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Remember how I said that I didn't think anyone would post the story about a kid dying because he didn't have dental coverage to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
conservatism or libertarianism? I called it wrong. It's now been posted to both.
I was right that the response would be scary.
"While this ultimately wasn't the reason the boy died, I couldn't help but notice there wasn't even one mention of the father being anywhere in the picture.
So, basically, assuming the article didn't fail to mention the dad for whatever reason, this woman had two kids on an obviously low income, and the father is nowhere to be found.
Poor life choices started this journey. The bureaucracy finished it." – The appropriately named![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
theblackoil.
"If America's "expensive" healthcare goes away, the quality will go with it." -fishsupreme, whose daddy is a dentist.
"I also would like to add that the whole thing is stupid. These kids were on insurance and she couldn't pay an extra eighty bucks? What?" -ghoststrider, who has apparently never met a poor person.
"Maybe it's not the GOVERNMENT'S fault, but maybe its the dentist's fault for not seeing a patient in need or working out a payment plan. Then again, who's ultimately responsible for their children's welfare? The feds? The state? or his own mother and father?"
" Plus as mentioned in another thread, this sounds like child abuse and so it should have been reported and the mother should be in jail for this." –ilovethecure, predictably.
"in a free economy, such things as deamonte's death wouldn't happen. there'd be an incomprehensible amount of medical progress - and abundance. one of the death blows to the fear and hatred of capitalism is that the impulse to charity is biologically present. (hard-core economistic-interpretation types, who'd claim charitable donations are purely about tax-lessening, are unable to explain the huge charity projects of the 19th century, pre-income-tax.)" -birkin, who claims that his wife died of cancer when they were poor because they couldn't afford a better doctor. Clearly, he lost his mind after that experience.
"If I'm in debt and can find a way to get $1200 for an emergency plane ticket for my grandmothers funeral I think that a mother can scrounge up $80 for obviously needed dentist work for her son." –strbjun, who is internet-poor.
"Their fault." –macchaos.
"I've worked with the homeless before so I know that it's exceptionally rare that the homeless have any money whatsoever.
I will say this-if it is a fact that the mother has a mental illness, I will no longer blame her."
"Oh. Well, yeah, I think the primary responsibility falls upon the mother, though I am angry no one intervened in this child's life in time when so many people could have. It's a disgrace.
If if it makes any difference, I'm upper middle class." –uberarcanist. El oh el.
"this just further proves what i've been saying for years: poor people eat too much candy." –xdavinx. The level of absurdity in the thread was so high by this point that I can't tell if this cat is joking.
"I bet that mom thinks twice about skipping an $80 dental procedure.
I wonder how much junk food/alcohol/cigarettes that bought. Helpful hint: more toothpaste, less sugary snacks."reality_hammer. Not joking.
These people should all be cut off from the society that they, in their Randroid-Thatcherite-Reaganite 20-something-upper-middle-class sheltered existences, do not believe exists or affects them in any way, and be left to starve in the wilderness, if any remains after their ideological overlords have burned and pillaged every inch of our world. Beyond that, the only thing I can say is
brownfist and I went to Seekers yesterday. He looked at serious books and I giggled over the backs of Ayn Rand books. That's why he's an academic and I'm not.
Besides that, I mostly wrote and painted today and was kind of productive. My head is going all weird, so I have bursts of inspiration in between long stretches of apathy. YAY.
conservatism or libertarianism? I called it wrong. It's now been posted to both.I was right that the response would be scary.
"While this ultimately wasn't the reason the boy died, I couldn't help but notice there wasn't even one mention of the father being anywhere in the picture.
So, basically, assuming the article didn't fail to mention the dad for whatever reason, this woman had two kids on an obviously low income, and the father is nowhere to be found.
Poor life choices started this journey. The bureaucracy finished it." – The appropriately named
theblackoil."If America's "expensive" healthcare goes away, the quality will go with it." -
fishsupreme, whose daddy is a dentist."I also would like to add that the whole thing is stupid. These kids were on insurance and she couldn't pay an extra eighty bucks? What?" -
ghoststrider, who has apparently never met a poor person."Maybe it's not the GOVERNMENT'S fault, but maybe its the dentist's fault for not seeing a patient in need or working out a payment plan. Then again, who's ultimately responsible for their children's welfare? The feds? The state? or his own mother and father?"
" Plus as mentioned in another thread, this sounds like child abuse and so it should have been reported and the mother should be in jail for this." –
ilovethecure, predictably."in a free economy, such things as deamonte's death wouldn't happen. there'd be an incomprehensible amount of medical progress - and abundance. one of the death blows to the fear and hatred of capitalism is that the impulse to charity is biologically present. (hard-core economistic-interpretation types, who'd claim charitable donations are purely about tax-lessening, are unable to explain the huge charity projects of the 19th century, pre-income-tax.)" -
birkin, who claims that his wife died of cancer when they were poor because they couldn't afford a better doctor. Clearly, he lost his mind after that experience."If I'm in debt and can find a way to get $1200 for an emergency plane ticket for my grandmothers funeral I think that a mother can scrounge up $80 for obviously needed dentist work for her son." –
strbjun, who is internet-poor."Their fault." –
macchaos."I've worked with the homeless before so I know that it's exceptionally rare that the homeless have any money whatsoever.
