For Art Basel 2008 coverage, visit Buildings and Food.
Monday July 2, 2007
Margaret stopped by Lincoln Road on Friday and photographed the Sicko protest and iPhone line.
For Art Basel 2008 coverage, visit Buildings and Food.
Monday July 2, 2007
Margaret stopped by Lincoln Road on Friday and photographed the Sicko protest and iPhone line.
wow, thats the lamest protest ever. when Margaret calls these people “heroic” it degrades the real heros of this world. sad.
Yeah, it was lame. They were merely providing facts to counteract the pro-Castro socialized-medicine propaganda. They should have been walking around on stilts with giant papier-mache George Bush heads to entertain you instead.
what are they protesting? oh yeah, dr. evil aka fidel. gimme a break! even the neo-cons aren’t arguing with the points made in this film. maybe these protesters should go ask the construction workers on their block about the health care they receive, or even their local sandwich maker. you could put castro’s face on a puppy and these people would stomp it to a pulp. closed minds.
Moore’s got a valid point in criticizing the US healthcare system, but in a career filled with cheap shots, the trip to Cuba is one of the cheapest.
Bets on how many people commenting on the film have actually seen it.
If you saw the film you would understand that the reason for the comparisons was not to illustrate that the treatment received in France, Canada or Cuba was any better than that you could get in the U.S. The point was to show that in these other countries, medical care is an entitlement that rich, poor, young and old receive as human beings and citizens. Their healthcare systems are not there to enrich highly paid CEO’s and stockholders. They are there to help keep the citizenry healthy.
Do yourselves a big favor. Break down and see the movie and then come back and give your opinions instead of relying on someone else for yours.
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I agree with rick. Sicko is a solid film with a premise that is timely, universal and vital. America needs to ask this question – Why are we without free healthcare? We may be the richest country in the free world but our lack or the greatest healthcare system in the world is a glaring atrocity in our domestic government policy. I think most people will agree with M. Moore unless of course they work for the healthcare system and believe that they will loose money is of healthcare system is reformed or they are from the extremist side of the ideological right. (and no I will not degrade the term “Nazi” by calling the far right them that)
Well, I’m sure I’ll see the film eventually, but I’m in no hurry. I don’t need Michael Moore’s help in deciding how I feel about this issue. Frankly, I don’t want his help deciding anything. His movies are entertaining, but they’re not just one-sided, but also intellectually dishonest. He uses cheap tactics to appeal to people who can’t see through them (or choose not to — preaching to the choir).
Slate ran a couple of good articles about the film which I read to kill some time during lunch today, so I have a pretty decent idea of what’s in it. As far as the specifics of how borked the healthcare system is, I have enough first and second hand experience of my own to know that.
I think we’ll have a nationalized healthcare system in this country sometime in the next decade (hopefully sooner rather then later), and while I’m sure it will be borked in its own way (you can find your own share of horror stories from the Canadian and French systems, though of course Moore would avoid them).
But for the record, evidence of how bad healthcare is in Cuba doesn’t undermine the film’s basic argument — it’s beside the point.
do your research. i’m sorry but miami’s cubans don’t speak for the cubans actually in cuba. they use their leverage to do exactly what critical miami is bashing this film for: tainting the truth.
castro hasn’t done anything to his people that bush hasn’t done. because he operates in a less-than-dignified form of government, he has the disadvantage.
michael moore’s film on bush has tainted his entire reputation. it’s unfortunate. roger & me is still a great fucking documentary. this film is being called his least-biased. miami’s cubans boycott it just because cuba is presented in a fair light. they are worse than people with “fuck bush” bumperstickers. it’s idiotic. this cubans in miami protesting this movie would never protest the iraq “war” but they’ll protest a $10 independent documentary. pussies in my opinion. to protest something sight-unseen is dangerous and the first sign of ignorance.
Oh, I’m sure the Cubans in Cuba are thrilled with their health care system?
Back on your meds, sir!
I don’t need Michael Moore’s help in deciding how I feel about this issue.
About what issue, Alesh? The issue that healthcare is a mess in this country or the specific issue that you brought up when you said that Moore traveling to Cuba was a cheap shot?
If it’s the former, I would agree that you don’t need to see Moore’s film to make that judgment, although the film affirms many things one may already know or believe. If it’s the latter, you’re basically rendering an opinion on something you’ve never seen, weighed or judged for yourself.
Although you know what everyone says about opinions.
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America needs to ask this question – Why are we without free healthcare?
What country has free healthcare? In any country you are paying for it, one way or another, even if it’s called free. In a government-run health system the government is spending your money even if the doctor doesn’t bill you directly. The question is who gets to decide how your (and other taxpayers’) resources are used — either you control your own money and make your own decisions or someone else does. The argument for “nationalized” or “socialized” medicine is nothing more than an argument for socialism. If you think socialism works well, then go for it. But then why stop with health care? Maybe we should nationalize every industry so that it can be as productive as Cuban industry is.
The argument for socialized medicine is fundamentally an argument for taking away people’s choices and forcing them to accept decisions made for them by bureaucrats. Why is this a good idea? I thought America was about choice.
Jonathan: Are public libraries another argument for socialism?
And have you seen the movie?
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The reality of choice, sometimes, is that millions of Americans have no choice because they have little or no money, therefore, they have no money to purchase their choice of insurance to pay for medical emergencies or ailments. is this the free-way, the free-choice of America?
I believe the reason our country is behind england, france, and cuba in terms of health of its citizens is because as Americans we are so stressed about buying insurance (of all kinds), keeping up with premiums, making sure our doctors or prescriptions are covered, and even landing a job that has insurance coverage (whether or not we like that job). stress leads to illness, death.
ricks: So if some Americans have limited choices the best public response is to reduce choices for all Americans?
Rick: No and no.