Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Woman Yells "Heil Hitler" at a Jewish Man at a Health Care Town Hall

I came across this video clip (h/t Amanda Terkel) that was shot in Las Vegas during a town hall meeting that was sponsored by radio station KDWN AM720. In this clip you can see an Israeli man being interviewed by local media in Las Vegas about his health care system in Israel. This man is describing how fantastic his government-run care has been over the course of his life when you can hear a woman yell out "Heil Hitler!".

The man is shocked and then confronts the woman. Here is the video:



There are several things that don't make sense regarding what point this woman is trying to make. First, if she is opposed to health care reform and is upset that this man is defending his country's government-run health care system, then why yell out a phrase that is so offensive in support of the leader of the Nazi's?

Secondly, when challenged, this woman states "you ought to be the most against Obama, you ought to be the most scared." Why does she state this? Does she believe that Obama is Hitler and will therefore target Jews (like the gentleman speaking)? If this is the case then why would she have yelled "Heil Hitler" at this man to provoke him?

Third, the gentleman in this clip states that he isn't talking about being "for Obama" or "against Obama", but wants to talk about health care. He then states that he had to go to the emergency room (apparently locally in Nevada), had to wait two hours, and then was billed $8,000 because he didn't have insurance. The woman then responds by making crying noises in order to mock this man.

One can only conclude that this woman not willing to have a rational discussion about this issue, but is one of the many who are so ill-informed that it is painful to watch them interact with anyone who tries to have an actual conversation about health care reform. In the mind of this woman and many like her, Obama = Hitler, health care reform is evil, and anyone who thinks otherwise should be mocked and shouted down. How can anyone hope to have a rational conversation when this happens? It seems even more ridiculous if I were to take out the hyperbole and emotion of the conversation:

Man: Our government-run system in Israel is great!

Woman: Heil Hitler!

Man: Why are you yelling Heil Hitler at a Jew? I am Jewish and you think it is appropriate to yell "Heil Hitler"?

Woman: You should be the most against Obama and the most scared!

Man: I am not talking about being "for" or "against" Obama, I am talking about health care. I recently had to go to a local emergency room and I don't have insurance. On top of waiting for 2 hours, guess how much they charged me? $8,000!

Woman: Boo-hoo you baby!


Is this really the level of discourse that we have been reduced to?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

It is really sad to see this sort of thing happen. How come people can't argue in an intelligent manner about things?

Chris Johnson said...

Thanks for stopping by immrlizard. I hope you continue to check back often!

It really is unfortunate to see the debate over health care reform reduced to moments like the one displayed in the video that I posted. Time should not be spent making ridiculous claims about Nazis or euthanizing the elderly, but on the actual substance of the issues at hand.