You know, I am sure that all these assholes believe in the social contract, but when you say, as a part of the social contract by which the upper class gets every fucking advantage imaginable, the rich still have to agree to throw a nickle to the poor and the sick, their eyes glaze over. Are these people really that fucking stupid?

…which is not to say that I necessarily agree with the social contract theory, but to have to explain these simple things to these bastards drives me mad.

I personally believe the U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some…people out there in our nation don’t have health care, and, uh, I believe that our health care like such as South Africa and, uh, the Iraq everywhere like, such as and…I believe that they should, our health care over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., err, uh, South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for our…

Perhaps McCardle’s hire at The Atlantic is the work of Diana Moon Glampers, seeking to make other privliged twits feel smart by comparison?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron

I deserve Bonus Payments for having the sucky thing of Megan McArdle screw up a decent magazine.

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” never sells well with sociopaths or libertarians.

*Diodes song title // Damned song title.

Pretty sure it’s a Hoodoo Gurus song title as well. Though that may simply be “Waking up Tired”.

(remove “was” from post above please)

I lived on the Upper West Side for three years. This woman does not represent the population there accurately. Now, the Upper East Side……..

And, um, I knew a guy in high school who died because of complications from chronic asthma. I guess he’s lucky, because he wasn’t ugly.
The fuck?

I was just sneakily doing that, Roy…

If libertarians remain this irritating I predict a backlash of ballot initiatives entitling citizens, among other things, to free shoelace replacement and three gumdrops per household.

She writes just like she composes her first drafts in Lisa Frank notebooks. In bubble letters, in glittery, apple-scented green ink.

In snark it’s one thing, but, as my old dictionary would phrase it, “careful writers never use ‘sucky’.”

And you say she’s almost forty? Oh, aging will not be kind to her psyche, I’ll bet.

Ah Jesus! All of the posters over there trying to get Megatron to start – just start, mind you – to take the tiniest of moral baby steps.

Oooh!!! Here comes the tiny plane! Bzzzzz!!! Open wide Megan! You can do it! Do it for Mommy!!

Whereupon Megan turns her head from the spoon and tosses the entire bowl of baby food on the floor.

The futility of it all makes my head hurt. I’ve really enjoyed the Megatron posts here, but lately she strikes me as entirely too Althousian.

Is she really almost 40? Jesus, she writes like she’s fresh out of college at best. Will she ever grow up?

So how long before you launch “Sadly, Megan!”? I’ll give you to the end of the week at the rate she’s going.

I was thinking about subscribing to the Atlantic, but now, not so much.

“Why are ugliness and social awkwardness arguably worse than chronic asthma? Is it because ugly, awkward people have fewer opportunities to have sex, whereas asthmatics simply have a harder time with heavy breathing? If that’s the case, why doesn’t the Atlantic give me a raise because I am socially graceful, physically attractive and blessed with airways bigger than an elephant seal’s.”

I think it’s hilarious the the two examples she picked were ugliness and social awkwardness. Damn, Megs, remember you’re not just talking to yourself anymore.

I think it’s hilarious the the two examples she picked were ugliness and social awkwardness.

She knows her audience. Libertarianism: Calvinism for neckbeards.

Apparently she refuses to learn about health insurance because she finds the whole idea immoral, but she does understand that “health coverage” doesn’t mean “fucking awesome free money fund to be spent on cocaine and X-Boxes and big-assed bitches whenever you sprain your ankle,” right? Like, that the money goes towards covering the health expenses that are incurred by the illness or condition, right? That people don’t just get the money to cheer them up or something?

“sucky things”?!

Good Lord, at some point the Atlantic is going to implode from having 150 years’ worth of gravitas sucked out.

Next up, Ross Douthat explains why the capital gains tax is, like, super-uncool.

Jake, when she actually responds to that point, she pretends that means you’re against means-testing.
Why?
It is a mystery.

i demand “bonus payments” (wtf?) for having to read such sucky writing.

ps: dear atlantic, i just got laid off on friday and i am capable of constructing a coherent and defensible argument. and now i’ve got a lot of free time on my hands. also, i don’t hate old people or sick people. just sayin’.

being really ugly, or being severely socially awkward, both of which seem at least arguably worse than, say, having chronic asthma.

Damn you, Gazoogle! Why is there no information about the number of deaths from real ugliness or severe social awkwardness? All I could find was a press release from the WHO, estimating that 255 000 people died from asthma around the world in 2005.

Next up, Ross Douthat explains why the capital gains tax is, like, super-uncool.

Be fair, let’s not forget Undisputed World Typographical Error Champion Matt Yglesias babbling about how he has the musical tastes of a 14-year-old girl.

“…If we should give money to sick people regardless of need…”

No, numb nuts. Try IN PROPORTION TO NEED. We’re not out to give new Cadillacs to people who need to get their tonsils out – we’re pretty happy just getting them the care they NEED to like, not die and to live healthy and happy lifves, not full of painful misery.

What a bitch.

Herr Doktor, how can you be taken seriously when you’re using data that’s 2 years old ?!?!?!?!?
John Stossel notes that many of those people would have found another way to die even without asthma, a fact you didn’t take into account when blaming all those deaths on a totally voluntary condition.

