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Feels like the headline should include "In America". This certainly doesn't happen in the rest of the civilized world.

colordrops 8y ago
Is China civilized? Cuz it definitely happens there. I've heard a doctor ask a family how much money they've got in the bank, and took it all to keep a dying uncle on life support for another month. A crime.
- Retric 8y ago
  > Is China civilized? No. The rampant corruption, lack of free speech, etc don't qualify as civilized IMO.
  - PenguinCoder 8y ago
    By those metrics (and others), United States isn't a civilized country either.
    - kpommerenke 8y ago
      Not true: Corruption: The USA ranks 16th (1 is best) out of 180 countries according to Transparency International: https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_perceptions_index_2017#table https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_percept... Free speech: If anything, there is too much free speech in the USA, as people can and do say all kinds of nonsense, starting at the very top.
      - twoheadedboy 8y ago
        Man I would hate to live in a country that is ostensibly more corrupt than North Korea...
    - dionidium 8y ago
      This is silly. Please don't make easily-refuted, throwaway political statements like this. On almost any corruption index, the United States ranks far, far better than China. Here's one example: https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_perceptions_index_2016?gclid=CjwKCAjwgabeBRBuEiwACD4R5o0dlkb6DcpygujvgIFhuljCeU9CoNTB7mkDw_q9ZfDVil0hQFSjBRoCULYQAvD_BwE https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_percept... People do try to measure this stuff.
      - jahaja 8y ago
        That link measures peoples perception. My perception is that the influence of money is blatantly epidemic in US politics. But it uses an euphemism; lobbying. Luckily it's not corruption if it's legal.
        Retric 8y ago
        Lobbing is not inherently corrupt. When a small group cares a lot about a specific issue say astronomers and light pollution lobbing is simply trying to get politions to pay attention to an issue. That effort is not free, in some cases they approach the issue by mailing or dolling people directly, in others they pay somone else to make these calls and phrase things in political terms etc. Now, that does open the door for people to game the system, but you can’t simply define all lobbing as corruption or even all lobbing you disagree with as corruption. So, yes their are plenty of blatant cases of corruption but they are relatively rare compared to China.
        jahaja 8y ago
        Why is it important for you to issue a petty nuance to this that you should, and probably do, realise that I already acknowledge? Compare: "China is actually not inherently undemocratic there's a lot of local officials etc being voted in". Yes, but on the systemic, overall, scale there's a blatant democratic deficit present for all to see.
        Retric 8y ago
    - zanny 8y ago
      1. Lets its citizens die destitute of curable illness. 2. Condemns children at birth to poverty and / or crime due to their birth parents as a result of how the public education system is structured. 3. Ten year wait list for housing if homeless. 4. Epidemic police state where officers are unaccountable for any atrocity comitted. 5. Justice system is bribeable out of almost any crime comitted, including wrecking the whole economy. 6. Uses the measure of a three hundred year dead kings foot as its base unit of measurement, and uses a temperature scale where 0 and 100 mean nothing. Both of which nobody else uses.And they have daylight savings time across four time zones. 7. Puerto Rico still isn't a state. 8. Two out of the three heads of state this millennia won election after losing the popular vote to their opponent. As an American, we certainly aren't civilized.
  - Someguywhatever 8y ago
    I think in China you can say whatever you want about anything, you just can't criticize the government. In the US you can criticize the government but can't say whatever you want about anything else without blowback. In China the government persecutes you, in the US it's your fellow citizens.
    - seppin 8y ago
      Yes, one is censorship the other is consequence of being a jerk.
    - Retric 8y ago
      Your fellow citizens are more than happy to persecute you in China.
- anigbrowl 8y ago
  Sorry you're being downvoted. It's definitely true that some other countries besides the US hold a more transactional view on such matters for various reasons. It's not an accident that so many South Korean crimes movies involve an innocent person who turns to crime to purchase medical care for a dying family member, for example.
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  In the US they take more than you have in the bank and give you a nice loan :-)
ggregoire 8y ago
Makes me think that when my dad was sick, the French healthcare system paid for everything. Obviously for all the treatments. But also for an adjustable bed, a homecare assistant and even the redesign of our home so my dad could continue to use the bathroom. We paid for absolutely nothing related to his condition. I knew our system was "generous" but I didn't expect it at this level.
dewiz 8y ago
The title should definitely include that, such a shame that US is so behind with human rights :-(
- dnjdirjrmrf 8y ago
  Human rights without property right's means that some humans have the right to turn other humans into property
lawn 8y ago
There was a comment a while ago I think about. It's about what it means to be poor. Being poor is more than not having a roof over your head, having trouble getting food on the table or not having a job. Being poor is how you can handle unforeseen expenses. For example your car or your freezer breaking down or you getting fired. Or getting sick or injured. If getting sick in America means you'll lose your life savings how many people are actually poor in America?
pcardh0 8y ago
If only the United States could learn from the more superior countries, then everyone would be happy.
tomohawk 8y ago
It's not like the NHS is a panacea. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/11844314/Thousands-of-cancer-patients-to-be-denied-treatment.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/11844314/Thousands-o...

