The Public Option: We're Fearing the Wrong Thing PLUS Fun with Forums

[For full context on my response, please see the Op-Ed "We're Fearing the Wrong Thing" by Waldo Proffitt, former editor of the Sarasota-Herald-Tribune, published September 09.]

My response to the Op-Ed:

Bullseye! Yes, there are valid fears where health care reform is concerned. Those valid, rational fears are inaction and failure to change. As significant as today's issues and obstacles are, Waldo brilliantly (and with great heart) points out that our moment is in fact proactive.

Please, everyone. Let's maintain rational, informed debate. Let's acknowledge legitimate fears, resolve contributing issues and remove obstacles to our shared interests in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Let's also remember that democracy is not possible without a healthy, educated populace. Our current condition undermines the current and future states of our democracy, and hands a significant competitive advantage to every entity that operates outside the US borders.

Most of all, let's not fear hearing both sides of any debate or walking in anothers' shoes. As long as we retain those abilities, we retain our humanity.

Moira

Reader Response to My Response:

Dear Mothra, As a relative newcomer to this [Sarasota Herald-Tribune] Readers Forum, it's my observation after two months and about 20 posts that your appeal to engage in a rational, informed debate may amount to whistling in the wind.

While [Sarasota Herald-Tribune] seems to recruit dozens of new members every day and attracts hundreds of routine readers, only a handful of self-proclaimed experts on everything dominate the "debate"...There seems to be little balance, less listening and virtually no dialogue...Until the hundreds of readers now content to watch from the sidelines begin to chime in, the few blowhards will continue to dominate--and this will remain a [Sarasota Herald-Tribune] forum in name only.

My Response to Reader Response:

Another bullseye. My expectations for healthy discussion in this forum are less than zero, and my expectations are consistently met. Still, once in a great while, I am compelled to chum the waters with intelligence, fact-based analysis, compassion and even optimism.

May I share? A friend commented via email on what appears to be my optimism. He included one a timeless Barnum quote, "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public" He added, "The problem is that a majority of the American public...respond to cutesy slogans and outrageous statements rather than rational argument." I must agree that this has become the American Way and our brand abroad.

Am I optimistic? A victim of rose glasses? No. I am a realist who has managed to retain sanity by retaining a sense of humor. As I replied to my Barnum-quoting friend, "...the health care riot warm-ups we've seen here and around more than underscore the complete willingness of American publics, with few exceptions, to consume the carnival's sweetest, fluffiest, most colorful and cheapest cotton candy, no matter how bug-infested or bacteria-ridden, and in complete ignorance of consequences beyond immediate gratification. I have never more before wanted to take my other passport and FLEE. The only thing keeping me here is the desperate hope that I might get selected to sit on a Death Panel. THEN we'll see some solutions."

Thank you for reading, and your rational response ; )

Destination Unknown

Well, folks, it's official: the foreclosure process on my home has begun. It will be a while before paperwork starts flying, and the local estimate on the duration of the entire process is six months to two years. The advent of foreclosure has triggered few decisions regarding this heartbreaking turn of events.

• I have detached the timeline of my life from that of the foreclosure process
• I will leave Sarasota, destination (currently) unknown
• I am chronicling this experience, along with the parallel and tangential lines of my life experiences, in this space

My intention and goal is to write, so it can legitimately be said that I have turned this turn of events into an opportunity for serving my own needs and wants, i.e. If I'm going to be homeless, I might as well fulfill the long-held fantasy of disconnecting from what is comfortable, wandering on a grand Walkabout adventure, and chronicling the experiences and observations of a recovering bourgeois.

I might as well admit that another great desire might be fulfilled via piggybacking this adventure. For years, I have wanted to hole myself away for three months somewhere that I cannot be found, other than by an informed and vital few. I call it the 90 Day Solution. The purpose is writing and listening, with the hope of gaining the self-knowledge and serenity required to pursue my highest and best purpose with the full force of my being. Is my sister's home in Kenosha my hermitage? Was the cost of my hermitage my sister's life? Or is the hermitage payment for my sister's death? Of course, there's the possibility that there is no course or recourse, just circumstance.

You are welcome to join me in whatever way suits you: observation, participation, question or not at all. Here's to self-knowledge...Chin-Chin!

Published by Sarasota Indymedia March 09

Civil Disobedience Stirs in Sarasota

Did you see this SH-T Forum posting on Sarasota tent cities? http://forums.heraldtribune.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3941081465/m/7431051858?r=5771076068#5771076068

The author’s expressed wish has come true: public words have sparked public dialog. In turn, public dialog has revealed much more.

First, the open comments in response to the forum contribution illustrate a sharp divide in both opinion and insight on the very timely topic of Sarasota-based economic refugees. Those with glib or even snide responses are legitimate contributors, yet I can't help note that they are woefully under-informed and mercifully inexperienced on this matter. The majority of people who are living in existing Sarasota and Bradenton tent cities (both open and secret) are average, normal and responsible people who experienced many months of household budget cuts: Cable, telephone, AC/heat, beer and other luxuries are long gone by the time a tent city becomes a viable and even desirable option. The details of their stories may differ; the broad strokes are similar.

Second, the prospect of a Sarasota tent city is a top-of-mind topic among Sarasota’s Limousine Liberals. I attended the DESC annual fundraiser last night, and over the $8 cocktail that preceded my $100 plate I learned that a Sarasota tent city is being considered or planned. A little bit of Googling this morning added healthy flesh to the subject’s bones and led to this response. (Please note that I am no Limousine Liberal, and am circling the event horizon of foreclosure myself. At this point, $108 is not going to make or break my outcome and it was well invested in learning the mood, dialog, and priorities of self-proclaimed difference-makers.)

The gift of public discourse on the local ravages of our global economy has revealed an important and (IMHO) fabulous fact: Civil disobedience has started. Neighbors have banded together to hide a tent city from authorities. Another’s voice has drawn a line in our local sand over selective law enforcement. Somewhere in my college days I coined the phrase, “What this country needs is an economic Martin Luther King.” Today, I can hear the far-off thunder of his or her voice rumbling its way toward Sarasota. What better place to illustrate the real fulcrum of the socio-economic divide. It is so very much closer to every back yard than most realize.

I write like
David Foster Wallace

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!