by David Rosman

Created on: September 03, 2009

DO IT! A FINAL STATEMENT ABOUT HEALTHCARE FOR NOW. Columbia, MO - Commentators love when someone anyone responds to an article. Mind you, those responses are few and far between. Some are supportive, some not and others quite hostile. I tend to laugh at the hostile responses, usually from the radical side of their political positions, right and left, due to atrocious spelling (spell check people!), lack of logic and vague citations for their information. Persuasion is defined as the attempt (successful or not) to change an audience's or individual's point of view or opinion, or it is a call to specific action, using reason, proofs and passion. Propaganda is persuasion. It can be "good" like commercials for your favorite soap. It can be "bad" like a call for immoral and despicable acts. Propaganda uses fear and danger as its tools, emotion as its proofs, anger as its passion and mass media as its communication. Some extremists have learned to use propaganda very well. Extreme Conservatives' newest sweetheart, Sara Palin, has mastered propaganda well. As have Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and many other far right pundits. All have become experts in using fear and danger as their sole tools to extinguish anything that may be slightly left of their extreme right-wing positions. They are excellent at name-calling, making allegations without proof and distorting the "truth" to anger their listeners and readers. The far left also has its agitators who use the same tactics almost as successfully; the left just does not have the mass media to address their issues. The attacks include calling the proposed healthcare panel a "death panel." That HR 3200 will encourage (I heard "demand" on a talk show this week) euthanasia. That rationing of medical treatments and drugs is inevitable. That those who support any form of universal healthcare are socialists, communists, fascists and Nazis (sometimes all at the same time), and it will cost more in the end than health insurance does now. There is an irony here. The insurance and drug industries are supporting the health care initiative. They understand that things must change if they are to remain in business. They understand that the public is more upset with them than the government. They see savings and profits from healthcare reform. And, like my 11-year-old grandson, they want someone else to do the work. The only hesitation they have is the "Public Option." It will create a new level of

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