Thursday, August 06, 2009

By request - pondering the mob…

A certain Frances from Vancouver would like to know my thoughts on the recent conservative mob activity at Congressional town hall meetings here in America.

Shall we?

A bitch is fascinated by these mobs…not that Americans may be angry about things that our government is doing but by what these conservative Americans have gotten worked up about. I’m going to assume that they are actually really riled up and not paid protestors because that would be some sorry assed shit if the conservative right can’t even organize real constituents to show up pissed…I mean, that would be the very definition of pathetic.

Shit.

So, assuming that these folks are for real…is healthcare reform worthy of their mobification?

Pause…consider…continue.

I ask because most of these mobs have gathered in districts that could really use some healthcare reform…where families are struggling to access minimum services…the working poor are uncovered and at risk…where seniors weigh their need to eat against their ability to afford medicine.

And a bitch can’t help but wonder why these mob-based shouters aren’t demanding that their representatives suspend their own coverage.

Catch that knee!

I’m just saying…if you’re gonna shout at a Congressperson about healthcare reform why the fuck would you give them a pass yet angrily demand that they cease trying to provide coverage to the masses?

That’s kind of like taking a starving mob to a food bank and shouting at volunteers that they need to cease feeding people…or getting a mob of homeless people to get their mob on at a shelter.

Hell, mayhap that’s next.

Maybe they have a strategy to protests all government services and once they’re finished defending the healthcare insurance lobby from the evil sin of people focused reform they’ll move on to mobbing public schools, police and fire departments and sanitation departments.

Lawd, I can see them linking hands around water treatment facilities while screaming that they want their country back and then demanding that everyone recite the pledge of allegiance!

Mercy.

Anyhoo, a bitch can think of a lot of things to get a mob on about – America has the second worst infant mortality rate among modern nations, 38 million Americans are considered food insecure, poverty is rising at an alarming rate among senior citizens and America is falling behind the rest of the world in education.

Oh, and I’d think that the fact that an estimated 87 million Americans are uninsured…and, even if a mob participant is only worried about their own life and money that should cause some serious concern…would kick off a protest or two in support of healthcare reform not against it.

But Lawd knows conservatives are loath to put logic ahead of stopping anything associated with a liberal administration.

The story is not that there are mobs set to shout down members of Congress when they attempt to hold town hall meetings during recess.

The real story is that these mobs are passionately demanding that Congress not do it’s job and threatening to replace any representative who does try to do her or his job with someone who will promise to do nothing if elected.

Blink.

That ain’t Thomas Paine-ish behavior, people.

That’s some throwback pre-revolution loyalist bullshit and no amount of Lipton tea makes it good for America.

13 comments:

Unknown said...

The sad part is that these nimrods have no fucking clue that their beloved Medicare IS socialist medicine. They also do not realize they are being used by the healthcare industry, who is willing to spend millions to defeat any decent reform measures.

That says it all for me.

IseultTheIdle said...

The bad news is that many of these disruptive people are plants.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/06/MNTG194BU2.DTL

The worse news is that apparently many are not.

One in every four Americans is uninsured. Not qualified for assistance, not able to afford even major medical. This costs us, every one of us, socially and financially when uninsured people without affordable access to health care get sick and injured.

People are so short sighted. We ALREADY PAY for indigent care, for ER visits that should have been office visits, for illnesses that should have been prevented by vaccines.

L. Jackson said...

Don't u think some of the people are just plain scared of any changes? Afraid of losing what they currently have, afraid of more stress from the economy? So many have been stirred up over 'loses' by media, that they are many times reacting to the fear. Just like the O's rating going down so far..afraid he is 'doing wrong' in 200 days & not willing to give him a chance to fix the f....ed up shit that has been going on for years. (some ppl don't see the years before as causing anything..only the correction that has to be made now??)What u think?

Anonymous said...

Don't you have to wonder why the Democrats in Congress didn't just go for broke with single payer? I mean, these mobs are outraged that insurance companies may be denied their right to cut off insurance to people who have paid premiums but have the temerity to get sick. They are outraged that there will be choice in insurance plans and that the obscene profits in health care may be curtailed by competition from a public option. If the smallish reforms in the health bill in the House generate cries of "they are trying to kill grandma!" and death threats to congresspeople, why not go for broke and truly shake things up? How much more mob outrage could there be?

Shark-Fu said...

Anon...
Part of me agrees...if a body is gonna take heat then take it all!

But part of me knows that what is done can also be undone and we don't need a flip in 2010. Darn democracy (wink)!

And then I think of those clips I've seen of Civil Rights era angry at change mobs and I'm reminded that we ain't seen nothing yet...the mob can get worse.

Anonymous said...

Maybe I just wistfully hope for better from Americans by this day and age. I still get the chill down my spine (and bile in my mouth) when I think of the photos of lynchings that had the look of white folk picnics but the pinata was a black human being. Or the TV clips of white folks in Ohio who thought the police should have shot more students at Kent State because they were gathering without a permit. Somehow I can only accept these historic facts by placing them in some way back machine along with early settler treatment of Indians but they really weren't all that long ago. Sigh. I suppose I cannot count on Americans recoiling in horror at the recent "jokes" about lynching members of Congress or encouraging Dodd and Kennedy to commit suicide since they are sick. It isn't that we have lost all decency as a people but that I absurdly believed we had the decency in the first place.

Shark-Fu said...

Anon...
Some folks are never going to get right.

But others will.

They call it a struggle for a reason.

It isn't that I don't see progress when I look back through history.

It's just that I also see the progress we've yet to make.

Eyes on the prize...

IseultTheIdle said...

But in the mean time, Sotomayor was confirmed.

devona21 said...

Really interesting perspective, I never made the connection between the right wing radicalism we are seeing right now and resistance during the Civil Rights Movement. It's amazing that I would miss it, but sometimes perspective is hard to attain in the here and now. Anyway, when you put it in that perspective let them protest. Try to reason with the reasonable. Fight them tooth and nail. And damn the rest. I honestly believe the nimrods are a minority.

krystal*lyte said...

I think the important thing is not to feed the animals. with msnbc and other so called news stations giving them the attention they don't really deserve its only fueling the fire. Maddow's show last night was just sickening back to back plugs of these morons and i had had enough to where i just turned to c-span.

Hell of a way to insure their own futures in the next mid term and primary elections..They're in essence fighting for our right as a rich and powerful nation to be 37th in health care which is not only shameful but a public health hazard in and of itself.


flag@whitehouse.gov

its time drop dime on these hoes before someone really gets hurt.

Peterr said...

Very nice post, Shark Fu!

There's just one word for these folks: bullies

Ella said...

Nice post, Shark-Fu!

What really frustrates me about all of this is that the people who have valid questions and concerns with the reforms are getting drowned out by the people who think the government is going to murder everyone over 65. Personally, I'm not too happy with some aspects of the bill: Medicare itself is a fairly broken system and I don't like that they seem to be basing the new one off of it. I'm also uneasy that it's apparently some 1200 pages as I remain unconvinced that the senators are actually bothering to read all of it (especially the ones from my state). I do think that the system needs to be fixed, no question there.

Unknown said...

Thank you Shark-fu, for another fine post.

It hurts my head to think about it, but the truth seems to be that many conservatives actually mean to do harm. They will say anything, tell any lie. Seriously, death panels???!!!

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