, but I am not a southerner. I am a westerner and not one given to romantic notions of how the past was somehow better. What I would ask of anyone who flies the flag is to really think about their reasoning and consider other perspectives.
The confederate flag may be a point of ancestral pride to some but to others is a frightening reminder of slavery, intimidation, segregation and lynching. It is frightening to many, who have a core visceral reaction to the very sight of the stars and bars. It is a reminder of a terrible ancestral legacy to those who watched the flag used first for the confederacy and then co-opted by the KKK and other groups who sought to intimidate black people, Jewish people, Asians people, Latinos, immigrants and even Catholics.
Maybe those who fly the confederate flag are trying to rehabilitate it as a symbol. Maybe, like with African Americans who use the "N" word, they are trying to put some kind of good spin on an inanimate thing that has been used to for the purposes of evil. If this is the case, I offer the same argument I would to those attempting to rehab the "N" word. Words and symbols have power, they have legacies and meanings. We did not create these legacies and meanings, we cannot change them.
My personal hope is that the confederate flag would die to history, just like the "N" word. Does this mean that I believe people who fly it are bad? No! I have met people who said the most ignorant things and yet, when it came down to it, showed the deepest levels of human compassion. I have seen people who talk about helping others on a large scale yet ignore the suffering of those right in front of them. Life is too long and complicated for labels that fit into facebook memes or for simple solutions to deeply rooted problems.
As for allowing the confederate flag to fly on government property. Let me first admit that I loved my General Lee toy car and Boss Hogg action figure as a child, I still wonder what happened to them.
The flag of the Confederacy was the flag of a nation that began in open rebellion with the United States of America. This was in essence the flag of a self declared nation at war with the United States. In this vein of logic the confederate flag would be on par with the flags of Britain, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Germany, Japan, North Korea and the Ottoman Empire.
As to the heritage argument. Yes many people have ancestors who fought for the confederate nation and live in the 11 states that formed this nation. We also have several states that were a part of Mexico until they were lost during the Mexican American war. There are many people living in the United States who are descendants of Mexican veterans of the Mexican American War. Imagine the uproar if a state decided to fly the Mexican flag on official government property, let alone any preposterous attempts to fly the official flag of the Ottoman Empire.
Beyond these arguments, there is a human one. The government, as flawed as it is, is supposed to represent all people. Openly endorsing a symbol that is so deeply offensive to a large portion of the population falls far short of this aim. So yes, it is your right to fly the Confederate flag on your scale model General Lee or rock the stars and bars on that old Skynard t-shirt, but no, this is not the same as flying the flag high on the grounds of a state capitol, it is not the same at all.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
I am Rachel Dolezal- well almost- well not really- well just read the post.....
I will say it. With a lessened sense of identity, 1970’s home perm and a great self tanner; I could be Rachel Dolezal.
As a mental health professional, my first thought on this issue was that Ms. Dolezal has identity related mental health issues, likely rooted in trauma, an opinion that I continue to hold. My first reaction as a human being was empathy. I understood a part of her story that perhaps many do not.
My own relationship with my own ethnic group has always been complicated. Early life cruelty by white people, the prevalence of white classism and a strong affinity for Mr. T at the age of 5 (Ms. Dolezal’s purported age of the genesis of her racial identity) caused in me, the beginnings of a strong identification with those of other cultures.
A bit later in life I found love and greater levels of acceptance amongst those of black and latino cultures. As my relationships deepened I felt special, appreciated and ultimately more loved than I had ever felt in the monocultural white world. However, even among others cultures there was always a bridge to cross, that of being an outsider, of being always almost at the table but never quite there.
As an outsider, I desperately wanted to belong. So why not? Why not do like Ms. Dolezal and darken my skin? Why not settle into an ever more complicated web of lies and self denial? Why not seek comfort in a culture that feels more familiar?
I have no doubt that Ms. Dolezal is intelligent and talented in her work as a civil rights leader. I empathize with her and hate the way the media has sensationalized her story , as they do everything else. However, my identification with Ms. Dolezal’s story stops there.
