And she’s supposed to be one of the reasonable, intellectual conservatives!
I don’t blame voters for opposing health care reform. There were a lot of slimy deals with lobbyists and with Ben Nelson that went into it and people were turned off horrifically by the process. There was also the fact that the Dems didn’t really define what was in the goddamn thing until very late in the process. Hell, I don’t even blame voters for thinking that all national health care systems are disasters, since we have a press corps that pretty much refuses to tell us what actually goes on in other countries.
What bothers me, though, is a conservative elite that doesn’t only seek to misinform people but is also incredibly incurious about the world around it. Look at Megan McArdle’s latest jewel as evidence:
When I realized that health care was probably going to pass, I was, as you can imagine, sort of unhappy. I thought that this was, over the long run, very likely to result in the untimely deaths of lots of people, maybe including me. I may have been in error about this belief–but it was sincerely held.
Holy crap. Megan, look at this goddamn graph:
You see the biiiiiiiiig red line that’s way taller than the other red lines? Yeah, you’ll notice that’s our level of health care spending per capita. And you’ll also notice that despite the fact that we spend an assload more than any country in the world, we have below-average life expectancies compared to other developed nations. I mean, goddammit, how bad do you think national health care in other countries can be? Could it be at all any less efficient than the system we’ve got right now?
Second — Jesus, I can’t believe I have to say this — but even though you “may have been in error” in your belief that national health care was going to kill you, you comfort us with the knowledge that it was “sincerely held?” What kind of stupid-ass bullshit is that. Megan, you are allegedly being paid, yes, paid to analyze policy for a formerly prestigious opinion journal. And you don’t think — my God, I’m not making this up, am I? — you really, really don’t think that you owe it to yourself and your readers to maybe think about things a wee bit before you decide to write that universal healthcare would lead to your untimely death? Especially since you acknowledge that you “may have been in error” (!!!?????!!!!???! >:-( ???!?!!!?!11!1/1? ) about this somewhat crucial fact?
But wait! It’s about to get vastly more illogical!
Had I gone off into a despairing and rage-filled rant about how I just could not understand how all those people could be so determined to kill millions and millions of innocent people with their stupid central planning schemes that never work, haven’t they seen what happened to the Soviet Union, ferchrissakes . . . should my views get a respectful hearing? I think not.
I… sigh… I… man, you’re making this very hard on me.
Megan, if you do in fact have a sincere belief that government goons are creating a health care system that will lead to deaths for countless numbers of people, of course you would have had a respectful hearing! You’d have been angrily condemning mass murder! But! — and here’s the rub, as it were — you acknowledge that your belief in mass death vis-à-vis universal health care “may have been in error.”
In a situation like that, it is natural to despair that those who oppose you have made a tragic error. But if you want to rage, rage against the universe that provides us too little information, and too limited brains, to make perfect choices every time.
In some cases more than others.
If Coakley wins (or Brown does and the Democrats manage, against my expectation, to pass something anyway), I won’t be happy about it. But I don’t need to go inventing evils where none exist, for the sheer joy of venting my unhappiness on a person. Life is too short for me to spend any time manufacturing hatred for strangers.
Ah yes, the strangers you’re worried might be trying to kill you with universal health care. If you can’t hate them, who can you hate?
Well, folks this has been a fun ride. But when our supposed best and brightest people routinely write stuff that’s this damn illogical you have to give up hope for just about everything everywhere in every conceivable dimension. As for me, I’ll be downloading my brain into my new Singularity body and waiting for the space-age robo-babes to mack with me!
On the plus side, Megan did post a nice recipe for boiling carrots in water the other day …
Brad, I’ll be with you too. How someone like Megan (and she sure aint the only offender) can write assorted claptrap like the above for a magazine that people actually pay for makes me despair for your nation. I got off the boat and read her whole article and I now feel a whole lot dumber.
And I just heard on the radio that that Brown (R-Birther) won…. just beyond me. The downward spiral of a once great nation continues…..
Fuck the conservative media.
I’ve mentioned this on more than a few occasions, but reading the articles of conservative media about the evils of universal health care in Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zeland (and Israel) reminds me of reading articles in the Cuban media about how terrible it is to live in the decadent democracies. In the world’s most powerful democracy, I should not be able to pick up a mainstream newspaper and be as thoroughly misinformed as I would in a two-bit communist dictatorship.
Now for the important difference; the Cuban people at least know the kool aid for what it is. They go along with it because they have to, not because they think it’s true. The conservative believers of this country (and more than a few independents) show no such intelligence; if anything, the ranks of kool aid drinkers seem to expand with each year. God help us all, if God has the patience for it.
Chris, you right, its not just the kooks that believe it. Come up with lying bullshit like death panels, etc. in Europe, people would politly smile, then ignore you. But the US puplic seems to either be real dumb or very gullable, I’m not sure which.