But it raises some interesting questions. Why do you disagree? If we should give money to sick people regardless of need…

If we should give money to sick people regardless of need…

…sick people… regardless of need…

I’m at a loss here. Its as though she somehow knows what each word in the sentance means by itself, but inexplicably fails to see how they relate to one another.

I finally fell for the linkbait. I found this interesting bit that’s available to subscribers:

Twenty From the Twentieth Century
Highlights from the past hundred years of The Atlantic with W.E.B. DuBois, William James, John Muir, Robert Frost, Rebecca West, Albert Einstein, Robert Moses, Pablo Picasso, Martin Luther King Jr., Mrs. X, James D. Watson, and more.

Sure would be interesting to see how our little cygnet stacks up.

I’m not as smart of the rest of y’all but here’s an idea to mull over.

If man is the animal that can make choices and decisions, meaning we’re not constantly in the hunter/gatherer/predator mode and can enjoy things like leisure, art, sport, etc. what does it say about people like McMegan who seem to want life to be stripped down to its animal basics?

I really think they — I suspect there are others who “think” like her — want life to be boiled to down to what it was on the African savannah millions of years ago. They don’t want to make decisions about the welfare of others. They won’t be drawn into valuing a singer or bard as a member of the community, if he doesn’t hunt or support himself. The old and infirm? Leave ’em for the lions. The young and sickly? Why should we carry them? Love? Empathy? Sympathy? Who needs these human traits (even if we’re learning that they’re not even exclusive to mammal, let alone humans)?

If they’d rather die, they should do it and decrease the surplus population. Are there no workhouses? Are there no prisons?

I have to wonder if these people were ever sick and who took the time to care for them?

All I could find was a press release from the WHO, estimating that 255 000 people died from asthma around the world in 2005…

Yeah, but the number of those 255,000 McArdle cared about? *Zero*! ROTFLMPLAO!!!1!!!

Although I understand the ghost of Teddy Roosevelt has been seen stalking the halls of The Atlantic screaming Victorian obscenities in his high-pitched, upper-class-twit voice. Also something about “May that May-gun women grow a soup-strainer to equal my own, and may *that* teach the silly baggage something about ‘socially awkward’… “

well i’m sick….

i’m so sick….

of being sick.

and i’m tired…

so tired…

of making the long uphill walk

to the methadone….

clinic

there’s got to be an easier way.

(mudhoney cover is far superior to spaceman 3 original)

Personally, I do think the government should hand out money to the very ugly and the socially awkward. If that makes me a crazy moonbat, then so be it.

She writes just like she composes her first drafts in Lisa Frank notebooks. In bubble letters, in glittery, apple-scented green ink.

And smiley faces dotting her I’s.

Rufus,

Interesting, but I think there’s a poison pill in there — you’d have to admit you’re very ugly and summon the stones to prove you’re socially awkward. I think it would be interesting to see who applies for the grants.

Check it out. Very timely.

I really think they — I suspect there are others who “think” like her — want life to be boiled to down to what it was on the African savannah millions of years ago.

I think they want it to be more brutal than that because there is evidence that ancient hominids actually did look after each other when they were sick. Or at least this is the conclusion that some anthropologists came to after finding the 1.7 M year old bones of a female Homo erectus in Kenya. She died of hypervitaminosis A and the extent to which the disease had progressed suggests that she was not simply abandoned but was cared for. Anthropologists have come to similar conclusions about ancient hominids showing each other a little tenderness based on other fossil records.

I’ve been reading up on the subject of our predecessors and have been trying to imagine what it must have been like to be an early Homo sapien. Competing with and possibly warring with other species of hominids, worried a Neandertal might sneak up and smash your head in with a rock while you’re sleeping, never feeling safe, always afraid and when I got close to conjuring up such fear I discovered what it feels like to be a wingnut. OH NO!!! BROWN PEOPLE!!

You know, I am sure that all these assholes believe in the social contract, but when you say, as a part of the social contract by which the upper class gets every fucking advantage imaginable, the rich still have to agree to throw a nickle to the poor and the sick, their eyes glaze over. Are these people really that fucking stupid?

Yes bdub, they really are. It’s hard to believe that someone with internet access hasn’t heard of libertarians or Ayn Rand or as they are known to everyone else, “trolls”.

BTW, nice blog paul and a good post too.

why don’t we give people bonus payments for, say, being really ugly, or being severely socially awkward

I see the point of her “bonus payments” phraseology. Introducing a system of wealth redistribution to keep more people healthy and functioning is JUST AS BAD as revising the rules of Monopoly.
Subsidised health care?! Why not add a new Community Chest card while you’re at it?!… “All other players give you $50 as compensation for your halitosis.”

how can you be taken seriously when you’re using data that’s 2 years old ?!?!?!?!?

Data improve with age. They mature. Using them before they’re 8 years old (at the earliest) is a waste.
Of course the cask-strength data are best, if you can get them.

Ugly, socially awkward and chronic asthma? I think I just hit the trifecta. Now cough up, McArdle.