As a mental health professional, I am interested in the idea of the possibility of transracial identity and its’ prevalence in our society. If nothing else Ms. Dolezal’s story brings to light an area of psychology that is largely unresearched. As a human being interested in social justice and in breaking down the barriers that separate us as human beings, I am deeply troubled.
In my opinion Ms. Dolezal’s claims of being African American aren’t rooted in a deep appreciation and identification of other cultures, which she genuinely seems to possess. Many people immerse themselves in other cultures. Many identify with the struggles of others and become allies and defenders of human rights. However, unlike Ms. Dolezal, most do this without losing their own sense of identity.
By choosing to represent herself as something she is not, Ms. Dolezal arguably lessens a perception of what it means to black. She lessens the experiences of millions of people who have come before her and didn’t have the luxury of being able to gain greater advantages by lightening their skin to become a part of a dominant culture. She cheapens these struggles by simply having the choice to pull out when the full reality of being black in America becomes too hard.
However in the greater scheme of life, she is one person. She is one headline, one blip in a 24 hour news cycle. In choosing to represent herself as something she is not, the greatest damage Ms. Dolezal does, is not to black culture, white culture or the NAACP; but to herself. Though she may believe her own deceptions, these deceptions are rooted, not in a deep appreciation for black culture but in a deep down sense of hatred for herself. Self hatred that is like a fire and will ultimately consume her from the inside out.
Monday, October 7, 2013
The Dangers of Binge Watching
Among the greatest benefits of 21st century technology has been on demand television. As my son grows, I can only imagine telling him old war stories of how, “in my day we had to watch commercials and if something wasn't on at the time, we couldn't watch it. Gone are the days of consulting a TV Guide or watching a show one episode at a time. .
This is the era of DVR, Netflix and Hulu Plus. This is the era of marathon television watching sessions. This is a golden age of binge watching. While I love this golden age, I have recently realized the need to approach binge watching with caution and moderation.
The other day I woke up from a bad dream I can’t quite remember. The day before I felt off and the days that followed were the same. It was subtle, a slight touch of melancholy here, a tinge of regret for some long ago transgression there. I began to feel anxious, as if there were something wrong. For a moment I thought I had cancer. For an instance I had a strange craving for crystal meth, even though I have no idea what that might actually be like.
I searched my soul to find a reason for this melancholy, this strange affinity for pure blue crystal meth and the city of Albuquerque. Nothing had happened, there were no major changes in my life, no conflicts, nothing. What happened?
I checked my Netflix account. In the past week I had watched 35 episodes of Breaking Bad. It is a great show, among the most well written that I can recall. It is so good that it should come with a warning label. Warning: If you binge watch you run the risk wanting to manufacture crystal meth and call yourself Heizenburg.
Maybe I am just more susceptible than most to become caught up in artificially created television worlds. I had similar responses to The Walking Dead, where I began to formulate my plan of action for the Zombie apocalypse, or when I binge watched Battlestar Galactica and began to suspect that everyone around me was a cylon.
Or maybe, just maybe, this is a new challenge for a brave new world. The risks of binge watching are many. Some of these risks, like a sore behind, weight gain from a sedentary lifestyle or insomnia from staying up too late watching television, are obvious. The emotional risks are a bit more subtle.
Am I going to stop binge watching? Probably not. I enjoy the entertainment provided by television and the escape it provides from everyday problems. However, I will be more aware of the times when binge watching is not an escape from my issues. Indeed, binge watching can guarantee a transfer to a world of even greater problems. In my real life, I may have issues paying the bills sometimes, but I have never had cancer, been kidnapped by deranged drug dealers or been forced to drive a Pontiac Aztec. Maybe the solution is to take a couple days off from Breaking Bad or binge watch something else entirely, a comedy perhaps.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Running Outside: My Love Affair with the Treadmill
Yesterday I decided to run outside. Though I have been an avid runner for several years, this occasion marked perhaps the 8th time that I have ventured to run outside. The results were, how should I put it, humbling.
The first thing I learned is that there are bugs outside that don't exist within the confines of a 24 hours fitness. Second, I shattered my long held belief that growing up in Phoenix has somehow made me immune to any effects of the sun. Third I learned that being able to run 10 miles on a treadmill, in an air conditioned gym, does not mean that I can run 10 miles on the road. Fourth, I learned that Portland is first rate for bike lanes and cut rate for sidewalks. Fifth, I learned that running in bike lanes is terrifying.
