Has America's culture of "wokeness" effected the Anabaptists?

[barnhart]

If he is saying the new power/identity conservatism makes him miss the old Aynn Rand hyper individualist conservatism, I tend to agree.

[HondurasKeiser]

This article on the recent murder of the insurance CEO in Manhattan maps with my concerns about the woke or post modern Right:

In other words, Keenan is making precisely the same rhetorical move as the left—seeing Thompson not as an individual, but as the avatar of an oppressive system of “elites.” And this, as Peter Savodnik rightly notes, is precisely how you get gulags and killing fields. It is how you got Robespierre’s guillotine—a reference someone has already unironically applied to Thompson and “the rest of them.”

However, I do think that however clumsily, Lindsay has put a finger on the substantive fact that certain strains of right-wing post-liberalism (which is importantly distinct from conservatism) can in fact wrap around to meet Marxism. In the case of Brian Thompson, we can see fringe right and fringe left openly shaking hands over a murdered man’s body. And it’s not just Thompson. When Blue Cross Blue Shield announced that it wouldn’t be covering anesthesia for longer than expected surgeries in select states, Taylor Lorenz responded with a threatening screenshot of the BCBS CEO’s picture. (Lorenz is the aforementioned crazy ex-WaPo leftist, for those who aren’t online enough to recognize her name.) It’s not clear if this influenced the company’s choice to walk back the announcement today, but a dissident right account shared the news saying “Holy crap, she did it! She really did it!” Apparently, vaguely threatening to murder rich people is the one thing that can end political polarization and bring us all together. Who knew?

[barnhart]

I resonate with your concerns. Would you accept the premise that the left/right nomenclature inherited from the French Revolution has never accurately described the forces in American culture and government.

[R7ehr]

This article on the recent murder of the insurance CEO in Manhattan maps with my concerns about the woke or post modern Right:

In other words, Keenan is making precisely the same rhetorical move as the left—seeing Thompson not as an individual, but as the avatar of an oppressive system of “elites.” And this, as Peter Savodnik rightly notes, is precisely how you get gulags and killing fields. It is how you got Robespierre’s guillotine—a reference someone has already unironically applied to Thompson and “the rest of them.”

However, I do think that however clumsily, Lindsay has put a finger on the substantive fact that certain strains of right-wing post-liberalism (which is importantly distinct from conservatism) can in fact wrap around to meet Marxism. In the case of Brian Thompson, we can see fringe right and fringe left openly shaking hands over a murdered man’s body. And it’s not just Thompson. When Blue Cross Blue Shield announced that it wouldn’t be covering anesthesia for longer than expected surgeries in select states, Taylor Lorenz responded with a threatening screenshot of the BCBS CEO’s picture. (Lorenz is the aforementioned crazy ex-WaPo leftist, for those who aren’t online enough to recognize her name.) It’s not clear if this influenced the company’s choice to walk back the announcement today, but a dissident right account shared the news saying “Holy crap, she did it! She really did it!” Apparently, vaguely threatening to murder rich people is the one thing that can end political polarization and bring us all together. Who knew?

Gilded Age problems, meeting Gilded Age solutions.

[joshuabgood]

The structural problems around health care and health insurance have/are causing a lot of angst. It doesn't sit well when one pays in year after year for insurance, and then the insurance companies, find every excuse not to pay out, and/or "don't have enough money" to provide adequate coverage, while their industries leaders are making millions of dollars and their ever gleaming expensive office buildings keep going up.

I understand the angst that seems to have provoked this horrific murder. I don't justify it or celebrate it, but I understand it. When your loved ones are the ones "not getting covered" the pain is real...and then when the CEO's are living high on the hog (in this case being investigated for insider trading selling 15 mill of stock early, etc - a French revolution style populism is predictable.

[Ken]

The structural problems around health care and health insurance have/are causing a lot of angst. It doesn't sit well when one pays in year after year for insurance, and then the insurance companies, find every excuse not to pay out, and/or "don't have enough money" to provide adequate coverage, while their industries leaders are making millions of dollars and their ever gleaming expensive office buildings keep going up.

I understand the angst that seems to have provoked this horrific murder. I don't justify it or celebrate it, but I understand it. When your loved ones are the ones "not getting covered" the pain is real...and then when the CEO's are living high on the hog (in this case being investigated for insider trading selling 15 mill of stock early, etc - a French revolution style populism is predictable.

United Healthcare had $22 BILLION in profits last year. Not revenues, net profits. And they are just one company among many. All of which were earned by collecting more money from enrollees than they are willing to pay out in coverage. That is literally the business plan of health insurance companies. And it is achieved by obsessively and systematically cutting coverage and payments.

The latest news is that they are now using AI to screen and deny coverage for Medicare Advantage patients. With error rates of up to 90%. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/unitedheal ... e-denials/

They are basically doing violence to people through bureaucracy. That is the world they are creating. And as we know from Matthew, violence begets violence.

