Hi Andre, > Platt asks: > > Does China have a national health scheme? > > Andre: > > Yes it has Platt but you may imagine there are huge discrepancies > between > the city/urban areas and the rural areas (where I am and in the main > extremely poor) with regards to the provision and availability of > general > health services. It is not free, those that do not have insurance will > have > to pay the full bill (so to speak) those that have a Govt. job and are > members of the Party, have a basic insurance cover deducted from their > salary. When they need treatment of some sort, most of this falls under > the > cover, if not they'll have to supplement costs out of their own pocket. > Must also add that Chinese people in general are extremely health > conscious > and in this sense look after themselves very well with regards to what > they > eat and what they drink.
Guess I should have asked, "Does China have universal health insurance?" I gather the answer is, "No." If so, the answer comes as a surprise to me -- a socialist country without "free" medical care for everyone?. Incredible. > Platt: > > I see that all your examples cite individuals. Do you see any evidence > of > compassion, caring. love, etc. towards humanity in general, i.e., the > social level? (To say it's necessary is not the same as saying you love > it. > In fact, intellect fights for freedom from social conformity and > control. > Recall the protest in Tiananmen Square in 1989.) > > Andre: > > I finally found the quote I was looking for (when I wasn't looking for > it). > I think this sums up Pirsig's attitude pretty well: > "He (Phaedrus) had no choice but to try to help her (Lila), nuisance or > not. > Otherwise he would just injure himself. You can't just run off from > other > people without injuring yourself too". ( Lila, p325) But, in the end he "ran off" from Lila. > I do recall Tiananmen Square Platt. I was there last year, 2 days before > the > events took place (then) 19 years ago. I wanted to fill in the spaces > which > we all saw on TV from where the tanks came, the lone young man > 'challenging' > the tank's driver. > This particular evening all preparations were already underway to stop > any > form of protest, cordonning off areas, increased military presence etc > etc. > What struck me was the ages of these soldiers...they were not older than > 20/ > 21. They were still babies when that massacre took place. I wonder how > much > they knew/know. I wondered how much they really understand what they are > protecting. I wonder, too. This is what happens in an authoritarian country -- history is rewritten with large segments inimical to tyranny removed. It has happened in America where public school history textbooks are now written so as not to offend anyone, resulting in a distorted, politically correct version of events. > Platt: > > Did you accidentally omit the word NOT after "should" in the last > sentence? > > Andre: > > Am afraid I did Platt, thank you for pointing this out. It should read: > "Or > the reverse that Int. PoV's should not be dominated by Soc. PoV's . > > Platt: > > As above, intellect has to constantly battle the push for control by the > forces of collectivist Soc. PoV's that you have so eloquently described > in > China. > > Andre: > > Thank you for the compliment. > But, Platt are you suggesting with this that (American) Int.PoV's are to > be > implemented in any and every country of the globe that has not already > done > so? > I really thought that Pirsig was talking about American society first. > In > other words, that he wanted to clean up his own backyard first before > anything else. > Sure , if a society is threatened from without one should take action > but > this is not the case! America's national security has never been under > direct threat. > > Iraq a threat to America's national security??? Ha. ha. ha. If Iran gets atomic bombs would you consider that a threat to other countries in the area as well as Europe and America? As for intellectual POV's being universally applied to all countries, I say "Yes, that's the MOQ moral stance." But, let's not forget that intellectual level POV's as seen from the MOQ perspective are flawed. They don't acknowledge the reality of values although paradoxically, they value themselves. > Ask yourself why this dictator Sadam had to hang so quickly.He was only > convicted for the murder of 9 people if I remember correctly! He was tried by an Iraq court. > The use of this argument has been abused by Bush too often (as an excuse > for > continued war mongering) and would suggest that for many American > citizens > this is an insult to, not only their own intellect but to America's Int. > PoV's in general and all that it has achieved. > It is so easy to judge and condemn the workings of one culture from the > values and perspective of another culture. > > I am confident you have a different interpretation and position on this > Platt. Yes. At the time the Allies acted to liberate Iraq from the tyranny of Saddam, all western intelligence services concluded he was building an arsenal of WMD. Congress, which had access to the same intelligence, authorized the president to use the military to prevent Saddam from carrying out his plans. Platt Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