Why did I do it? I have been content to run on the treadmill. I can control the pace and know exactly what is going on all around me. Yet running a marathon is on my bucket list and apparently we all have to have bucket lists because Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman told us to. Quite simply there are no treadmill marathons. Thank God, frankly that would be more boring than watching a professional bowling match played by professional golfers.
I got very close to running a marathon 4 years ago. Then something happened. Between the overtraining and lack of calcium that comes from my milk allergy, at least this is my hypothesis, my ankle became so weak that it broke. I was left with an injury that took a full year to heal and the lamest broken bone story ever.
Four years later I am still a far cry from the shape I was in then. I am 20 lbs heavier (to be on the kind side) and cannot run as fast as I could then. Through it all I have kept trying but had yet to break out in the great outdoors.
Yesterday was a reminder that I am not as close to my goal as I would like to be. The good thing is a bucket list is composed of things one would like to do before death and I don't plan on dying for a long time. I will run my marathon someday, hopefully sooner than later. I will run a good race and will find the flattest marathon in the country, hills are killer.
Tomorrow I will go running again. This time back to the treadmill, back to the air conditioning, back to the music on my i pod, back to watching sports center as I kick the speed up and down.
*Any offense taken by bowlers and golfers is understandable. I find both fun to play but extraordinarily boring to watch. The same goes for baseball, and oh, Nascar is not a sport. We at Green Eggs never shy away from controversy, but as always, if you have a divergent view, go and get your own blog. I bet, like me, you can have 7 readers in no time.
The first thing I learned is that there are bugs outside that don't exist within the confines of a 24 hours fitness. Second, I shattered my long held belief that growing up in Phoenix has somehow made me immune to any effects of the sun. Third I learned that being able to run 10 miles on a treadmill, in an air conditioned gym, does not mean that I can run 10 miles on the road. Fourth, I learned that Portland is first rate for bike lanes and cut rate for sidewalks. Fifth, I learned that running in bike lanes is terrifying.
Why did I do it? I have been content to run on the treadmill. I can control the pace and know exactly what is going on all around me. Yet running a marathon is on my bucket list and apparently we all have to have bucket lists because Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman told us to. Quite simply there are no treadmill marathons. Thank God, frankly that would be more boring than watching a professional bowling match played by professional golfers.
I got very close to running a marathon 4 years ago. Then something happened. Between the overtraining and lack of calcium that comes from my milk allergy, at least this is my hypothesis, my ankle became so weak that it broke. I was left with an injury that took a full year to heal and the lamest broken bone story ever.
Four years later I am still a far cry from the shape I was in then. I am 20 lbs heavier (to be on the kind side) and cannot run as fast as I could then. Through it all I have kept trying but had yet to break out in the great outdoors.
Yesterday was a reminder that I am not as close to my goal as I would like to be. The good thing is a bucket list is composed of things one would like to do before death and I don't plan on dying for a long time. I will run my marathon someday, hopefully sooner than later. I will run a good race and will find the flattest marathon in the country, hills are killer.
Tomorrow I will go running again. This time back to the treadmill, back to the air conditioning, back to the music on my i pod, back to watching sports center as I kick the speed up and down.
*Any offense taken by bowlers and golfers is understandable. I find both fun to play but extraordinarily boring to watch. The same goes for baseball, and oh, Nascar is not a sport. We at Green Eggs never shy away from controversy, but as always, if you have a divergent view, go and get your own blog. I bet, like me, you can have 7 readers in no time.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Simple Rules for happiness in the world of Social Networking
We've all seen the chain responses on facebook. They come with different enticements. Some are positive or benign. Post this flag if you love America. Pass on this quote if you want good luck. Some are negative or downright threatening. If you don't pass this on you're helping kill puppies. If you don't post this immediately to your wall, then you hate Jesus.
As a response to the litany of posts like these, I long ago decided that I would not, under any circumstance, pass along or post these requests. Perhaps by refusing to pass these along I have sadly lessened the world's puppy population or inadvertently made Jesus cry on a number of occasions. It is not that I meant to murder puppies or cause personal harm to the savior of all mankind, it is just that I found a comfortable place in the sand and drew my line.
