We receive the following response to Sunday's post on evidence in favor of universal health care from the Madville Times's most prolific commenter, Anonymous:
Great Idea...let's all go to Cuba or Canada for health care. Clearly people from other countries go there when they need treatment and not to the U.S. Wait...Wait...they come here, to the U.S., hell they come to Minnesota!! You have once again proven your stupidity! Glad my kids aren't learning about Government from you.
As the loyal readership knows, the Madville Times loves airing opposing views, but always in the spirit of neighborly, civil discourse, always intended to bring us toward better results. We aren't enemies here; we all have the same interest in seeing our town, state, and country be the best in the world. The Madville Times welcomes challenges to its viewpoints from all readers; in return, readers should expect similar challenges from the Madville Times.
Such mixing and outright conflict of ideas generally reveals the strengths and weaknesses in those ideas and helps all participants build a common and improved understanding. (For you eggheads out there, Hegel said something to the same effect: thesis + antithesis = synthesis -- that's the dialectic... but don't think I'm trying now to disprove my stupidity. ;-) )
But all too often online, on blogs and the KELO and Sioux Falls newspaper fora, we see the civil mix and mash of ideas made impossible by emotional outbursts, red herrings, insults, personal attacks, and other such bad talk. That uncivil discourse seems to be easier for those who post anonymously or under false names.
The Madville Times will continue to tolerate anonymous comments. However, the above-quoted comment again provokes these questions for Anonymous:
- Would you be willing to say these same words in a face-to-face conversation with the person to whom you are directing your comment?
- Would you be willing to say these same words in person with other people listening?
Remember, the Madville Times isn't World of Warcraft or some other imaginary cyberworld, where you're on a crusade to wipe out some wholly evil monster. The Madville Times is, among other things, a real-world conversation among neighbors (in literal, local, and global senses of the word) looking for real-world ways to make their communities better.
Here endeth the sermon -- fire away with those comments!
I note with pleasure DakotaWomen's complete rejection of anonymous commenters. Anna, too, seems to recognize the coarsening of discourse that anonymity facilitates. They want real conversation, not nameless epithet-hurlers.
ReplyDeleteFrequently, I hear on the news where citizens of the U.S. go to other countries for medical treatment because it is more affordable and just as good. One of the countries tht I have heard mentioned is Cuba. Later on if the person needs some other type of treatment they go back. I have a young cousin that went to college in London for a semester and one night he had real severe stomach pains. His room-mates took him to the emergency room and he received excellent care with three physicians consulting over him and this was in timely fashion. He asked what the fee would be and was told not to worry about it. He, his parents or their insurance company have never received a bill for his treatment. He was told that if he had to be admitted or have follow up treatment there would be a charge. Lets face it you can't go to an emergency room in the U.S. without being billed for it and if you don't have insurance or the means to pay the bill you get "hounded to death." There are some emergency rooms in the U.S. that load people that don't have insurance up in an ambulance and dump them in front of a mission or something. We hear about that every now and then on the news too.
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