Quoting Ben Golden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > It seems that a huge problem with the current health care policy debate is > an over-reliance on anecdotal evidence. From what I see, many advocates of > both positions run around finding stories of the other side screwing up, > then write articles and books about these isolated incidents. I'd say that > in order to move the discussion to a higher level, there needs to be some > process that aggregates and measures all these individual data points. It's > pretty heavy stuff, hard to access for non-experts (myself included), but > much more insightful than the whole "but my cousin Larry couldn't get a bed" > back and forth. > > In MOQ terms, there's a battle taking place between two or more intellectual > positions. Meanwhile, social institutions--political parties, health care > companies, etc.--are influencing the debate, often using non-intellectual > methods. I have trouble imagining this expose actually changing someone's > mind on the issue of health care policy, though I suppose it's possible. > What I see as more likely is that it strengthens the convictions of someone > already opposed to a more socialized health care system while also > strengthening convictions of those on the other side, who just respond > swiftly with something like "Yes, this is why we need more health care > funding." So the effect of the article is a strengthening of social > institutions--loyalty to a political ideology--much more than an > intellectual reexamination of ideas.
Excellent summary and fine perspective on the issue of universal health care. Still, real world examples have to be brought to light so intellect can do its thing. ------------------------------------------------- This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/ 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/
