Letter: Death as public health policy?

The Advocate had a story on the front page on Jan. 27 headlined “Do penalties for obese, smokers make sense?” A quote from the first paragraph: “Instead of trying to penalize them and change their ways, why not just let these health sinners die?” We are now beginning to see some of the consequences of Obamacare.

My question is this: If you are black or Hispanic, or Native American and an obese smoker, is killing you discriminating against you?

MIKE MICHON

self-employed

Prairieville

Comments

1) Comment by potkcalb - 07/02/2013

We are being too philosophical about prejudice, what it is and why we experience it. Prejudice is manifest and inevitable in all cultures and throughout history because it is our nature to feel threatened . by those who are different from us. At some level it is perceived as a criticism of our essential psychological identity.

2) Comment by Scrooge - 06/02/2013

A charge of elitism generally means one has lost the argument. However, I agree if you consider common and ignorant to be synonymous. Otherwise, I am just as common as anyone, except I ask questions that are often stupid but probably not common.

3) Comment by Attila - 06/02/2013

Congratulations Scrooge. With your last post you just confirmed that psychobabble is an inherent trait of those who see themselves above the common man.

4) Comment by Tea_Slayer - 06/02/2013

mildred, see Scrooge's post above yours. You may want to look up the word "snarky". It means sarcastic.

5) Comment by Scrooge - 06/02/2013

Since stupidity cannot exist in a vacuum but must be manifest in order to be acknowledged, it appears consensus here by popular opinion has it settled-prejudice is the physical manifestation of inbred stupidity. However, a circular dilemma is just as stupid an explanation for stupidity as well. Well done.

6) Comment by Mildred Citizen - 06/02/2013

Let's not forget about allowing those useless old people to die, too. In the words of New York Times columnist and economist Paul Krugman "And we’re also going to have to make decisions about health care, doc pay for health care that has no demonstrated medical benefits . So the snarky version…which I shouldn’t even say because it will get me in trouble - is death panels and sales taxes is how we do this". So, let's let them old folks die and raise them sales taxes. I guess Paul Krugman is advising Jindal as well as Obama.

7) Comment by twinkie1cat - 06/02/2013

Whatnow: Wow a kudo from you. Thank you............How we got the first prejudiced person? I think it comes from our fallenness, our sin nature, the sins of jealousy, greed and wanting to feel like we are better than someone else. In Louisiana I have met a lot of people, both white and black who are prejudiced racially, who literally judge a person's character by the color of their skin. Some of these people would be considered liberal by this state's standards and some are even gay, which has always weirded me out, that a group that has suffered serious oppression could be prejudiced. I also knew some in Georgia, but it was not as pervasive as here. There is also a lot of age prejudice here, especially against older white people where younger people automatically think they are conservative. (Don't seem to understand that the people in their sixties now were the hippies of the sixties and they did not change and a lot still smoke pot.) Maybe that age bias fed into Jindal's desire to incarcerate people in need of hospice care in nursing homes where they would not be a bother to their families or a "drain" on the economy----that the families really don't care about them like he doesn't.

8) Comment by On_The_Fence - 06/02/2013

On another subject (since we cannot comment on White's firing) Maybe even Kip got tired of hearing, "Yes, sir, Boss."

9) Comment by On_The_Fence - 06/02/2013

Answer bourbon-soda----Familiarity!

10) Comment by bourbon-soda - 06/02/2013

If prejudice has to be learned, how did the first prejudiced person become prejudiced?

11) Comment by Mygulfbleedsforu - 06/02/2013

Earth to Mike Michon: yes, you really are that far out there. You've been propagandized into mush. Get help.

12) Comment by Chucky - 06/02/2013

DMJ - I have a good friend who does hospice care for the VA, I think she has wings on her shoulder's, and yes she gets paid for her services and i have never asked but am sure tax $ are involved. Why is Charity not working but that we have to pay people to take care of the dying, that is my fundamental ?.

13) Comment by Whatnow - 06/02/2013

Good food and lack of willpower created obesity. No one else. Being obese is a personal decision and the government has no business interfering in what we eat. Just more control on freedoms. Mike, your question is just plain silly.

