Okay, I've done it. For the first time I have responded to a chain e-mail that infuriated me. I hit Reply All and sent my pithy reply of "B.S." into the tubes to people I don't know and probably have nothing in common with. My niece sent me an email last night saying Natalie (a.k.a. Natasha) Richardson would still be alive had her accident occurred in the U.S., because the Canadian health care system doesn't pay for helicopters to transport injured people--or some such nonsense. I think they probably do have helicopters in Canada, and I think Natasha Richardson could probably have paid for her own. But what do I know?
I replied to my niece that I doubt every remote ski area in the U.S. has quick access to helicopters in the event of injury, and I don't think helicopters are banned in Canada, and that this has nothing to do with the differences between the U.S. and Canadian health care systems. She replied back this morning. She apologized for having sent the chain e-mail, said she wasn't very informed on the issues, and just thought it was something that people should know. Arggggggghhhhh.
Anyway, after reading the chain e-mail last night, I hit the always enticing and formerly avoided "Reply All" button. This morning I got an email back from some guy with D.D.S. appended to his name requesting that I never e-mail him again. I am so tempted to reply in some childish fashion. "I won't e-mail you again if you don't e-mail me again. Neener, neener, neener. Tag, you're it." If only I could be more clever than that.
This health care debate is so incredibly frustrating to me, because I see it as a manipulation of the uneducated voter, of which we have an abundance in this country. The more sensational a falsehood is, the more likely it is to be believed, because the more exciting it is to believe it. They want death panels! They want to kill grandma! Natalie would still be alive!