Khaotic twitters

[khaosworks]

What kind of day has it been:

18:24 Rather disappointed that my comments on a friend's posting have been removed just because I disagree with them. I expected better. #

20:18 has decided to go for the Sandtrooper armour look. is.gd/2olKi #

22:22 Yes, I *am* a little short for a stormtrooper. #

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Comments

[weirdsister.livejournal.com]

Terrence,
I removed it because it struck me as confrontational and rude. I felt like you were picking a fight with me, and frankly, I was too tired to indulge. :(

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

A fight wasn't what I was looking for. I was just pointing out that the article didn't mean what you thought or were trying to say it meant.

Which really is the crux of a lot of what I've been seeing about the reaction to this whole healthcare debate.

I didn't expect an answer. But I also don't think that clarifying what the article actually said was rude either. Nor did I expect that you would, in effect, censor a reaction. Hence my sense of disappointment.

Never mind. No need to answer this either. I'm letting it go.

[(Anonymous)]

I was just pointing out that the article didn't mean what you thought or were trying to say it meant.
All I said was that it was interesting. You presumed to know what I was thinking. The article speaks for itself and says what it says. I know what it doesn't say. Your comment was condescending in tone, and I think that is what bothered me so much. I'll grant you that I shouldn't have deleted it, but I didn't want to feel pissed off at you every time I looked at it. I genuinely like you...but I think we need to agree to disagree when it comes to politics.

Honestly, Terrence, it would be easier on me emotionally if I could swallow the little blue pill and magically believe that my government (I don't care which party runs it...politicians are by and large self-interested and corrupt) shits roses and has my best interests in heart.

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty certain I know why you thought it was interesting, but if you feel like telling me your actual reasons why you thought it was interesting, I'd be happy to hear it.

I understand that it may be difficult for you to continue this conversation, and rather than jeopardise our friendship any further, I won't press you. But I think I need to make my position clear, and why I broke silence and felt the need to comment in the first place. It's not to attack you. It was never about attacking you. And I hope you know the kind of person I am well enough to know that I would never do that.

It's just that I find it very hard to understand is precisely what the people who object to the whole public option are actually (and rationally) objecting to, because most of what is cited as objectionable (death panels, illegal immigration healthcare, funding for abortions, total government takeover of healthcare, etc.) simply isn't true, or simply isn't there any of the bills that have been proposed.

Nobody's asking anyone take anything on faith. But if one making arguments, surely there must be some actual basis for them. I still haven't heard a rational argument against healthcare reform, except to protect the profits of an industry that is pricing it out of the hands of people who need it. Now, I don't have a dog in the fight, since I'm not an American citizen. I just find sloppy thinking annoying as hell.

I can agree to disagree on real policy points or political philosophy, but I really can't sit here and say "agree to disagree" when the gulf between what is being propounded and actual reality is so vast. So I'm very, very sorry, but I can't "agree to disagree" in this case that lies are true, when there is empirical evidence to the contrary.

So that's why I commented, because I saw - or thought I saw - where that argument was going in regard to how that article might be used, as an indictment of a single-payer system or to say that public healthcare is unworkable. If you were going elsewhere, I'm sorry, but I was pretty sure that's where you were going, given what I've observed of your stance on the issue. I saw it as misinformation, and that just sticks in my craw.

I would also honestly like to understand - and I'm sure you would say the same of me - why an otherwise rational person I respect would swallow the misinformation and fear-mongering that the radical right is promulgating. Believe me, I love you and your family and I know you're genuinely good people. Which is also why this disconnect blows my mind and kills me as well.