I was listening to BBC World Service the other day (yes, I’m that geeration) doing a bit on Americans view of Obama after a year. The amount of Beckian/Liboughian talking points repeated by what sounded like normal people was too much to be a co-incidence. Normally I would have laughed my arse off, but it was just too depressing.
You tell ’em, McArdle! If no one is taking you seriously, it couldn’t possibly be that you are tragically wrong about the basic premise of your argument. It must be that there’s a gigantic left-wing conspiracy to keep the truth from being heard!
And that’s how it is with all these morons: I’m never wrong. There must be some other reason. Of course, for someone like McArdle to admit they’re wrong would be to admit to themselves that their entire ideology has been a waste of time. And I’d understand that, if I wasn’t so angry at how badly they’ve fucked up the world.
Where does Mcaddled live and work? Where did she go to college? How could she possibly not know how health care is working in Canada and Europe? She is getting payed well for her oversight, mark my word.
still off the boat; I read her commenters. Is there a course in how to say fuck-all in epic long paragraphs with that smug lack of self awarness.
Hey Meg! C’mon over! We’re grilling up some dolphin steaks, listening to Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, and later on we’re going to watch some Cougartown!
Later on, we can sneak off to my place and I’ll whip you up some of my famous squash ravioli and you can suck me off. We’ll be post-partisan all night long, you sexy thing.
Life is pretty sweet ain’t it Meggers? I got mine. You got yours. Who could ask for more?
E$
Amazingly, lobbey, her commentariat is almost to a person dumber than she is. How they manage to use forks without stabbing themselves in the eye, etc., is beyond me.
oh i forgot, one more thing meggers–i’ll probably just hit it and forget it, maybe with a few bootycalls on slow nights. you’re a total hardbody and your air of smug entitlement turns me on but shiksas are still for practice.
I feel a deep and unremitting OY.
“That which cannot continue will stop.”
It’s the only hope I have anymore.
“How could she possibly not know how health care is working in Canada and Europe?”
She is paid not to know. The Atlantic is owned by neocon David G. Bradley. The neocons are straight up fascist followers of Carl Schimtt and Leo Strauss. They are systematically taking over the media and filling them with shit.
“her commentariat is almost to a person dumber than she is”
It wasn’t always like that. When she started she was routinely raked over the coals by her commentors. For good reason, she had some real doozies at first. Megan is a profoundly stupid person.
I believed it when The Right Reverend Pat Robertson talked about the “True Story” about how the Haitians deserved that massive earthquake, because of their nation’s pact with the devil. I may have been in error about this belief–but it was sincerely held.
My conservative coworker’s wife is high up in admin at a for-profit hospital. They felt that the health care reform budget would cut into their profits, so they opposed it. Stupid? Not at all. They know what side their bread is buttered on. FYIGM.
They felt that the health care reform budget would cut into their profits, so they opposed it.
Because making millions of more people able to access their hospital can ONLY hurt profits.
All of the emergency room visits ACTUALLY covered? Surely an economic disaster for a Hospital’s bottom line.
Deep thinking going on there.
Stupid? Not at all. They know what side their bread is buttered on.
Sadly, No…
200 to 3 odds that Dubya will boost this sentence verbatim to use in his autobiography – over & over & over again.
Dumb Russkies were doing way better under the Czars … & the truth that the LIEberal media are hiding from Amerika is that thanks to universal public health-care, Europe is now actually no more than a vast continental mass-grave – why, I hear they even managed to find a way to kill all the Finns MORE THAN ONCE! You betcha, Megs!
her commentariat is almost to a person dumber than she is
Yeah, now you have to “sign in” before you can comment (I’m presuming Megan heartily endorsed that innovation after one or two interlopers too many took a big ol’ 2X4 of logic to the kneecaps of her one-woman protest against sentience) … which often means spinning the E-Spam Roulette Wheel the moment you hit “Submit” … & also usually means THIS ARE A HAET-FREE ZOEN: FANBOYZ ONLY.
What chronic infant malnutrition or near-fatal level of blunt-force trauma to the brainpan would lead one to become a fanboy of Our Lady Of The Trust-Fund, one shudders to imagine.
But when our supposed best and brightest people…
That McArdle would even be considered “one of our best and brightest people,” not to mention that her fellow twit, David Brooks, actually quotes this creature in the New York Fucking Times, is emblematic of why everything is so immensely, and irredeemably, fucked up.
Yeah, now you have to “sign in” before you can comment (I’m presuming Megan heartily endorsed that innovation after one or two interlopers too many took a big ol’ 2X4 of logic to the kneecaps of her one-woman protest against sentience) … which often means spinning the E-Spam Roulette Wheel the moment you hit “Submit” … & also usually means THIS ARE A HAET-FREE ZOEN: FANBOYZ ONLY.
always a sign of those websites that can’t take a slagging. Funnily enough, 99% of the time teh wingnuts….
