[silverquiet]

> Even on death’s doorstep, Trevor was not angry. In fact, he staunchly supported the stance promoted by his elected officials. “Ain’t no way I would ever support Obamacare or sign up for it,” he told me. “I would rather die.” When I asked him why he felt this way even as he faced severe illness, he explained: “We don’t need any more government in our lives. And in any case, no way I want my tax dollars paying for Mexicans or welfare queens.”

https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/jonathan-m-metzl-dying...

[kbolino]

There is nothing more smug than the point-and-laugh hit piece, where a journalist finds some ignorant rube for the college-educated to sneer at.

[silverquiet]

The author is not a journalist, but a doctor who studied public health issues.

[kbolino]

I don't think the author's credentials alter the dynamic at play here.

[silverquiet]

Would it be better if he just kept quiet and let the health issues he is seeing go unmentioned because otherwise it would make people look bad? Do you think his book is just an exercise in mockery because he enjoys it?

[kbolino]

"You suffer because of your politics" is laundering a political statement under the guise of health.

And yes, I do think mockery has become de rigeur in American politics, both left and right.

[silverquiet]

If people are indeed suffering because of their politics, is there any way to ease their suffering without making a political statement of some kind?

[pydry]

Nobody likes to be sneered at but the story illustrates the corrosive impact of oligarchic domestic propaganda pretty well, which is pretty relevant to the topic at hand.

[kbolino]

Practical politics is more visceral than intellectual. A lot of people have first-hand experience with government-provided healthcare through the military and VA, and for many of them, it's not a positive experience.

A lot of effort could be expended by the government to improve the quality of its own workforce and the incentive structure under which they operate, but that is boring and unsexy work, which always gets put aside in favor of some new ambitious piece of legislation that makes a politician feel good about his or her accomplishments.

Then the backers of said legislation turn around and wonder why the purported beneficiaries don't like it. But politicians and the upper-crust live in an alternate universe where their own needs are met through special systems and their own view of government employees comes from the sycophants and yes-men.

[pydry]

>Practical politics is more visceral than intellectual. A lot of people have first-hand experience with government-provided healthcare through the military and VA, and for many of them, it's not a positive experience.

I mean, a majority of Republicans want single payer. A majority of the people where I live (in a country with single payer)... also want single payer.

It's objectively a very popular policy. The majority of people on medicare and VA benefits would probably try to fight you if you tried to take them away.

Nonetheless, socialized medical care is objectively not an oligarchy friendly policy. Some of them make EPIC mind bending profits from private healthcare.

And, they have a lot of control and influence over the media, which results in rather a lot of anti-single payer propaganda.

The mix of these two forces can sometimes have interesting results. Like this: https://otb.cachefly.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/dont-ste...

Which is definitely more visceral than intellectual.

[kbolino]

Identifying why this person thinks they're two different things and why they're opposed to what seems to you to just be an extension of an existing, popular thing would be more useful than looking at the apparent contradiction and inferring there's something deficient about the messenger. American politics is suffused with propaganda from all sides; people latch onto available messages based upon feelings.