Health care: Stockholm syndrome

Call it dumb, call it psychological phenomena, call it whatever you want - time and time again I encounter people who would benefit from the proposed health care reform, but who, yet, coming out against it.

My experience is not unique - this article on CNN website describes a man standing in line to get a free check-up from one of those traveling medical groups who offer free service, but who voiced his opposition to universal health care.

The author - a former health care insurance spokesman - correctly identifies his former industry as a culprit of creating the environment aimed at defeating change that threatens insurance companies' profits.

I just recently drove from New Jersey to Florida. Part of the trip was listening to a lot of radio programs. Most of the messages from the people opposed to reform fell into two major categories:

a) reform is "Socialist", "socialistic" (what the heck is that), "Communist", "Nazi-like"
b) reform is going to raise YOUR (meaning the listening audience) taxes
c) horror stories from countries where the government is involved in health care insurance (Canada was the most popular)

This was a classic scare tactics techniques aimed at subconscious levels to trigger a knee-jerked reaction to the idea of reform - "four legs good, two legs bad". Yet, just like hostages tend to "understand" their captors "grievances", the American public falls victim to this faulty logic, designed to defeat the change it so desperately needs.