Is China civilized? Cuz it definitely happens there. I've heard a doctor ask a family how much money they've got in the bank, and took it all to keep a dying uncle on life support for another month. A crime.

Retric 8y ago
> Is China civilized? No. The rampant corruption, lack of free speech, etc don't qualify as civilized IMO.
- PenguinCoder 8y ago
  By those metrics (and others), United States isn't a civilized country either.
  - kpommerenke 8y ago
    Not true: Corruption: The USA ranks 16th (1 is best) out of 180 countries according to Transparency International: https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_perceptions_index_2017#table https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_percept... Free speech: If anything, there is too much free speech in the USA, as people can and do say all kinds of nonsense, starting at the very top.
    - twoheadedboy 8y ago
      Man I would hate to live in a country that is ostensibly more corrupt than North Korea...
  - dionidium 8y ago
    This is silly. Please don't make easily-refuted, throwaway political statements like this. On almost any corruption index, the United States ranks far, far better than China. Here's one example: https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_perceptions_index_2016?gclid=CjwKCAjwgabeBRBuEiwACD4R5o0dlkb6DcpygujvgIFhuljCeU9CoNTB7mkDw_q9ZfDVil0hQFSjBRoCULYQAvD_BwE https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_percept... People do try to measure this stuff.
    - jahaja 8y ago
      That link measures peoples perception. My perception is that the influence of money is blatantly epidemic in US politics. But it uses an euphemism; lobbying. Luckily it's not corruption if it's legal.
      - Retric 8y ago
        Lobbing is not inherently corrupt. When a small group cares a lot about a specific issue say astronomers and light pollution lobbing is simply trying to get politions to pay attention to an issue. That effort is not free, in some cases they approach the issue by mailing or dolling people directly, in others they pay somone else to make these calls and phrase things in political terms etc. Now, that does open the door for people to game the system, but you can’t simply define all lobbing as corruption or even all lobbing you disagree with as corruption. So, yes their are plenty of blatant cases of corruption but they are relatively rare compared to China.
        jahaja 8y ago
        Why is it important for you to issue a petty nuance to this that you should, and probably do, realise that I already acknowledge? Compare: "China is actually not inherently undemocratic there's a lot of local officials etc being voted in". Yes, but on the systemic, overall, scale there's a blatant democratic deficit present for all to see.
        Retric 8y ago
  - zanny 8y ago
    1. Lets its citizens die destitute of curable illness. 2. Condemns children at birth to poverty and / or crime due to their birth parents as a result of how the public education system is structured. 3. Ten year wait list for housing if homeless. 4. Epidemic police state where officers are unaccountable for any atrocity comitted. 5. Justice system is bribeable out of almost any crime comitted, including wrecking the whole economy. 6. Uses the measure of a three hundred year dead kings foot as its base unit of measurement, and uses a temperature scale where 0 and 100 mean nothing. Both of which nobody else uses.And they have daylight savings time across four time zones. 7. Puerto Rico still isn't a state. 8. Two out of the three heads of state this millennia won election after losing the popular vote to their opponent. As an American, we certainly aren't civilized.
- Someguywhatever 8y ago
  I think in China you can say whatever you want about anything, you just can't criticize the government. In the US you can criticize the government but can't say whatever you want about anything else without blowback. In China the government persecutes you, in the US it's your fellow citizens.
  - seppin 8y ago
    Yes, one is censorship the other is consequence of being a jerk.
  - Retric 8y ago
    Your fellow citizens are more than happy to persecute you in China.
anigbrowl 8y ago
Sorry you're being downvoted. It's definitely true that some other countries besides the US hold a more transactional view on such matters for various reasons. It's not an accident that so many South Korean crimes movies involve an innocent person who turns to crime to purchase medical care for a dying family member, for example.
maxxxxx 8y ago
In the US they take more than you have in the bank and give you a nice loan :-)

ggregoire 8y ago

Makes me think that when my dad was sick, the French healthcare system paid for everything. Obviously for all the treatments. But also for an adjustable bed, a homecare assistant and even the redesign of our home so my dad could continue to use the bathroom. We paid for absolutely nothing related to his condition. I knew our system was "generous" but I didn't expect it at this level.

dewiz 8y ago

The title should definitely include that, such a shame that US is so behind with human rights :-(

dnjdirjrmrf 8y ago
Human rights without property right's means that some humans have the right to turn other humans into property

lawn 8y ago

There was a comment a while ago I think about. It's about what it means to be poor. Being poor is more than not having a roof over your head, having trouble getting food on the table or not having a job. Being poor is how you can handle unforeseen expenses. For example your car or your freezer breaking down or you getting fired. Or getting sick or injured. If getting sick in America means you'll lose your life savings how many people are actually poor in America?

pcardh0 8y ago

If only the United States could learn from the more superior countries, then everyone would be happy.

tomohawk 8y ago

It's not like the NHS is a panacea. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/11844314/Thousands-of-cancer-patients-to-be-denied-treatment.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/11844314/Thousands-o...