I will say this-if it is a fact that the mother has a mental illness, I will no longer blame her."
"Oh. Well, yeah, I think the primary responsibility falls upon the mother, though I am angry no one intervened in this child's life in time when so many people could have. It's a disgrace.
If if it makes any difference, I'm upper middle class." –
uberarcanist. El oh el."this just further proves what i've been saying for years: poor people eat too much candy." –
xdavinx. The level of absurdity in the thread was so high by this point that I can't tell if this cat is joking."I bet that mom thinks twice about skipping an $80 dental procedure.
I wonder how much junk food/alcohol/cigarettes that bought. Helpful hint: more toothpaste, less sugary snacks."
reality_hammer. Not joking.These people should all be cut off from the society that they, in their Randroid-Thatcherite-Reaganite 20-something-upper-middle-class sheltered existences, do not believe exists or affects them in any way, and be left to starve in the wilderness, if any remains after their ideological overlords have burned and pillaged every inch of our world. Beyond that, the only thing I can say is
brownfist and I went to Seekers yesterday. He looked at serious books and I giggled over the backs of Ayn Rand books. That's why he's an academic and I'm not.Besides that, I mostly wrote and painted today and was kind of productive. My head is going all weird, so I have bursts of inspiration in between long stretches of apathy. YAY.
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Then again, their options are pretty limited. They can either vote against their own self-interest in Republicans, vote against their own self-interest in Democrats, vote for someone who won't win, or not vote. While the urban poor at least get some lip service, the rural poor simply don't exist in American politics.
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Dental is one thing that isn't free on the NHS - although it is for children and those on means-tested benefits, so that is still something that couldn't happen over here. Nor, I guess in Canada?
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barring that, i'd like watch each and every one of them die from their inevitable cancer.
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I mean, I know these people are morally bereft, but it's still shocking to see people exhibit such a clear lack of understanding of what it is to be poor.
Here, if you earn less than a certain amount a week (it was $305 a few years ago), you are entitled to free health care, and subsidized pharmaceuticals and dental care. You still have to pay for most dental visits, but at a greatly reduced cost. Dental health care is provided to children attending state schools, and is usually provided during school hours.
But of course, that requires government spending on both health and education.
The Kantian Nihilists would never have let that kid die.
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I'm actually surprised at how many people on my friends list Don't Get It either. It makes me a sad panda.
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Therefore, it's okay to hate on Kant because he is so dumb that he doesn't see that irretutable logic. Oh, wait, I think what she actually says is Kant is intellectually dishonest, which is a short way of saying he is in the pocket of the Church. Blahblah.
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i also saw someone say that it was the mother's fault for putting the other son's needs first (the one with SIX CAVITIES).
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It's funny because it's true.
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I don't have dental insurance myself, and I recently had to pay $95 out of pocket to my dentist. Plus I have to go back- a few years without insurance has led to 4 fairly serious cavities. But apparently this is my own fault for making "poor life choices" or whatever those assholes call them. Because I chose to be working class apparently.
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This has been something that's bothered me for a long time, because approaching anything from this position constricts people's autonomy and will invariably lead to some form of abuse. And yet the fact remains that no form of governance can exist without this constriction. The choices seem to be that the few tyrannize the many, or the many tyrannize the few -- either way a lot of people will likely be cheated. This is part of the reason I waver in my wish for some sort of revolution...
But getting to the point: What I've learned from history and culture is that none of the above considerations matter. Our enemies should be shown no respect, and in fact should be robbed of personhood. This is why I would consider placing every conservative fucknut (starting with the pundits, of course) in a zoo, caged until they die, so that people (who are meant to learn from the conservative suffering) have a place to go with their families where they can toss food*, jeer, and generally feel good about their situation in contrast with the poor fucks who have been robbed of their freedom, and their strength through their "belief" in absolute self-governance.
I’d have a coliseum built where we would place spin-doctors and advisors to battle it out with African lions.
And thirdly, I’d build giant pens where marketers are artificially fattened, and then forced to eat McDonald’s for every meal of the day for the rest of their short, natural lives.
*This is the only way they’ll be fed, through both the charity and condescension of others.
I don’t actually know how any of this is related, but there you have it. I work long hours, I get crazy.
I knew I shouldn't...
but I couldn't help it. I read that garbage, and got just what I expected: blame the victim, blame the mom, blame the bureaucrats; but never never blame the market. Blah blah blah. These people are not libertarians---their views have nothing whatever to do with liberty. When did libertarianism become not-giving-a-shit-about-anybody? Talk about nihilism...
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Actually, a shitload of stuff turns up when you google. It's good stuff.
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All of those people need to have holes drilled into their teeth, and then the holes should be packed full of shit and smarties.
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Off Topic
Re: Off Topic
Actually *On* Topic
Re: Actually *On* Topic
Back Off Topic
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Isn't Objectivism just adolescent I-don't-wanna-mow-the-lawn petulance disguised as a political philosophy?
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I think Robert Smith would have shaken his goff hair at him.