Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!

I am so tired of ignorant people.  People who won't think for themselves, who won't ask questions and find answers for themselves instead of only listening to rumour mongers.  Perhaps I shouldn't be fed up and irritated.  Perhaps I should feel sorry for them.  It could be they are not educated enough to read/listen and comprehend what they read/hear.  But I think it's just laziness - people want to be fed summaries of the day's news, preferably by biased commentators who mirror their own anger and ignorance.  Or maybe it's ADD (attention deficit disorder).  People have such short attention spans that they want to be fed the news in short bursts (which probably explains the appeal of Twitter or, better yet, Cliff notes - why actually read a book when you can buy a summary?).

What brought this on is the Healthcare reform bill that passed yesterday.  People protesting it in recent days and weeks have reminded me of those who call for the banning of books and movies.  I can guarantee the majority of people demanding that books be banned are like the mother who wanted all Harry Potter books banned from her child's school library - she hadn't read a single Harry Potter book but she just knew they would be bad for her daughter because they were about witches!  And wizards!  Why bother finding out for herself what the books were actually like by reading them?  Why bother listening to the hundreds of thousands of parents who were delighted when their children were finally enjoying reading, who had at last discovered the magic of books and the power of the imagination because of J.K. Rowling's delightful compositions?  Why would anyone want to listen to another viewpoint or understand something for yourself when it's so much simpler to let others do the thinking for you?  Ugh!

I am just as certain that the majority of people ranting and raving about the bill today (whatever their political leaning) have not read it from start to finish (including all the amendments).  They are working off the soundbites of some news commentators - not newscasters or journalists, mind you, just opinionaters.  People who deliver their opinions with a strong bias that was in existence before they even understood what was in the bill.

I don't doubt there are things in the bill anyone and everyone will be upset over, because no one can please everybody.  But people latch on to one or two points (usually lies) highlighted by their favourite news commentator - e.g. "They're creating death panels to kill off old people so they won't have to look after them as they age!!!" or "The bill supports public funding of abortion!!!"  (both so wrong ), and that sets them off.  They organize rabid meetings and marches, where they yell hurtful, sick things at people they now regard as their enemy, not fellow citizen, they rant and rave like crazed creatures ...

Over and over again, biased commentators have been saying "73% of Americans don't want this bill!", even though the most recent poll showed that the divide was almost even - something like 46% against, 45% for.  The way people cherry pick what they do and don't want to highlight bugs me.

Before yesterday's vote, the Republican party said the bill should be completely dismantled and everybody should start from the beginning.  That suggested there was absolutely nothing in the bill they could agree with - even though some of the items in the bill were things they had suggested.  They were in power for eight years and did nothing about healthcare reform, after defeating it when Bill Clinton was president, because the fact was they didn't want healthcare reform.  So it was clear that no matter what was in the bill, they would have protested and would never have voted for it.  Yesterday proved that.  Yet they kept trying to pretend that they would be supportive if everyone went back to square one.  Square one, where they have been for decades.

People in America are free to protest.  I think that is amazing and wonderful.  It's definitely a right Americans should be proud of.  But is it too much to ask that they protest with a little intelligence and understanding of the full story, not just one or two soundbites?  Would President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and other Democrats have had to resort to passing the bil the way they did if the Republicans have been more open to change?

It seems to me, as I read different reports, editorials and opinions, and as I watch what Republicans have had to say, that some of them are going to say no to anything the president says just because he's a Democrat.  They are determined to be back in power, so they are going to do all they can to scare their supporters.  And that is what is driving the angry, protesting people, in my opinion, be they Republicans, Democrats or Independents - they are afraid, and fear is a powerful motivator.  But it's not fear of evil, it's fear of change, fear of the unknown.  Plain and simple.  People are afraid of losing their jobs, losing their homes, losing the way of life they've known, and they've decided that healthcare reform and Barack Obama are responsible for all their woes.  They don't fully know what the healthcare bill contains and they don't want to know.  They can't be bothered to understand what healthcare in this country will be like in a decade or two if nothing is done.  They are the people who don't want their cheese moved (http://www.whomovedmycheese.com/ - a good book that, guess what, I actually read, all by myself, without having someone else tell me what it was about).

I still think Barack Obama is a good president, that he really is trying to be president and representative of all the people, not just some, and I think he's the right man for the job, despite his citizens.  Yes, despite them, because I don't think many of them understand just how intelligent and far-sighted this man is.  I know they have no idea how much he has to deal with.  If more Americans would read a little more, if they would get out of their insular worlds a little bit, they would begin to understand how many expectations people have of their president and how much they, and people from other countries, demand of him, of any American president.  I just wish people would read more, listen more and think more.  More students need to be taught to think and to listen to different viewpoints before forming an intelligent, educated opinion.