The Most Important Message in SiCKO

Over the next week, there will be widespread viewing of SiCKO. The film has been promoted as an indictment of the health care industry, but it goes far beyond that. In fact, the health care fraud is the least of what it exposes. I caught the film at a preview screening at my local cinema last night. I would describe it more as an indictment of the idealized (commercial) notion of the American Dream.

Moore shows all the little ways in which we have been lied to about "socialistic Europeans" and their miserable lives and crumbling societies -- something most people do not understand unless they are privileged enough to visit and know citizens of those countries. The most meaningful statement for me was an afterthought by one of the Americans who had moved to France. To paraphrase, she said the primary difference between America and France is this: The government of France is afraid of their people. Americans are afraid of their government. The audience's response was applause, but a sort of muted and nervous applause -- not very emphatic. I wonder what they were afraid of?

This is probably not a diary, but I thought it was important. Progressives and liberals have been chattering about central values and messages for our movement. I think our assumption that we are the only society in the world where government is "by the people and for the people" is not only patently false, but might be a good starting place for overall progressive values. This diary is also a hit and run, and the first commenter is welcome to the tips -- if any. After all ... 'tain't news. Don't delay seeing the film if you haven't.

•  While I voted for the first choice

  I don't 100% agree with the choice of the word "afraid."

  I tend to think of (too many) Americans as any of the following:
  *apathetic and/or ignorant of their governments duties and powers
  
  *trained for and welcoming of a paternalistic/authoritarian government (as long as it lets them have a guns and no taxes and be godfearin'_

  by Jjc2006 on Sun Jun 24, 2007 at 10:29:04 AM PDT

  •  perhaps wary is a better word?

    wary of warrentless wire-tapping
    wary of the denial of habeus corpus to gitmo detainees
    wary of the RFID chip in our passports
    wary of US Atty switcharoo
    wary of a stacked Supreme Court
    wary of corporatist philosophy
    wary of our government's "good intentions"

    Trust is difficult to reattain, once lost.

    by JDWolverton on Sun Jun 24, 2007 at 11:15:47 AM PDT

    •  Maybe

      but sadly my experience is that many, if not most, are simply "ignorant" of the implications of these things for themselves or the citizenry in general, if indeed they are even aware.

      Too many people I know say things like: "Well, I don't break the law, so I don't have to worry about things like that.....

      by Jjc2006 on Sun Jun 24, 2007 at 11:52:26 AM PDT

      •  The sickest of all

        nonsensical rationalizations force fed to Americans over the last few decades is all the variations on the last sentence of your comment. The attitude is soemthing like that reported by apathetic Germans when questioned about Hitler and the Third Reich. It's a sort of "If I do the right thing, I won't get in trouble" ethic. The "right thing", of course, is to remain silent and don't rock the boat -- even when it is clear that something is wrong. That attitude is really just fear disguised as reason. The absolute sickest and deadliest variation on this theme is "if you aren't doing anything wrong, you don't need your rights". That one will be our very undoing, very soon. I will be too sad to even say, "I told you so."

        Most Americans now are uneasily balanced just to the good side of bankruptcy and poverty, and they somehow think someone is taking care of everything. They have no guilt about the downtrodden, and they even participate in the abuse, somehow seeing themselves as above the frey. They are guiltless about it. Stanley Milgram, the psychologist who did the "shock" experiments, said that this loss of a sense of responsibility is the most important effect of submission to authority. People tend to think that if they obey a powerful authority, they are not responsible for what they do in the name of that authority (they rationalize that it is the authority who is responsible). They also think they are safe from the abuse -- somehow becoming completely oblivious to the fact that, tomorrow, they could be the person getting electrocuted! They want to believe that people deserve their fates, so they believe that they will be protected and that the unfortunate are somehow not worthy.

        Thanks for the comment!

        by phaktor on Sun Jun 24, 2007 at 05:49:01 PM PDT

    •  wary? Perhaps so

      for others. Me? I'm scared. Twenty years ago I wasn't, but I am now.

      by phaktor on Sun Jun 24, 2007 at 05:28:31 PM PDT

  •  I dunno

    Americans don't expect their government to come to their aid if they've been abused by private power. Those who do fight back go find themselves a lawyer and try the court system. But most simply are resigned to their fate. Whether it's women who get less pay for equal work, or workers who get fired for trying to form a union, or sick people who get denied healthcare... the American way is to either shut up or sue... the French way is to hold a mass rally, burn tires in the streets, and get a law passed and enforced.

    by tiggers thotful spot on Sun Jun 24, 2007 at 11:48:57 AM PDT

  •  And largely they are

    that way because of a failure of public education.

    by phaktor on Sun Jun 24, 2007 at 05:27:34 PM PDT

•  But

  France's system has issues. That's why Sarkozy won the last election. There are certain aspects of the French social welfare state that are unsustainable.

  by jiacinto on Sun Jun 24, 2007 at 11:13:41 AM PDT

  •  fallacious argument

    France's system has issues.

