No Stone Left Unturned

December 19, 2009

No Stone Left Unturned

One of the biggest indicators of how much we need health care reform is the extent and costs of the battle that the special interests of the medical-pharmaceutical-industrial complex are waging to kill it.

Theirs’ is a well financed, coordinated, no-holds-barred war, leaving no stone un-turned in their efforts to influence the minds, opinions and votes of politicians and the public.

The extent to which they will go, and the strategies which they employ, know no bounds and exceed the imagination of a trusting, misinformed and distracted public.

Case in point:

Health Insurers Caught Paying Facebook Gamers Virtual Currency To Oppose Reform Bill

(click the above link and then their link to gethealthreformright.org)

As the article says: in a process called ‘astro-turfing,’ or in this instance more appropriately called ‘virtual astro-turfing’, corporations like the insurance industry, or organizations like ‘think-tanks,’ etc., create FAKE (virtual) grassroots movements by paying people to act like political supporters. In this case, it isn’t even real money. It is ‘virtual currency!’

Could it get any more insidious or cynical? If this doesn’t exemplify the extent and depths to which they will go…and doesn’t frighten you…I don’t know what will. What else are they doing below the radar of the public at large?

And, could the public knee-jerk response to virtual crumbs (for an inane computer game, of all things) in exchange for their vote (contrary to their own best interests) be any more pathetic?

If you are not ACTIVELY working to enact health care reform (or reform in other major areas: financial, environmental, etc), you should be.

Once again, it reminds me of Hillel’s aphorism: (on personal responsibility)

IF NOT ME, THEN WHO?

IF NOT NOW, THEN WHEN?

Sow the seeds of civil disobedience now!

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2 comments

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lee - December 21, 2009 - 12:00 pm

What creative genius! While difficult to envision a world where such creativity were widespread for the greater good, it is even more challenging to understand what drives our society. It is easy to point to our sadly warped economic model as the culprit, but it is merely the vehicle. The quest for power and greed are a close second but, again, what needs, as a society, have we not addressed that make us lust for such things at the expense of others? Difficult to grasp the concept of connectivity and oneness, when we are so conditioned and fragmented. The healing process will largely remain in the shadows until we accept that whatever we do to “them”, we do to “us”!

As I’ve delve further into the grant business, I am amused and amazed. Corporations, institutions, foundations, etc. hiding behind the 501(3)C status and the likes, are able to hand out money which they managed to avoid paying to the government. The government, i.e. the representatives of the people, become less efficient and less powerful, as does the voice of the people. The tax-evading entities get to be the good guys by entering communities and helping where the government has failed AND they want free publicity, public acknowledgment, gratitude and loyalty all wrapped up with ecological-waste (balloons, glitter, plaques, bows and ribbons).

Oops! Guess you hit a sore spot with this last write-up!

lee - December 21, 2009 - 1:54 pm

to sow seeds of disobedience, one has to acknowledge the value of “obedience” – always found the word itself difficult to comprehend. Great fan of “respect”, but “obey” sounds anti-evolutionary!

Don’t know if I have mentioned this analogy to you before, so I apologize for the redundancy. In soccer, there is something called “fuera de juego” (offside?). I may butcher the proper terms, but it is called when one member of a team, in their enthusiasm to make a goal, advances beyond any players from the opposite team. The Dutch national team was once referred to as La Naranja Mecánica … they dressed in orange and were extremely precise at getting themselves out of the game. Well, after that long-winded explanation, I feel we individually, one by one, have to step away from the game. NEXT SENTENCE NOT PERSONAL … any energy directed towards it, merely fuels it further. Awakening people to alternatives, which you do do, is a great beginning. Walking one’s talk and setting an alternative example also may awaken a few.

In the end, we live in a world of belief, non-belief and perpetual doubt …

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