"Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?"

[ebonlock]

TBogg links to this story in the WaPo about a young boy whose mom couldn't afford to have his bad tooth treated and it ended up killing him. Then the WaPo opened up comments on the article and I'll bet you can imagine the kind of social darwinist crap that followed:

This article starts off with the premise that a lack of insurance prevented his monther from taking him to a dentist. That is an absolutely false premise. Dentists dont require patients to have insurance they simply require them to pay for the services that are rendered. Where is the childs father? Why doesnt the mother have any income? Why does the mother even have children that she cant afford to take care of? As usual, the Washington Post tells only part of the story. Yes, this is a sad story, but dont blame the government.

or how about this:

Come on, $80?? Dont pay the cable for a month or two. Sell some bling. Get a job.

Don't know where that commenter thinks it only costs $80 for a tooth extraction or oral surgery, but I can assure him it's not anywhere near where I've ever lived. Jesus, when I get a look at how much my insurance is covering and then how much I'm still expected to pay I about die, and I've got a good job, no real outstanding debt and few needs. Even so I've got to stretch my dental care over the better part of a year, possibly two to get it all done.

In TBogg's comments D.Sidhe says:

I'm with soullite. Too many of these people are beyond engaging. I don't have any conservative friends anymore. I look at them and I see dead children, homeless families, murdered and tortured detainees and war zone civilians. I can no more have a civilized discussion with them than I could find common ground with Ebola.

Eliminationist and vile overgeneralization? Probably. Moreso than anything on that comment thread? Not that I can tell.

I just don't understand how some people can look at themselves in the mirror every day...I really don't.

Comments

[xleste.livejournal.com]

A lot of people can't.

Gah. Stuff like this is so infuriating!!!!!!

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

Sadly I feel the need to share the pain with everyone who reads my journal...

[xleste.livejournal.com]

I really appreciate that you DO share. Awareness precedes choice, and you raise my awareness of things.

And on a side note, you have the most gorgeous LJ background! I normally read it as part of my friends, so I don't get to see it. Did you put it together yourself?

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

Thank you, and nope I'm far too lazy to create such a thing myself, it's the Bamboo selection under one of the new contest winning styles.

wizard-stylecontest
Bamboo

[elenderel.livejournal.com]

How infuriating ... seriously ... My home life wasn't too far removed from that situation m'self, so I for one can imagine that scenario all too clearly. It would require all my self-restraint to keep from punching these "people" in the face. Obviously they cannot imagine the very real existence of grinding poverty, unemployability, deadbeat dads and mothers who have to beg for money to put food on the table. They don't realize the staggering number of kids whose daily lives are indelibly colored by such misery, and whose futures are endangered because of it. The hell of it is that when it really comes down to it ... they couldn't care less. Soulless, putrescent scabs on the ass of humanity, these social darwinists are ...

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

And yet, if asked, they'd all resort to a claim of moral superiority and point proudly to their status as Christians. The sheer fucking hypocrisy of it is just staggering sometimes.