4 ms·

What are you, communist or something?! I read a poignant comment on Twitter the other day, about how nowadays public libraries and fire services would never be

by foxylad 10y ago

What are you, communist or something?! I read a poignant comment on Twitter the other day, about how nowadays public libraries and fire services would never be funded - perhaps we'd give illiterate people tax credits for buying books, and insurance companies would have private fire engines. The neo-liberal agenda of not allowing any public entity to provide services that could possibly compete with a private corporation has succeeded too well.

Spooky23 10y ago
We already have that: https://usnews.newsvine.com/_news/2011/12/07/9272989-firefighters-let-home-burn-over-75-fee-again https://usnews.newsvine.com/_news/2011/12/07/9272989-firefig... Modern conservatism is a cancer.
- PhantomGremlin 10y ago
  No sympathy from me. I pay for fire protection as part of my property taxes. In this case, it's a separate item that must be purchased separately. That's what makes it "a cancer"? As the morons in the article said: Bell and her boyfriend said they were aware of the policy, but thought a fire would never happen to them.
  - goodplay 10y ago
    Yeah, I agree. I also move to let sick people die if we can't verify that they have insurance coverage, and bar children from education if their parents can't pay (or if they are orphaned). I mean, screw poor people! Right?
  - darpa_escapee 10y ago
    > No sympathy from me. No sympathy for people who lost their home and possessions over a $75 fee? I had a friend who had no sympathy for another friend who was diagnosed with throat cancer, because he smoked cigarettes. Didn't matter that the person had cancer, what mattered is that they smoked cigarettes and knew the risks. It was forgivable on the first friend's part because he was also heavily medicated for a psychiatric illness.
    - PhantomGremlin 10y ago
      No sympathy for people who lost their home and possessions over a $75 fee? Well, yes, sympathy from me as in "sucks to be them". But they were adults and made a voluntary decision to forego paying for fire protection. They made a bet and they lost. As for cancer, when I was in high school some 40 years ago, I knew a US Army Major (i.e. Gung-ho military) who smoked. Even then, smoking was starting to be frowned upon. So he used to say "any fool can quit smoking. It takes a man to face cancer." At a personal level, if I ran into that person now and it turned out he indeed had cancer, I would of course have sympathy for him. But perhaps he and I would both agree that adults sometimes make bad decisions, and they then should accept the consequences of those bad decisions. As Niven and Pournelle explained it back in 1981: "think of it as evolution in action".
      - pm90 10y ago
        I respect your different point of view on this matter. But if I may act as the devil's advocate: what if it was your brother (or father) that said that to you? Would you not volunteer help to them if they said those things and are now suffering from cancer? Personally, I don't think we should reward people for making bad decisions; you are implicitly punishing the people who made the good ones, which are often hard. However, rewarding is one thing; saving from death/destitution is quite another.
        PhantomGremlin 10y ago
        Would you not volunteer help to them if they said those things and are now suffering from cancer? Yes of course families help each other no matter the previous bad choices. On a societal level we try to help people with cancer even if they don't have health insurance. That's what Medicaid is. Unfortunately that only helps save them from death; destitution probably feels almost as bad and we don't have an easy solution to that.
      - darpa_escapee 10y ago
        Can you, for certain, tell if someone who is diagnosed with cancer 100% directly caused that cancer? At the point that someone is diagnosed with cancer, what is gained by saying "I told you so"? Would you go as far as to say that to someone who got stomach cancer? That they should accept the consequences of eating cured meats while they and their family suffer? What about prostate cancer? Did you know that the risk of prostate cancer is decreased by 20% - 30% for each of the following: 1) regular prostate massages 2) increased number of orgasms 3) drinking coffee 4) ingesting more lycopene 5) exercising (41% decrease in risk of developing prostate cancer!) 5) consuming more omega-3 fatty acids. Would you hold the same "I told you so" attitude towards someone diagnosed with prostate cancer because they didn't have enough kinky sex, drink enough coffee, exercise and eat the right foods? I'm having a hard time differentiating between "didn't pay $75" and "didn't exercise or rub their prostate hard / often enough".

by foxylad 10y ago

Spooky23 10y ago

We already have that: https://usnews.newsvine.com/_news/2011/12/07/9272989-firefighters-let-home-burn-over-75-fee-again https://usnews.newsvine.com/_news/2011/12/07/9272989-firefig... Modern conservatism is a cancer.

PhantomGremlin 10y ago
No sympathy from me. I pay for fire protection as part of my property taxes. In this case, it's a separate item that must be purchased separately. That's what makes it "a cancer"? As the morons in the article said: Bell and her boyfriend said they were aware of the policy, but thought a fire would never happen to them.
- goodplay 10y ago
  Yeah, I agree. I also move to let sick people die if we can't verify that they have insurance coverage, and bar children from education if their parents can't pay (or if they are orphaned). I mean, screw poor people! Right?
- darpa_escapee 10y ago
  > No sympathy from me. No sympathy for people who lost their home and possessions over a $75 fee? I had a friend who had no sympathy for another friend who was diagnosed with throat cancer, because he smoked cigarettes. Didn't matter that the person had cancer, what mattered is that they smoked cigarettes and knew the risks. It was forgivable on the first friend's part because he was also heavily medicated for a psychiatric illness.
  - PhantomGremlin 10y ago
    No sympathy for people who lost their home and possessions over a $75 fee? Well, yes, sympathy from me as in "sucks to be them". But they were adults and made a voluntary decision to forego paying for fire protection. They made a bet and they lost. As for cancer, when I was in high school some 40 years ago, I knew a US Army Major (i.e. Gung-ho military) who smoked. Even then, smoking was starting to be frowned upon. So he used to say "any fool can quit smoking. It takes a man to face cancer." At a personal level, if I ran into that person now and it turned out he indeed had cancer, I would of course have sympathy for him. But perhaps he and I would both agree that adults sometimes make bad decisions, and they then should accept the consequences of those bad decisions. As Niven and Pournelle explained it back in 1981: "think of it as evolution in action".
    - pm90 10y ago
      I respect your different point of view on this matter. But if I may act as the devil's advocate: what if it was your brother (or father) that said that to you? Would you not volunteer help to them if they said those things and are now suffering from cancer? Personally, I don't think we should reward people for making bad decisions; you are implicitly punishing the people who made the good ones, which are often hard. However, rewarding is one thing; saving from death/destitution is quite another.
      - PhantomGremlin 10y ago
        Would you not volunteer help to them if they said those things and are now suffering from cancer? Yes of course families help each other no matter the previous bad choices. On a societal level we try to help people with cancer even if they don't have health insurance. That's what Medicaid is. Unfortunately that only helps save them from death; destitution probably feels almost as bad and we don't have an easy solution to that.
    - darpa_escapee 10y ago
      Can you, for certain, tell if someone who is diagnosed with cancer 100% directly caused that cancer? At the point that someone is diagnosed with cancer, what is gained by saying "I told you so"? Would you go as far as to say that to someone who got stomach cancer? That they should accept the consequences of eating cured meats while they and their family suffer? What about prostate cancer? Did you know that the risk of prostate cancer is decreased by 20% - 30% for each of the following: 1) regular prostate massages 2) increased number of orgasms 3) drinking coffee 4) ingesting more lycopene 5) exercising (41% decrease in risk of developing prostate cancer!) 5) consuming more omega-3 fatty acids. Would you hold the same "I told you so" attitude towards someone diagnosed with prostate cancer because they didn't have enough kinky sex, drink enough coffee, exercise and eat the right foods? I'm having a hard time differentiating between "didn't pay $75" and "didn't exercise or rub their prostate hard / often enough".