14) Comment by Whatnow - 06/02/2013

twinkie1cat, "Prejudice is definitely learned. Children don't become prejudiced until middle school unless they are particularly taught to be prejudiced by their stupid parents." Yeah, there are a lot of prejudiced parents, ministers, teachers, and a lot of other people who are in contact with our youngsters out there, both white and black. And I do agree it also comes with interaction and personal experience.

15) Comment by twinkie1cat - 06/02/2013

The nutrition police created obesity. I think they own stock in diet pill companies and drugs to treat osteoporosis since being skinny is what causes weak, brittle bones. Probably some have stock in the companies that make fake breasts too, since that is the first thing women lose when they diet, their breasts. Plus being underweight should be the method of birth control of the Religious Right since skinny women quit having periods and become infertile............ By today's standards, Marilyn Monroe and "The full figured gal" of the bra commercials would be considered obese as would the kids on the Campbell's Soup cans of that period. If he wasn't a Republican I would like to see Chris Christie in the White House to stop this mess and ban the word "obese" from the dictionary. ..................Prejudice is definitely learned. Children don't become prejudiced until middle school unless they are particularly taught to be prejudiced by their stupid parents. Stupidity is inbred but can be overcome with a good education and quality religion as studies have shown that conservatives are not as bright or well educated as liberals. .......... Cats and dogs DO GET ALONG although sometimes the cats need to apply claw therapy to get it started. Cats don't like sudden abrupt movements because their vision is based on movement. Dogs move abruptly so the cat may have to learn not to freak out and the dog to be respectful. I have a cat and a dog the same age and they met at a few weeks old. They are best friends. Some of my older cats freak out a little, but most of them parent the dog and one just basically ignores her. Depends on the cat's personality.

16) Comment by DMJ - 06/02/2013

Chucky, if charity was sufficient, we wouldn't have hospices. Think about it. Go ahead and ask your pastor how much of your church's budget goes to providing hospice care.

17) Comment by Attila - 06/02/2013

@Scrooge: In answer to your question it has been my experience that prejudice is a learned trait based on one's personal experience. That being said all animals, including humans, have genetic traits that are natural to them... I guess you could answer both parts of your own question if you could find out why dogs and cats do not get along. Do they just naturally not like each other? Or did their parents, and their life experiences mold their attitude? Hmmmm.

18) Comment by Bouncer - 06/02/2013

My question is this: if a duck crosses the road, does that make it a chicken?

19) Comment by Ivy - 06/02/2013

I...can't....answer....the....question....I...am...not....programmmmmmmmedd......

20) Comment by Chucky - 06/02/2013

In the days not long gone, before someone found to make money on it, the dying died at home, For those who had no home charity would do.

21) Comment by DMJ - 06/02/2013

The sad thing is... people really think like this guy and are oblivious to how crazy they seem to most everyone else. Oh well...another guy from Prairieville who hates Obamacare. Nothing new here...

22) Comment by phil - 06/02/2013

From what I have read relative to the use of drones in the USA and the possible thought that the government possibly can just kill anyone it wants to with no questions asked if they think they are a terrorist, I think maybe people need to think about the other ways the government will possibly get rid of you. Of course, Obamacare might not actually kill you, but it might make you go broke if you are a middle-class taxpayer.

23) Comment by SuzanneMS - 06/02/2013

Make that Medicaid.

24) Comment by SuzanneMS - 06/02/2013

From the headline, I expected it to be about Jindal's cuts to Medicare.

25) Comment by Bighug - 06/02/2013

Letting them die isn't the same as killing them. People with unhealthy habits are making their own choices. Smokers and overeaters are merely comitting suicide slowly.

26) Comment by dday198 - 06/02/2013

what a wack job

27) Comment by gary - 06/02/2013

Mike, you gotta be trying to make a joke - right?

28) Comment by chem - 06/02/2013

Ahhh, the infamous Obamacare death panels. All are entitled to their opinions, but this one is certainly inane. In this day, everyone knows smoking is bad for you. Same with obesity. Trying to tie a line from a news story to the "consequences of Obamacare" is really stretching credulity.

29) Comment by swinham - 05/02/2013

This letter transcends absurdity. If it is an attempt at humor, it fails.

30) Comment by Scrooge - 05/02/2013

What? Another question might be: if you are white and stupid, is prejudice inbred or learned?