Any post that has an item which is headed, "the totalitarian implications of public health" is a place too far.
If you take that phrase to mean that having or instituting either fully socialized health care, or socialized health insurance / "single payer", means that you will have a totalitarian society then your right, it is a bit to far. OTOH such a health care system is a step in that direction, both directly, and in the fact that when the government pays for health care it feels more entitled (or the people voting for and paying for it feel more entitled) to regulate activities that do, or could damage your health.
Now if you think Moore made the whole thing up and these were just actors
I'm not accusing Moore of making anything up. He does however give very one sided and distorted views. He presents images and quotes that range from one sided but somewhat reasonable, all the way to outright false (like his Cuban bit in this movie, for the reality of Cuban health care see canf.org or if you don't want to spend as much time, and just want images with a few words go to captainsquartersblog.com That last link is one sided anecdote, but it provides some balance to Moore's one sided anecdotes.)
But if you assume these were genuine folk, then it remains an impressive moment in the film.
In terms of impact on people it could be powerful. Beyond rhetoric or emotion, not so much. Its obviously not hard to find people very satisfied with their health care in one system, and people very unsatisfied in another system, and then show images, video, and/or quotes of both, but that does little to show anything about which system is really better. |