While refusing to pass these links is my most ardent rule, I do have others. I generally don't quote sources other than myself. Occasionally I find a good one and pass it along but for the most part I rely solely on my own clever thoughts.
I occasional post a politically charged thought or a link to an article about politics. I stop there. I don't involve myself in arguments on facebook. I used to occasional imbibe in this sort of banter but found that all it did was lead to disruptions in my own inner Fonzie. Nowadays If I comment on anything controversial, I make my comment and move on. Under no circumstance do I look back and comment again. Anyone who has ever seen Indiana Jones knows why looking back isn't a good idea.
The reason I have these rules is not that I am afraid of controversy or that I don't care. Quite honestly it is the opposite. Social media is a large place with many divergent points of view. It is a place with people who want to argue issues and those who simply want to show pictures of their dogs and kids having fun. If you are latter keep on keeping on. If you are the former keep on keeping on, but consider. If all you post is your thoughts on politics, you have probably reached a point of saturation. That is to say, only people who agree with you, or don't and like to argue, are going to care.
I do occasionally post something of a political nature. I like to think that by doing this occasionally, it might actually make people think, it probably won't. Whatever way you go, go ahead. Just know that I am not going to re-post the sign that says If I don't post this in 7 minutes a kitten will die. I will stick by my rules because they work for me.
*No animals were harmed or deities offended in the writing of this post. If you are in any way offended by the content herein, relax. I have no further advice.
As a response to the litany of posts like these, I long ago decided that I would not, under any circumstance, pass along or post these requests. Perhaps by refusing to pass these along I have sadly lessened the world's puppy population or inadvertently made Jesus cry on a number of occasions. It is not that I meant to murder puppies or cause personal harm to the savior of all mankind, it is just that I found a comfortable place in the sand and drew my line.
While refusing to pass these links is my most ardent rule, I do have others. I generally don't quote sources other than myself. Occasionally I find a good one and pass it along but for the most part I rely solely on my own clever thoughts.
I occasional post a politically charged thought or a link to an article about politics. I stop there. I don't involve myself in arguments on facebook. I used to occasional imbibe in this sort of banter but found that all it did was lead to disruptions in my own inner Fonzie. Nowadays If I comment on anything controversial, I make my comment and move on. Under no circumstance do I look back and comment again. Anyone who has ever seen Indiana Jones knows why looking back isn't a good idea.
The reason I have these rules is not that I am afraid of controversy or that I don't care. Quite honestly it is the opposite. Social media is a large place with many divergent points of view. It is a place with people who want to argue issues and those who simply want to show pictures of their dogs and kids having fun. If you are latter keep on keeping on. If you are the former keep on keeping on, but consider. If all you post is your thoughts on politics, you have probably reached a point of saturation. That is to say, only people who agree with you, or don't and like to argue, are going to care.
I do occasionally post something of a political nature. I like to think that by doing this occasionally, it might actually make people think, it probably won't. Whatever way you go, go ahead. Just know that I am not going to re-post the sign that says If I don't post this in 7 minutes a kitten will die. I will stick by my rules because they work for me.
*No animals were harmed or deities offended in the writing of this post. If you are in any way offended by the content herein, relax. I have no further advice.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Obamacare and the Tea Party
So the SCOTUS, as we are calling it these days, has upheld Obamacare. If I were President Obama, besides carrying around my birth certificate so that I could pull it out every now and then to remind people that Hawaii is a state, I would get a tattoo on my arm that says Obamacare in great big letters. Except that tattoos hurt and anyone who tells you otherwise needs to call the fire department and immediately buy new pants, preferably not skinny jeans.
With a stroke of pen, which I assume was not a bic or one of those random pens I find in my car from some business establishment I've never visited , President Obama managed to forever seal his place in history as the man who at least did something. Mitt Romney enacted a surprisingly similar law in Massachusetts and all he got was a reputation for flip-flopping and the enduring suspicions of the Tea Party. Which reminds me of some enduring questions I've always had about the tea party.
