A few years ago when I was getting into stocks and investing I came upon and article by Warren Buffet about the basic tenets for success in the US. A lot of it was good sound advice about maxing out your employer contributions for 401(k), then getting an Roth IRA. Then he talked about the usual “have 3 months income saved.” Then started in on insurance; first insisting that you get as much disability insurance as you can, having sufficient/proper home and auto insurance, and lastly, making sure you have as much health insurance as you can.
Each of those aspect, in his opinion, were the reasons why most people would eventually get knocked down and stay down. It basically amounts to “shit happens prepare for it.”
Then he concluded: Don’t get sick.
It was probably a year and a half before I realized what that meant.
I understand Starving Artist’s love of anecdotes to prove his points. It’s natural for people to relate to stories over statistics. But what really bugs me is that he seems to show a complete disregard for other people’s anecdotes if they don’t support the conclusions that he likes.
Starving Artist, I strongly urge you to read this article on Confirmation Bias. If you wonder why so many posters display such a strong negative reaction to your posts, it’s because you seem to be the ultimate poster child for this trait. If I can succeed at one thing in my interaction with you on this board, it would be to get you to understand the aforementioned concept. It really does get to the core of why it’s so frustrating to converse with you.
What does it say about his reputation, that by the time I got to this part of his thread, a statement so brutally sexist and racist didn’t phase me at all.
Look, “woman”, I know it’s too hard for you to understand in your little woman-head, and oh my god, it’s not like you’re a minority or anything, but I think I detect a little bit of some sort of eastern-European type in you, ALL THESE GODDAMNED FAMILY LAWNS AREN’T GOING TO MOW THEMSELVES! Maybe in your MONGREL FAMILY they don’t get their grandfathers to MOW THEIR LAWNS but that’s just a flaw in your INFERIOR EASTERN-EUROPEAN (your name sounds Check or maybe YoGoSlaveen or something) culture.
Still, it’s not you’re fault youre one of “them”. Your parents probably need to take some responsibility, too.
Okay Starving Artist, serious question: you listed four groups of people who’s opinion you disregard. Is there a group who’s opinion you do trust?
What about someone that is a conservative, old, had medical problems, and experienced those medical problems in both the US and a country with UHC?
And an unserious question: do you see yourself as different than those four groups? You are young, haven’t needed medical care, assume the system you live under is the best, and aren’t in a position to judge other systems much less your own. So why do you suppose you are clinging so tightly to an archaic system.
The Epistemic Closing of the Conservative Mind – why, yes. Yes, it is a diary at Daily Kos, and thus to be discarded and disregarded by any right-thinking American. For those susceptible to the corrupting miasma of liberal thought, it’s a persuasive analysis of what appears to be going on with SA and why he’s so entirely impervious to all arguments and evidence refuting his gestalt.