Sickened by "Sicko”

Regardless of what you make think about Michael Moore and/or his body of work must take a back seat to the content and over all message of his film “Sicko.” Yes, of course it’s biased. But whose work isn’t? What worries me about the film has very little to do with the film itself. It has more to do with the onslaught of counter propaganda being disseminated through various media outlets (FOX, CNN).

One must ask themselves, who benefits from people not seeing this film.

Fact: Almost 50 million people in the US do not have insurance
Fact: Insurance companies are in the business of making money.
Fact: No health care system is perfect.

I have heard so much counter BS, that I am sickened by the reality that people may be dissuaded from seeing the film because of what they hear as apposed to seeing it for themselves. I hope this doesn’t make me a French loving anti-American communist. Oh that’s Michael Moore or so I have heard. Come on people let’s get past the shroud of mass media disinformation and realize that we as American should not tolerate a government that does not value the health of its populous.

While watching the film I couldn’t help but think about the iconic line “Greed is good” which was uttered by the fictional character Gordon Gekko (played by Michael Douglas) in the film Wall Street. Now while I do agree in part that greed as motivation for companies has produced a plethora of products that make our lives comfortable and in many cases livable, i.e. pharmaceuticals. I do not agree with the notion that the bottom line is the bottom line. For these insurance conglomerates to treat humans as merely part of a financial equation is morally apprehensible. What happened to valuing human life in this country? That’s right, only until you’re born then you are on your own. Dahhhh!

But what do you expect when we as a nation are so bamboozled by the rhetoric of partisan politics that it is virtually impossible to collectively stand-up for the weakest in our society. This is a HUMAN issue not a political one. Health care is a birth right but the US is the only industrialized country who doesn’t get it. Yes, I know the lines will be long if we have universal health care. They are long already. No system is perfect.

DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE!!!

There is a conversation in the film ‘Sicko” that speaks to the heart of what is wrong with our country. I am paraphrasing, the fact that we fear our government instead of our government fearing us as a democratic body is the problem. We are just as much to blame as the conglomerates and our government is. Apathy leads to tyranny (Somebody important said this, I just can’t remember at this moment). Thus the more we allow our elected official to dictate the course of this country the worse off it will be.

DIALOGUE IS DEMOCRATIC!!!
R.