6 ms·

Almost afraid to ask, but how is racism holding back health care?

oivey 5y ago
You lost the word “universal” in “universal healthcare” in the comment you’re replying to. There are many ways racism impedes the push for universal healthcare. One is the classic fact that it is a welfare program, and that spurs the comments and thoughts about welfare queens and “young bucks.”
- mcbishop 5y ago
  When I hear "welfare queen," I think of a black woman. Because I'm racist (sadly). From that, the racist idea that free services (e.g. universal healthcare) are unduly exploited by black people (or immigrants).
  - zepto 5y ago
    I’m sorry you are a racist. How does your racism cause you to equate welfare Queen with black woman? I’d have thought that was more connected to the media using it that way.
    - sangnoir 5y ago
      Reagan pretty much popularized the terms ("welfare queen", "strapping young bucks") with racist intent[1]: those were the images he wished to conjure-up in listener's minds, and not a creation of the media. Just as the word "thug" is currently used by certain personalities/networks today. 1. https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/innocent-mistakes/ https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/innocent-mistak...
      - zepto 5y ago
        I didn’t say it was a creation of the Media. I said they use it that way. It’s good to trace it back to Reagan. What is not so clear is why the person I was responding to thinks it’s their racism that causes them to think of those images, and not just that they have been exposed to Reagan’s imagery through the media.
        mcbishop 5y ago
        You write as if one's passive racism and one's past exposure to racist sentiments are entirely separate. I think the former largely reflects the latter.
        zepto 5y ago
        I don’t think they are entirely separate. I do think that exposure to racist sentiments has a very different effect depending on who you are. So indeed I think your personal racism is not a simple function of exposure. I’m sorry you personally have been a victim of racism exposure, and have become a passive racist as a consequence. It is a shame that society has done this to you.
        mcbishop 5y ago
        No worries, thanks. I have internal work to do.
lvh 5y ago
Not OP, but I assume the argument is something to the tune of: healthcare should be universal to make progress, universal healthcare would disproportionally benefit the poor, the poor are disproportionally of color.
mnhn1 5y ago
Johnathan Metzl explores it a bit in his book Dying of Whiteness[0]. Here's an example of something he described in an interview[1] about the book and his other work: >Now I will say that some of the individual stories—I mean, one story that jumps out at me was I was doing interviews about the Affordable Care Act, and I was interviewing very, very medically ill white men who really would have benefited—this is in Tennessee, and in other places in the South where they didn’t expand the Medicaid, they didn’t create the competitive insurance marketplaces—and I said like, “Hey, you guys are dying because you don’t have healthcare. Why don’t you get down with the Affordable Care Act? What’s your reason?” >And I would say a number of people told me things like, one man told me, “There’s no way I’m supporting a system that would benefit,” as he said, “Mexicans and welfare queens,”—like total racist stereotypes. And so, even though he would have benefited—and his guy, ultimately over the three years of interviews, he passed away because he didn’t have medical care—so he was literally willing to die rather than sign up for a program that he thought was gonna benefit immigrants. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dying_of_Whiteness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dying_of_Whiteness [1] https://hashtagcauseascene.com/podcast/jonathan-metzl/ https://hashtagcauseascene.com/podcast/jonathan-metzl/
- zepto 5y ago
  Is it clear that the guy really believed that Obamacare would benefit him? It’s not him being a racist if he genuinely thought that the program would benefit immigrants and not benefit him.

You lost the word “universal” in “universal healthcare” in the comment you’re replying to. There are many ways racism impedes the push for universal healthcare. One is the classic fact that it is a welfare program, and that spurs the comments and thoughts about welfare queens and “young bucks.”

mcbishop 5y ago
When I hear "welfare queen," I think of a black woman. Because I'm racist (sadly). From that, the racist idea that free services (e.g. universal healthcare) are unduly exploited by black people (or immigrants).
- zepto 5y ago
  I’m sorry you are a racist. How does your racism cause you to equate welfare Queen with black woman? I’d have thought that was more connected to the media using it that way.
  - sangnoir 5y ago
    Reagan pretty much popularized the terms ("welfare queen", "strapping young bucks") with racist intent[1]: those were the images he wished to conjure-up in listener's minds, and not a creation of the media. Just as the word "thug" is currently used by certain personalities/networks today. 1. https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/innocent-mistakes/ https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/innocent-mistak...
    - zepto 5y ago
      I didn’t say it was a creation of the Media. I said they use it that way. It’s good to trace it back to Reagan. What is not so clear is why the person I was responding to thinks it’s their racism that causes them to think of those images, and not just that they have been exposed to Reagan’s imagery through the media.
      - mcbishop 5y ago
        You write as if one's passive racism and one's past exposure to racist sentiments are entirely separate. I think the former largely reflects the latter.
        zepto 5y ago
        I don’t think they are entirely separate. I do think that exposure to racist sentiments has a very different effect depending on who you are. So indeed I think your personal racism is not a simple function of exposure. I’m sorry you personally have been a victim of racism exposure, and have become a passive racist as a consequence. It is a shame that society has done this to you.
        mcbishop 5y ago
        No worries, thanks. I have internal work to do.

lvh 5y ago

Not OP, but I assume the argument is something to the tune of: healthcare should be universal to make progress, universal healthcare would disproportionally benefit the poor, the poor are disproportionally of color.

mnhn1 5y ago

Johnathan Metzl explores it a bit in his book Dying of Whiteness[0]. Here's an example of something he described in an interview[1] about the book and his other work: >Now I will say that some of the individual stories—I mean, one story that jumps out at me was I was doing interviews about the Affordable Care Act, and I was interviewing very, very medically ill white men who really would have benefited—this is in Tennessee, and in other places in the South where they didn’t expand the Medicaid, they didn’t create the competitive insurance marketplaces—and I said like, “Hey, you guys are dying because you don’t have healthcare. Why don’t you get down with the Affordable Care Act? What’s your reason?” >And I would say a number of people told me things like, one man told me, “There’s no way I’m supporting a system that would benefit,” as he said, “Mexicans and welfare queens,”—like total racist stereotypes. And so, even though he would have benefited—and his guy, ultimately over the three years of interviews, he passed away because he didn’t have medical care—so he was literally willing to die rather than sign up for a program that he thought was gonna benefit immigrants. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dying_of_Whiteness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dying_of_Whiteness [1] https://hashtagcauseascene.com/podcast/jonathan-metzl/ https://hashtagcauseascene.com/podcast/jonathan-metzl/

zepto 5y ago
Is it clear that the guy really believed that Obamacare would benefit him? It’s not him being a racist if he genuinely thought that the program would benefit immigrants and not benefit him.