Hatred is a commodity sold daily to desperate people who somehow believe that hate will justify their existence, that hate will heal the hole in their soul, that hate will provide emotional and spiritual compensation for the manifold ways in which they feel that they have been cheated by life. They believe that somehow their hate will affect those whom they hate, while having no affect on them. To paraphrase the Buddha: Holding on to hatred is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else as it burns your hand.
The other commodity that media personalities like Glen Beck, Anne Coulter, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Lou Dobbs deal in is fear. In the end, those opposed to health care reform used fear as a bludgeon day-in and day-out to mobilize public opinion, which is why the display of moral courage yesterday by House Democrats was as rare as it was welcome.
On Saturday, March 20, 2010, President Obama met with House Democrats and said: “Every once in a while a moment comes where you have a chance to vindicate all those best hopes that you had about yourself, about this country, where you have a chance to make good on those promises that you made…. And this is the time to make true on that promise. We are not bound to win, but we are bound to be true. We are not bound to succeed, but we are bound to let whatever light we have shine.”
In his column today, Paul Krugman, who shared the above quote, called the vote oh healthcare “a victory for America’s soul.” He concluded, “In the end, a vicious, unprincipled fear offensive failed to block reform. This time, fear struck out.”
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4 comments:
I like this, it comes up for me a lot. I wonder a lot about the chicken and egg question. Do they use hate because they are afraid, or does the fear bring out a hate that was below the surface anyway? Which is the tool and which does the wielding?
Although Limbaugh and Levin, and Beck, and so on, "lost" the vote on healthcare reform (it passed over their objections) they will "win" by using the passage of the bill to further inflame their audience. Let's not forget that these guys are media personalities and entertainers, not politicians. Their goal is not good governance but good ratings. The drama of fear and hate sells air-time, public policy be damned.
So what's with Firedog lake and Howard Dean talking about the Senate plan as a bailout to insurance plans? The "reform" call for putting a big squeeze on Medicare providers in the name of efficiencies i.e. readmission penaltys on hospitals... it puts a lot of power into the hands of agenices... there's big consequencies here and FDL and Dean had the honesty to confront them. You should too....
PS FDL today... you own this one. You all should fear it...for fail it will...
This bill fundamentally shifts the relationships of governance in order to achieve its objectives. It was hard to reconcile the President’s campaign against the evils of the insurance industry with a solution of “corporate tithing” that drives millions of people onto their rolls. We have empowered another quasi-governmental, “too big to fail” industry with alarming nonchalance.
Jane H. got this one exactly right.
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