    ANY system has issues. There are certain aspects of
    the corporatist state that are unsustainable.

    You are not arguing. You have made up your mind and are rationalizing that position (mostly, sad to say, to yourself). Stop it. It's very annoying.

    by debedb on Sun Jun 24, 2007 at 12:45:48 PM PDT

  •  I agree that there is no

    utopia. It is ust that our system has gone so absurdly fascist that it doesn't qualify for consideration. One point Moore made in the film was something I have noticed in looking at the differences between UK and here. What we have lost sight of in this country is the fact that the political poles have become very distorted in our system. Even "conservatives" in Europe are reasonable. They would fall at about Left by Far Left on the current American scale. Our American  "conservatives" are criminally insane -- not conservative.

    by phaktor on Sun Jun 24, 2007 at 05:54:30 PM PDT

•  I saw "Sicko" last night here in Britain.

  (Don't ask how; it hasn't opened here yet. Shhh!) As an American who permanently resides here, I can say that I give thanks every single day for the NHS. The main reason we moved here three years ago was for the nationalised health system. My husband, who is British, and I, with EU citizenship, could afford to retire early only because the NHS liberates us from having to pay for insurance either through our jobs or privately.

  The NHS isn't perfect -- it has problems, and one does have to wait for elective procedures (though never as long as detrators say). But generally it works most of the time. And being able to see one's GP the same day, to be treated in an emergency room whenever necessary,  and to have all exams, consultations, surgeries, maternity care and follow-up appointments, etc, AT NO COST, is well worth any occasional inconvenience. What's more, all prescriptions, whether for one pill or 100, cost £6.55 (about $12.00). I for one would never dream of abusing the system, and I never take it for granted.

  Meantime, everyone in the U.S. should see "Sicko" and get angrier than hell. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the reality of the power of the Big Bad Pharmas means the U.S. will never see nationalised health care in our lifetime. I hope I'm wrong.

  by demetroula on Sun Jun 24, 2007 at 11:44:06 AM PDT

  •  Wishing I

    was there :(

    by phaktor on Sun Jun 24, 2007 at 05:55:05 PM PDT

•  I think Americans are very much afraid.

  Maybe attributing the fear to government is misleading. But, because of the "freedoms" business has in this country, most working people are afraid of losing their jobs. Reagan destroyed the unions, so who do workers turn to when they've been wronged? Most will not hire an attorney, or blow the whistle on their employer for fear of not getting another job. Not getting another job also means loss of health care, not to mention loss of income.

  Our Democratic representative are even afraid of their own government, witness the Capitulation Act.

  No, IMO, Americans are very afraid.

  by zorba on Sun Jun 24, 2007 at 12:44:33 PM PDT

  •  I have a friend who has already

    moved to Canada. I want to go to Europe. I want to get as far away from these nuts as I can, because I think someday soon there is going to be showdown, and I want to avoid it as much as possible. Whenever someone like Bush can not only exist, but take two terms, we are in trouble. People are seemingly becoming aware, but I can't help but think it is too late. The courts are stacked, the Congress seems clearly uninterested in reversing the unconstitutional laws passed by w, and the public is still living in dream world. That means the most advanced technological and military power in the world is now a fascist loose canon, and I think they plan on reducing most of the population to poverty and enslavement on a scale similar to China. We had a chance, and we missed it. Too bad. I wonder who the next American Idol will be?

    by phaktor on Sun Jun 24, 2007 at 06:03:06 PM PDT

    •  I should have left in the 70s. I knew the country

      was finished then. Many of us knew that, but family and other life things got in the way. I want to move to Europe as well. My wife and son have Japanese citizenship, but I don't want to move there. My intelligent preference is northern Europe, but my heart is in Greece.

      Canada may have to be the first move. While I've been there a number of times, I have not been to Montreal where I hear it is the next best thing to Europe.

      Good luck to you, and I hope you make it to Europe soon!

      by zorba on Sun Jun 24, 2007 at 06:16:34 PM PDT

      •  Montreal isn't called the Paris of North America

        for nothing. Montreal is the most European city in North America. If your command of French is reasonable, you'll love it.

        by Ian H on Wed Jun 27, 2007 at 09:09:49 AM PDT