Lately, as I invest myself more and more in the internet, I have become very interested in America. Specifically, I have been interested in San Francisco because it’s the centre of the internet—not literally. I have also think New York would be amazing and since Leah has dual citizenship it would be fairly easy to do. I have also been realizing, not in an attempt to define myself, but coming to terms with, how different Americans truly are. I just finished watching SiCKO, Michael Moore’s new film on health care.
I know that Moore’s films, though engaging, are blatantly one-sided and ignore a lot of facts. Let me just say that. He is making a point and there’s no time, in an hour and a half or two hours, to explain the intricacies of how different nations do things differently—different. In my mind, if the health care system in the states was only half as bad as he makes it out to be then that would be bad enough. He certainly does a good job of selling the UK and France.
One of the most poignant moments in the film is when an old MP from Britain says:
If you can afford to kill people, you can afford to save people.
Which couldn’t be more true. If America just cut their military budget in half, which I think (last time I saw numbers), would still be more money than any first world nation spends on their military. America you seem a bit backwards to me. I have to be honest. You are backwards and you are OTHER!
America, I’m not coming over tonight. I am going to France or England. Or maybe back to Saskatchewan. I can’t come over. What if I scratch my knee—I can’t afford to pay $5000 for a band-aid.
The link to SiCKO is on the sidebar in the delicious links.