[barnhart]

United Healthcare had $22 BILLION in profits last year. Not revenues, net profits. And they are just one company among many. All of which were earned by collecting more money from enrollees than they are willing to pay out in coverage. That is literally the business plan of health insurance companies. And it is achieved by obsessively and systematically cutting coverage and payments.

The latest news is that they are now using AI to screen and deny coverage for Medicare Advantage patients. With error rates of up to 90%. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/unitedheal ... e-denials/

They are basically doing violence to people through bureaucracy. That is the world they are creating. And as we know from Matthew, violence begets violence.

I am one of those denied. Our One year old got a chest cold that grew increasingly worse and after enough time had passed that he should have been recovering, his breathing grew labored. We took him to the pediatrician who chewed us out and sent him straight to the ER. She didn't want us going home first, so I had to return with stuff for my wife to spend the night there. It was full of small children with similar symptoms, all being monitored.

Afterward we got a sizable bill and notice that United Healthcare had denied coverage because the patient was not "turning blue" (actual quote) and therefore it was not a legitimate health expenditure.

[ken_sylvania]

United Healthcare had $22 BILLION in profits last year. Not revenues, net profits. And they are just one company among many. All of which were earned by collecting more money from enrollees than they are willing to pay out in coverage. That is literally the business plan of health insurance companies. And it is achieved by obsessively and systematically cutting coverage and payments.

The latest news is that they are now using AI to screen and deny coverage for Medicare Advantage patients. With error rates of up to 90%. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/unitedheal ... e-denials/

They are basically doing violence to people through bureaucracy. That is the world they are creating. And as we know from Matthew, violence begets violence.

I am one of those denied. Our One year old got a chest cold that grew increasingly worse and after enough time had passed that he should have been recovering, his breathing grew labored. We took him to the pediatrician who chewed us out and sent him straight to the ER. She didn't want us going home first, so I had to return with stuff for my wife to spend the night there. It was full of small children with similar symptoms, all being monitored.

Afterward we got a sizable bill and notice that United Healthcare had denied coverage because the patient was not "turning blue" (actual quote) and therefore it was not a legitimate health expenditure.

And if you had taken him home and waited until he turned blue, the doctor would have notified child services that you are a negligent parent and the state would have come and taken your children away.

[JohnH]

This article on the recent murder of the insurance CEO in Manhattan maps with my concerns about the woke or post modern Right:

In other words, Keenan is making precisely the same rhetorical move as the left—seeing Thompson not as an individual, but as the avatar of an oppressive system of “elites.” And this, as Peter Savodnik rightly notes, is precisely how you get gulags and killing fields. It is how you got Robespierre’s guillotine—a reference someone has already unironically applied to Thompson and “the rest of them.”

However, I do think that however clumsily, Lindsay has put a finger on the substantive fact that certain strains of right-wing post-liberalism (which is importantly distinct from conservatism) can in fact wrap around to meet Marxism. In the case of Brian Thompson, we can see fringe right and fringe left openly shaking hands over a murdered man’s body. And it’s not just Thompson. When Blue Cross Blue Shield announced that it wouldn’t be covering anesthesia for longer than expected surgeries in select states, Taylor Lorenz responded with a threatening screenshot of the BCBS CEO’s picture. (Lorenz is the aforementioned crazy ex-WaPo leftist, for those who aren’t online enough to recognize her name.) It’s not clear if this influenced the company’s choice to walk back the announcement today, but a dissident right account shared the news saying “Holy crap, she did it! She really did it!” Apparently, vaguely threatening to murder rich people is the one thing that can end political polarization and bring us all together. Who knew?

I think I disagree with this analysis of what Ms. Keenan is saying. Thompson is indeed seen as an individual: an individual who has wielded incredible power to deny people lifesaving medical care who have no other options and done so in order to personally profit and benefit himself.

[joshuabgood]

United Healthcare had $22 BILLION in profits last year. Not revenues, net profits. And they are just one company among many. All of which were earned by collecting more money from enrollees than they are willing to pay out in coverage. That is literally the business plan of health insurance companies. And it is achieved by obsessively and systematically cutting coverage and payments.

The latest news is that they are now using AI to screen and deny coverage for Medicare Advantage patients. With error rates of up to 90%. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/unitedheal ... e-denials/

They are basically doing violence to people through bureaucracy. That is the world they are creating. And as we know from Matthew, violence begets violence.

I am one of those denied. Our One year old got a chest cold that grew increasingly worse and after enough time had passed that he should have been recovering, his breathing grew labored. We took him to the pediatrician who chewed us out and sent him straight to the ER. She didn't want us going home first, so I had to return with stuff for my wife to spend the night there. It was full of small children with similar symptoms, all being monitored.

Afterward we got a sizable bill and notice that United Healthcare had denied coverage because the patient was not "turning blue" (actual quote) and therefore it was not a legitimate health expenditure.

Wow...that is crazy!