[ExI] A plea for us to do better

[F. C. Moulton]

Darren Greer wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 10:03 PM, Samantha Atkins <sjatkins at mac.com>
> wrote:
> With notorious and life threatening waits for many procedures. No, thank
>> you.
>>
> According to who? Health insurance companies? Lobbyists? Because that is
> simply not true. In Canada, when you need it, you get it. The more more
> life-threatening it is, the faster you get it. If you believe otherwise,
> you've bought into propaganda.
>
> darren

Would everyone please cut out the hyperbole.  Please.  The situation is
much more complex and nuanced that either of the above positions. 
Instead of just making bold assertions can I instead suggest defining
our terms, agreeing on a set of metrics and processes of measurement and
then taking a calm look at all available data.   To just bring up single
instances and anecdotes is not very helpful;  I suspect that we could go
on for days just trading jabs with one side talking about some Canadian
official who went to USA for heart surgery and someone else would bring
up someone who was denied surgery by an insurance company in the USA.  
Instead let us get beyond simplistic slogans.   Let us please avoid
mis-characterizations of the positions of others in the discussion.  I
realize that some people must get a great thrill from it because I have
seen it all too often on this list.

This is the Exi list and I really thing we can do better whether we are
discussing AI or religion or whatever.

Fred