Joel Siegel is Dead & I Don't Feel So Good Myself

Brent insisted the new Michael Moore movie would be something to see, even for the politically-resistant like myself. I have nothing against Moore other than his "documentaries" having a history of fictitious facts and padded statistics. I find him to be the Rush Limbaugh of the left, full of bloviation, mindless rhetoric and enough hot air to, well you get my point. So he (Brent) rides my jock for five days, anxious for Moore's new "documentary" Sicko. I agree to go along because that's the kinda guy I am, always up for satisfying my fellow man or date or neighbor or whoever the antagonist may be.

A small popcorn, bottled water and smuggled bag of Whoppers later, we're there, and I'm struggling over having paid this guy (Moore) 12 precious dollars to see his take on America (bad, bad America. White guys bad. Karl Marx good) and its state of health care, or lack thereof.

The sad part about this adventure isn't that half the Whoppers melted into a lump of gooey, chocolatey malt during transport in the baggy pocket of my cargo shorts, it is that most every point the man makes in his film is correct. Sure, Moore really does hate so much about this country, dedicating about five minutes of the film to canonizing Hillary Clinton; He does everything but hold the camera on a 'Hillary for President' placard. Still, it's sad, and depressing and all too true. During the film, near a portion that demonstrates L.A.'s notorious habit of 'patient dumping', Mike asks "who are we? Is this what we've become?" Questions I don't think we ask enough in our country and of ourselves.

There's way too much to get into, but the film hits a bull's eye. Sure, he compares us and our system of health coverage to the French, Brits, Slovenia, and Canada and spends the last part of the film praising Cubans, even taking four of his health care-desperate subjects to Havana for treatment by Cuba's finest medical professionals. Okay, THAT was a stretch and so very pure Michael Moore. His love for socialism and Marxist ideology is never cloaked, but the truth is the truth and that truth is, people in France and the U.K. and Canada and Cuba simply don't have to pay for their major health care, or pay very little at worst. One lady's cancer medication here is $125 per Rx, and she needs it twice a month; and she's unemployed, and has two kids; and did I mention she's single? In Havana, the cost was .5 cents. In Canada, it was free.

So I left a bit enlightened, still knowing Michael Moore for what he is and thankful for it, to an extent. Will it change anything? No. Democrats are Democrats and Republicans are Republicans my friend. They'll not change until we force them so the lesson here is not as much about what our politicians will or will not do, as much as it IS about our own complacency, and I'm afraid for now that's a chronic condition we're destined to suffer for a long time coming.

Posted by JD on June 30, 2007 9:14 AM