Anyway, as far as that goes, you'd still be better off with health coverage, even if you never used it. I'd be better off if you had health coverage. We collectively would be better off if you had health coverage.
The same is true of me, of course.
(I'm going to be getting health coverage soon... I hope nobody thinks that this is about my not having insurance and wanting the world to give it to me. Back when I had health coverage, I was in favor of nationalizing health care. Now I'm in favor of private health care with public entities ensuring access.)
You've constructed a reality in your head that says you can control your own well-being. So far, actual reality seems to bear you out. Maybe it will continue to do so. Maybe it won't. You honestly don't know.
I had a friend who espoused similar attitudes as you're showing here. I'm going to tell you one iteration of it that's probably going to sound like a hyperbole, but it's honestly true: she refused to wear a seatbelt or lock the doors of her car while it was in motion.
Why? Because she was a careful driver, and those things only mattered if you got into an accident.
What if she was in an accident that someone else caused, I asked her.
She told me that if somebody caused her car to crash, she wanted to make sure she could get away from it before it blew up and each impediment that was in her way... a seatbelt that needed to be undone, a door that needed to be unlocked... were unacceptable obstacles standing between her and her ability to save her own life.
Now, in real life, car accidents only very rarely result in explosions. You are far more likely to die from being thrown clear of the vehicle (through the windshield, or out the door as the car rolls over... over you, most likely, since you just fell out the side of it) than you are to die because the car impacted something leaving you conscious and unharmed but then exploded in the time it takes to undo a seatbelt.
I pointed this out, but she wasn't interested in hearing it. In her mind, the only conceivable scenarios... or the only ones worth thinking of... were the ones where her well-being was in her own hands, whether by being a very careful driver or by quick action after an accident happened that was beyond her control.
What happened to her?
Well, she moved away.
She's still alive and well, and as far as I know, still an absolute fucking idiot.
She could very well live the rest of her life like this and die of old age at 107. The point of wearing seat belts and securing the doors of a car isn't that if you don't do it You Will Certainly Die. The point is that there are many, many things in life that are beyond your control, but the seatbelt and the car door locks are within your reach and they can save your life.
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ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2009-09-03 02:32 pm (UTC)Anyway, as far as that goes, you'd still be better off with health coverage, even if you never used it. I'd be better off if you had health coverage. We collectively would be better off if you had health coverage.
The same is true of me, of course.
(I'm going to be getting health coverage soon... I hope nobody thinks that this is about my not having insurance and wanting the world to give it to me. Back when I had health coverage, I was in favor of nationalizing health care. Now I'm in favor of private health care with public entities ensuring access.)
You've constructed a reality in your head that says you can control your own well-being. So far, actual reality seems to bear you out. Maybe it will continue to do so. Maybe it won't. You honestly don't know.
I had a friend who espoused similar attitudes as you're showing here. I'm going to tell you one iteration of it that's probably going to sound like a hyperbole, but it's honestly true: she refused to wear a seatbelt or lock the doors of her car while it was in motion.
Why? Because she was a careful driver, and those things only mattered if you got into an accident.
What if she was in an accident that someone else caused, I asked her.
She told me that if somebody caused her car to crash, she wanted to make sure she could get away from it before it blew up and each impediment that was in her way... a seatbelt that needed to be undone, a door that needed to be unlocked... were unacceptable obstacles standing between her and her ability to save her own life.
Now, in real life, car accidents only very rarely result in explosions. You are far more likely to die from being thrown clear of the vehicle (through the windshield, or out the door as the car rolls over... over you, most likely, since you just fell out the side of it) than you are to die because the car impacted something leaving you conscious and unharmed but then exploded in the time it takes to undo a seatbelt.
I pointed this out, but she wasn't interested in hearing it. In her mind, the only conceivable scenarios... or the only ones worth thinking of... were the ones where her well-being was in her own hands, whether by being a very careful driver or by quick action after an accident happened that was beyond her control.
What happened to her?
Well, she moved away.
She's still alive and well, and as far as I know, still an absolute fucking idiot.
She could very well live the rest of her life like this and die of old age at 107. The point of wearing seat belts and securing the doors of a car isn't that if you don't do it You Will Certainly Die. The point is that there are many, many things in life that are beyond your control, but the seatbelt and the car door locks are within your reach and they can save your life.