I wonder if tea party members call each other by tea nicknames and eat tea cookies? If I were a member of the tea party I would call myself Rooibos and eat the hell out of some lemon cremes. I feel sorry for the guy who got the nickname chamomile, I wonder if it is because he was late and Earl Gray was already taken? I'd ask these questions but I live in Portland and we really are much more of a coffee town.
I digress. Anyhow, having worked in the healthcare industry for a number of years, I can say that Obamacare is not perfect, but it is hard to be worse than the fractured system we have had. I know, let the name calling commence, afterall calling someone a socialist is far easier than reading a health care law or even the definition of socialism on wikipedia or dictionary.com.
Even if you don't care about health care, consider a few points. Access to lower levels of treatment, ie PCP's and routine procedures, are far less expensive than emergency room care. The United States spends far more per capita on health care than other developed nations that have some sort of universal access to care. Most US health care entities operate on a fee for service basis. This sort of funding structure creates a need for additional levels of bureaucracy and complex systems of billing and administrative approval.
Once again, while far from perfect, the Obamacare bill is at least an attempt to close gaping holes in a system that is not really a system. Personally I would prefer something more centralized in scope. However we in the US seem to have a baseline level reactionary fear of anything that is centralized. We prefer to create multiple levels of bureaucracy by layering them through competing levels of government and privatizing to agencies that that have their own, additional levels of administration. This way always ends up being more expensive and inefficient in the end but at least they provide multiple job opportunities to people not providing actual care.
Finally a suggestion. If you don't like Obamacare and don't wish to participate, I'm looking at you Governor Rick Scott of Florida, I've read many wonderful articles on the health benefits of green tea. I'm not sure if that nickname has already been taken though.
*If you like the views expressed in this blog please feel free to tell me how wonderful I am. If you do not like my views feel free to get your own blog or talk to your mama. I have a rule against online arguments, I leave that to congress. God Bless everyone regardless of your circumstance or view.
With a stroke of pen, which I assume was not a bic or one of those random pens I find in my car from some business establishment I've never visited , President Obama managed to forever seal his place in history as the man who at least did something. Mitt Romney enacted a surprisingly similar law in Massachusetts and all he got was a reputation for flip-flopping and the enduring suspicions of the Tea Party. Which reminds me of some enduring questions I've always had about the tea party.
I wonder if tea party members call each other by tea nicknames and eat tea cookies? If I were a member of the tea party I would call myself Rooibos and eat the hell out of some lemon cremes. I feel sorry for the guy who got the nickname chamomile, I wonder if it is because he was late and Earl Gray was already taken? I'd ask these questions but I live in Portland and we really are much more of a coffee town.
I digress. Anyhow, having worked in the healthcare industry for a number of years, I can say that Obamacare is not perfect, but it is hard to be worse than the fractured system we have had. I know, let the name calling commence, afterall calling someone a socialist is far easier than reading a health care law or even the definition of socialism on wikipedia or dictionary.com.
Even if you don't care about health care, consider a few points. Access to lower levels of treatment, ie PCP's and routine procedures, are far less expensive than emergency room care. The United States spends far more per capita on health care than other developed nations that have some sort of universal access to care. Most US health care entities operate on a fee for service basis. This sort of funding structure creates a need for additional levels of bureaucracy and complex systems of billing and administrative approval.
Once again, while far from perfect, the Obamacare bill is at least an attempt to close gaping holes in a system that is not really a system. Personally I would prefer something more centralized in scope. However we in the US seem to have a baseline level reactionary fear of anything that is centralized. We prefer to create multiple levels of bureaucracy by layering them through competing levels of government and privatizing to agencies that that have their own, additional levels of administration. This way always ends up being more expensive and inefficient in the end but at least they provide multiple job opportunities to people not providing actual care.
Finally a suggestion. If you don't like Obamacare and don't wish to participate, I'm looking at you Governor Rick Scott of Florida, I've read many wonderful articles on the health benefits of green tea. I'm not sure if that nickname has already been taken though.
*If you like the views expressed in this blog please feel free to tell me how wonderful I am. If you do not like my views feel free to get your own blog or talk to your mama. I have a rule against online arguments, I leave that to congress. God Bless everyone regardless of your circumstance or view.
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