"I Have No Understanding Of What Something Is, But I Don't Like It"

[Kara_CS]

So last night, I was in a meeting with the Union regarding health benefits, since I and about 50 coworkers were converted to "Career" employees and are now eligible for full benefits (and it's not like management is going to go over any of it with us). And when our Union president asked if there were any questions, the first thing someone asked was, "Are any of these plans the Obamacare plan? Because I don't want that. I just don't want it." I don't know how the Union rep was able to calmly explain that the Affordable Care Act is not a "plan," but he recovered with only a slight quirk of an eyebrow.

I know I've asked this a lot in dealing with humanity on a daily basis, but how can anyone be that stupid? No, not stupidity. It's willful ignorance at its finest, you can't legitimately be that mentally deficient and still be a functional member of society. You have to go out of your way to avoid so many facts that you lack even the basic understanding of something to form a legitimate opinion, and yet present that opinion as if you're not a complete fuckwit. Society has no future if people like this become the majority. This is the exact kind of person the extreme ends of the political spectrum have spent generations trying to cultivate. Someone who blindly accepts every half-truth and blatant lie, someone who doesn't seek knowledge on their own because someone else will tell them what they need to know and how they should feel about it, someone who doesn't need a personal opinion because they let others form their opinion for them. If you don't like something, that's fine. But if you don't like something because professional-looking people who sound like they know what they're talking about tell you that you shouldn't like it, that's not even remotely okay. This level of domination of someone's thoughts and beliefs is beyond Orwellian in scale. This is fucking Matrix level control, this is a person who has accepted someone else's reality as their own. Except that people like this are making the conscious decision to live in that false reality they are presented with, because you have to work hard to completely ignore any and all factual information, you have to be truly committed to your crusade of ignorance to be able to avoid accidentally learning about something, especially with a subject as hotly debated as the ACA.

[Andara Bledin]

There is a not-insignificant percentage of humanity that wants to let other people do all the thinking for them and have their opinions spoon-fed to them by said people. They don't want to admit that they're too lazy to actually think for themselves and will cling to the illusion that they're not letting someone else lead them around by the nose, even to themselves.

And if anyone calls them on it, they will claim that the other person is brainwashed and that they are the informed thinker, despite the fact that they get all of their information from a very few sources (if it's even more than one).

[Kara_CS]

Right, because their "trusted" sources really know what they're talking about. You can tell by how often they CAPITALIZE and bold relevant WORDS for their readers, or they yell a lot if they're on TV that they really know their stuff. And they use big words and you can just see how passionate they are, which means there's no need to dispute anything they say.

[Rageaholic]

There is a not-insignificant percentage of humanity that wants to let other people do all the thinking for them and have their opinions spoon-fed to them by said people. They don't want to admit that they're too lazy to actually think for themselves and will cling to the illusion that they're not letting someone else lead them around by the nose, even to themselves.

And if anyone calls them on it, they will claim that the other person is brainwashed and that they are the informed thinker, despite the fact that they get all of their information from a very few sources (if it's even more than one).

It must be psychological projection; something that's far too common among the far right tea party crowd (particularly Glenn Beck, who really is nuts). It seems that since Obama has been elected, the far right has been trying to appeal to the rebel type who wants to go against the grain. A lot of the time, it means going against common sense.

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

Call it "talking point syndrome". They watch News shows, read the blogs and look at the clickbait headlines but they don't bother to examine the data and reality behind those headlines to see what's ACTUALLY happening vs. what they are being told is happening.

The Obamacare "Death panels" thing is a fine example of this.

And don't even get me started on Jade Helm.

[Kuari]

I work in a call center that deals with the health benefits plans for a major US employer, and I have given up counting how many people lose their shit over 'Obamacare'. Or say that it's because of Obama that their employer has changed their health benefits, and that they are all now the 'Obamacare plan'. Which couldn't be further from the damn truth, but so many of the idiots I deal with don't seem to understand that. I'm a freakin' Canadian and *I* get what the ACA is all about...but then Canada has had reasonably more accessible health services for ages, and I live in a province where medical is provided free to all who live here for at least six months a year or more!

But then I also deal with people who have no concept of the fact that their plans changed several years ago to what they have now, and usually are calling me because they find out that their ancient medical plan cards aren't valid anymore. Even though we sent out a couple forests worth of letters, pamphlets, and informational packages when the changes were first announced! For a country that has the type of medical and health accessibility that the US does, I'd honestly expect more people to be aware of what they have or don't have. But the people I speak to on a regular basis have definitely disabused me of that notion completely.

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

I work in a call center that deals with the health benefits plans for a major US employer, and I have given up counting how many people lose their shit over 'Obamacare'. Or say that it's because of Obama that their employer has changed their health benefits, and that they are all now the 'Obamacare plan'. Which couldn't be further from the damn truth, but so many of the idiots I deal with don't seem to understand that. I'm a freakin' Canadian and *I* get what the ACA is all about...but then Canada has had reasonably more accessible health services for ages, and I live in a province where medical is provided free to all who live here for at least six months a year or more!

But then I also deal with people who have no concept of the fact that their plans changed several years ago to what they have now, and usually are calling me because they find out that their ancient medical plan cards aren't valid anymore. Even though we sent out a couple forests worth of letters, pamphlets, and informational packages when the changes were first announced! For a country that has the type of medical and health accessibility that the US does, I'd honestly expect more people to be aware of what they have or don't have. But the people I speak to on a regular basis have definitely disabused me of that notion completely.

Not to mention the fact that health insurance companies, who already make billions in profit, simply used Obamacare as a convenient excuse to raise rates. In all likelihood they would have gone up regardless.

[s_stabeler]

There's another thing: people complaining about lost insurance plans post-ACA, while blaming it on the ACA, without considering that quite a few policies are shuttered anyway, and the ACA provided a convenient excuse. As for higher insurance costs post-ACA, remember that the ACA introduced subsidies. It's entirely possible it would have cost even more if the ACA didn't get passed.

[Kuari]

Not to mention the fact that health insurance companies, who already make billions in profit, simply used Obamacare as a convenient excuse to raise rates. In all likelihood they would have gone up regardless.

Absolutely true! Every time there is a rate increase we get people calling up to put the blame on Obamacare...even though they are not bearing the full brunt of the increase because the company they work for absorbs most of that increase in the first place! Rates go up yearly and always have even before Obama got into office so blaming him is just stupid. But I've noticed that a great many of the people I speak to daily through work are just looking for a scapegoat instead of actually educating themselves on reality.

[s_stabeler]

to say nothing about the facxt that some people lost their plans following the ACA, and mentioning Obama's quote that "You can keep your insurance"- what Obama meant was that existing plans would be exempted from the ACA's regulations on what a plan can cover ( it was in response to a question about what would happen if you were happy with your insurance, but it didn't meet the requirements of the ACA- usually due to excluding pre-existing conditions). What happened is that insurance companies- either trying to drum up support against the ACA, or because they were going to close the plans anyway- took the decision to close the plans. IOW, it wasn't actually a direct result of the ACA.