When I realized that
health carea tax on purple salt harvested from the methane seas of Titan was probably going to pass, I was, as you can imagine, sort of unhappy. I thought that this was, over the long run, very likely to result in the untimely deaths of lots of people, maybe including me. I may have been in error about this belief–butit was sincerely heldI’m an idiot so really what do you expect?On what world is MegMac “one of the reasonable, intellectual conservatives”? I thought that she was long since outed to everyone as a shallow, spoiled brat that occasionally leavens her gadget-mongering with random Econ 101 jibber-jabber that functions mostly to provide cheap laughs to Paul Krugman, if he even deigns to notice her.
That article is just an ad hominem attack equating HCR supporters with Stalinists masquerading as a plea for “dialog.” The low ground *is* the high ground!
The Soviet Union had an economic system where the incentives were horribly broken, leading to bad results–and they changed it. The incentives in our health care system are horrbily broken, and it looks like we’re keeping them. So we’re even dumber than communism I guess.
The stupid, it does not burn!
It makes me very angry instead.
PS: I have no health insurance at all Megan, who has a better chance of an untimely death, you or me?
I think Megs McArdle and Megs McCain should have some sort of Wealthy-Privileged-Know-Nothing-“New-Kind-Of-Wingnut”-Named-Megs-off. I say “Twit Pics” at dawn.
I’m pretty certain McMegs switched to sign-in only comments so that the Atlantic could farm for e-mail addresses to spam with garbage from the corporate master..er, sponsors of their insipid “Ideas Festival” or whatever it’s called (Megan probably calls it “free trip to Aspen”). She was pretty heavy-handed with the delete function in her comments before that, so it’s not like she wasn’t spared from being told she was an idiot in the past.
I’d rather live in Cuba than in the US, because lack of socialised healthcare would almost surely kill me. I’m one giant preexisting condition such that I can’t even get private supplemental insurance here in Soviet Canuckistan. Fortunately, I don’t really need it. At least until Harpo and Doris eviscerate what’s left of our economy, that is.
The Goddamn Batman’s character description of Megan is the best I’ve read. Buy yourself a drink on me, Goddamn Caped Crusader.
But riddle me this: Does telling someone–a Megan, a McArdle–that she’s an idiot have the result of making her want to be less of one? Or of digging in her heels and resolving to be even more of one? The evidence suggests the latter.
Thus does “debate” deteriorate into vaudeville. “You’re an idiot, and here’s why…”
“Oh yeah? Well read THIS.”
“That’s idiotic, too, and here’s why…”
“Oh yeah?”
Etc.
Mr. Wonderful,
Megan is never wrong. Everybody else in the world simply misunderstands her point.
On what planet is McArdle still considered one of the best and brightest? She was long ago exposed as one of the dumbest, most dishonest conservative columnists working today.
I may have been in error about this belief–but it was sincerely held.
Holy fuck. In what discipline would this be a valid rationale? In what universe? Jesus, you have a JOB expositing on shit like this and yet actually doing a minute or two of actual RESEARCH to determine if your “sincerely held” beliefs are 10 lbs of bullshit in a 5 lb bag is just so darn unnecessary.
Not only that, it’s an obvious lie, because anyone who “sincerely believes” a policy will lead to MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS of needless deaths doesn’t sit back and blog about what plastic kitchen crap people should buy for Christmas, they fight it with ever fiber of their being.
“On what planet is McArdle still considered one of the best and brightest? She was long ago exposed as one of the dumbest, most dishonest conservative columnists working today.”
Which is why it’s particularly galling to hear her spew her nonsense on NPR. Call me old fashioned, I still think NPR is capable of good news reportage and it irks me no end to see exceptions like this.
Somehow, I’ve missed her on NPR, and by “missed her on NPR” I mean “been incredibly, gob-smackingly lucky.”
Mr. Wonderful: Indeed. One would be tempted to call MegMac the Ghost of Ann Althouse Past.
Oh, don’t be too hard on Megan; if she was pretty and she could cook, she would be the perfect Republican woman. As it is, I have to assume that she’s an adequate mistress.
This is not impressive analysis or refutation. The McCardle concern is that health care reform would, via the eventual imposition of price controls, lower returns to innovation and thus retard medical innovation. She doesn’t unpack this point in the linked post, but you must know this is her argument, right? Again, this is a position that can be contested, but it’s quite a reasonable concern.
Also, I would caution against an analysis which uses life expectancy as the key measure of health care effectiveness. Life expectancy is (as again, you surely must know) responsive to far more things than health care. Like, being obese, being poor, genetics, etc. You want to look at specific health interventions. I would not claim the literature shows decisive advantages for the US, but there are indications that are intriguing. See this paper by Preston and Ho, for example.
The McCardle concern is that health care reform would, via the eventual imposition of price controls, lower returns to innovation and thus retard medical innovation.
And she provided support for that sincerely held belief? As a matter of fact I know she didn’t, and was even forced to admit her “80% of pharma profits come the US market” assertion “wasn’t a statistic–it was a hypothetical” i.e ex culo.
For goodness sake, you’re more careful to not overstate your point and actually provide some support in a freaking one-off comment than she is at her JOB.