[ExI] Transhumanism and Politics

BillK pharos at gmail.com
Fri Jan 25 18:13:39 UTC 2008


On Jan 25, 2008 5:17 PM, spike wrote:
> Bill, you do realize that Michael Moore is a comedian, ja?  If you follow
> his work from the start, you see that he makes what we call mockumentaries.
> They may have some serious messages, but they are really cutting-edge dark
> comedy.  We miss the point when we say Moore's work is bullshit; no, it is
> comedy.  It is funny stuff if one is in the mood.
>
> Moore goes on and on about how good life is in Cuba, but the boat people
> always seem to be floating from there towards the US, never the other way.
> We can judge any country (or company) by the ratio of people wanting in
> divided by the number of people wanting out.
>

You must be thinking about a different film.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386032/>
It was nominated for an Oscar in the documentary section and has
gained other awards as a documentary.

It is not a political thesis about how wonderful Cuba is. He just
points out that Americans denied medical treatment in US can get free
good-quality treatment in Cuba.


Synopsis for Sicko (2007)

Writer/producer Michael Moore interviews Americans who have been
denied treatment by our health care insurance companies -- companies
who sacrifice essential health services in order to maximize profits.
The consequences for the individual subscribers range from bankruptcy
to the unnecessary deaths of loved ones.

Moore then looks at universal free health care systems in Canada,
France, Britain, and Cuba, debunking all the fears (lower quality of
care, poorer compensation for doctors, big-government bureaucracy)
that have been used to dissuade Americans from establishing such a
system here. The roots of those health care systems are explored, and
our failure to establish free health here care is traced to a)
President Richard Nixon's deceptive support of the then-emerging HMOs
pursuing huge profits and b) subsequent pressures for Congress to
sacrifice sound health care in favor of corporate profit.

A group of Americans who became ill from volunteering at 911 Ground
Zero, but were refused health coverage for their illnesses, are
ferried by Moore to Cuba, where they receive the top-rate, free care
one would hope they'd get here at home.

In his interviews, historical reportage, and typical sarcastic wit,
Moore soundly condemns American health insurance companies and
pharmaceutical companies, as well as the politicians who have been
paid millions to do their bidding. He makes the case that there is
something wrong with Americans that we cannot learn from the successes
of other countries in providing better quality-of-health than we enjoy
in the USA.
------------------

BillK



More information about the extropy-chat mailing list