To be fair, I heard she does have very cute feet.

What’s the current over-under on years ’til she’s drunk live blogging American Idol?

I really hope that interval can be measured in hours….

It’s no point discussing why arseholes like McArdle are arseholes. Some people just are. I don’t think analysis is needed beyond pointing and laughing.

You people just don’t get it… Megan McUrkle is a wonderful example of an environmentally sound hire; Yes, she’s helping fill the Atlantic with Cod again. Cod philosophy, cod wisdom, cod feet… We should be cheering this fine restocking effort!

Righties honestly use Meghan’s crap as an actual, legitimate, bona fide talking point.

“Sometimes things just suck.”

Ergo, things suck, so don’t bother changing them, because things will always suck somehow, y’know?

Because making the government pay for health care is the same as…(wait for it)…having the government make someone date you who doesn’t like you.

Fresh meat from the “Fortress of Suckitude”–it was either a rant on her woeful ignorance of pareto efficiency or this gem:

“Finally, if they deserve money just for being sick, why don’t we peg the money to the suffering the disease causes, rather than the cost of treating the disease? Inquiring minds want to know.”

Inquiring minds? Where? Where!

Could it be that some people suffer more pain from arthritis than others do from cancer–until the latter is too late to treat? (Which is why many women wind up dead from what might have been treatable forms of breast cancer.

Maybe it’s because diabetes causes more suffering than atheriosclerosis or hbp.

And I know the prospect of this just warms the hearts of republitards and Libertarians; but if money were given out in proportion to pain and suffering, lawyers might feel obligated to parade suffering patients before a jury in hopes of squeezing more money out of traditional insurers.

And Megan, dear, it’s “Enquiring minds want to know.”

I’m at a fail how universal healthcare is ‘giving money’. Or the ‘need’ thing.

Either they’re sick and they ‘need’ help, or they don’t ‘need’ help and so we don’t intervene.

If they don’t need help, they don’t get any.

If you walk into a hospital and say ‘my leg is broken’ do you automatically get $20 for a cab and a cast if you don’t have a broken leg?

I have a confession to make. I wrote the “I disagree” post. For the record, in the very next line I pointed out that the money went to the doctors, not the individuals.

Having written close to a dozen comments on her health-care blogging, I’ve come to the following conclusions:

Either:

A. She’s literally a sociopath, in that she is fundamentally incapable of feeling the emotion called empathy; or

B. Because of shame or embarrassment or pride, she refuses to read any comment beyond the first 10 words, so she has no idea what are the substance of the challenges to her posts.

I come to this conclusion reluctantly, because she is clearly intelligent and well educated. But her utter inability to understand why people disagree with her leads me to this conclusion.

I have a confession to make. I wrote the “I disagree” post.

It was worth a shot.

My comment over at that idiotic blog got deleted for “personal attacks.”

I think it was when I pointed out how people can die from chronic asthma, and then called her a greedy overprivileged moron.

Oh well.

Yeah, apparently to get Atlantic coverage you have to attack people for something the did wrong, like being poor.

Hey Fishbone,

Sweet! I got deleted too for “ad hominem attacks and profanity!” (Near as I can tell it was use of the word “slag” although it could of been for the phrase “sex acts”. She’s quite the pearl clutcher.) My comment was in response to her Teen Cosmo musing on how we are all less hot than we think. How come the libertarians are always the thinnest skinned? Liberty for me and not for thee, I suppose.

good point above on our ancient ancestors caring for the infirm: I wasn’t sure how far back that deviant behavior went back.

I wonder what it’s like to be so care-free, no icky human relationships to trouble your beautiful mind?

I think it’s time the crew here at S,N! take a holiday from reading America’s oldest brat (how else to describe someone who didn’t outgrow her crush on Rearden/Galt et al?) before their heads explode.

Sick people should just crawl away somewhere and die. I shouldn’t be expected to pay to help them and I sure as hell don’t want to see them.

Francis:

Having written close to a dozen comments on her health-care blogging, I’ve come to the following conclusions:

B. Because of shame or embarrassment or pride, she refuses to read any comment beyond the first 10 words, so she has no idea what are the substance of the challenges to her posts.

Choice C: Megan thinks all doctors are rich and should treat the poor for free.
or
Choice D: All of the above.

Every time I’m slumming over at McArdle’s place and I read a comment by “Yancey Ward”, I hear the smug, pompous voice of Leonard-Pinth Garnell in my head:

“Libertarian blogs are much more civil. I can’t think of a single one, and I have visited dozens, that have any vitriolic disagreements. Discussions become heated at times, but they never descend into name calling and wishes for the death of one’s opponent. Why is this? I don’t really know, but I have noted one significant difference between such blogs and most others, including Megan’s old blog- you see people commenting under their real names far more often on serious libertarian blogs. I think commenting under your real name helps control one’s baser impulses, but why libertarian blogs have more such commenters, I could not even begin to guess.”

Do all winger sites have at least one resident ersatz William F. Buckley prancing around in the comments? What kills me is that the other moron posters invariably look up to them as some kind of intellectual giant.

Why, oh why is this? Deary me, I could not even begin to guess…