Stephen Hawking: I wouldn't be here without nationalized medicine
- Details
- Category: News & Analysis
- Created on Wednesday, 12 August 2009 13:27
- Written by Stephen Hawking
Investor's Business Daily dragged the scientist Stephen Hawking into the health care debate saying the British system was "orwellian" and Hawking "wouldn't have a chance" if he was British.
Britain has a nationalized health service (NHS), and Hawking's suffers from the debilitating and progressing Lou Gerig's disease.
Hawking (who is in fact British) quickly replied in public that
“I wouldn’t be here today if it were not for the NHS.”
It has to be noted, of course, that the U.S. administration is not arguing for a British system (or what is called a single payer system), and it insists that it intends to keep private profit motive, private insurance companies and the special “choices” of wealthy people in any future U.S. reforms.
People in this conversation
Mike Ely
Comments (6)
-
Guest (bill martin)
PermalinkSuch admirable restraint, Mike, in not saying directly what idiots we are dealing with who would not know that Stephen Hawking is British. It is hard to imagine that these anti-health care yahoos give a flip who or what Hawking is, and of course there would be no Stephen Hawkings or Albert Einsteins in their Malthussian anti-intellectual (or just anti-intelligence) world. Perhaps it is high time to finally stigmatize these people for being both idiots and mean-spirited. I know the "politics of intelligence" is a tricky thing, and there is a difference between simple ignorance or lack of access to education and a proud know-nothingism. And in fact there is a kind of "intelligence," purely instrumental, that will knowingly deploy ignorance and the encouragement of stupidity--this is part of the ideological arsenal of fascism or at least something in the vicinity of fascism. We need to understand this better, as well as ways that we can not only respond to it, but also light up the sky in response.
0 Like -
Guest (jp)
PermalinkMike, can you correct the misspelling of Hawking's name in your title? It may be affecting your google hits.
Hawking is a decent guy. see:
http://openanthropology.vodspot.tv/watch/2019828-stephen-hawking-solidarity-with-gaza0 Like -
Guest (Timo)
PermalinkHe is a remarkable man, but he doesn't have a British accent. I bet that is why many people don't relies hes British... Jp I enjoyed that youtube video, hearing Stephen Hawking talk about Gaza was new to me. When I hear the name Stephen Hawking I think physics not politics. Thanks.
0 Like -
Guest (Radical Eyes)
PermalinkSimilarly people don't tend to know that Albert Einstein became an outspoken socialist...As did he famous Hellen Keller....Really someone should put together a poster/graphic for circulation that takes people like this--authorities in scientific fields and other professions--and puts them together into a collage under the banner, "We were Socialists...Why aren't You?" or "The Face(s) of Socialism"...Does Stephen Hawking identify as a socialist btw?
0 Like -
Guest (jp)
Permalinkhawking in the news again re Palestine: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/08/stephen-hawking-israel-academic-boycott
0 Like
Sustain Kasama
Latest Comments
Nat, you've lost the debate. Learn from it, freshen up your method, and let it go.
Supermassive black holes and Maoist dialectics
Nat, the following comment is late in the game, but I wanted to post it anyway. Thanks for the well-developed reply to E...
Michael Roberts blogged on Heinrich's article today. His post is worth reading. I agree with what Robert's writes but ...
Strike (dir. Sergei Eisenstein, 1925)
¡Que viva Mexico! (dir. Grigori Aleksandrov, Sergie Eisenstein, 1932)
Salt of the ...
Hi, first post here.
A couple of good documentaries:
F.T.A., the 1972 documentary of the Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherla...
I think that the recent movie "In Time" should be included. The movie is about a dystopic future where genetic engineer...
Can't believe no one's mentioned Bertolucci's "1900" and "Salt of the Earth."
As for "communist film," I'm a democratic ...
Cradle Will RockYour text to link (Mark Blitzstein, 1999)
Although I do not rise to the defense of Leon Trotsky's complete analysis of fascism, it is tenuous to leverage the term...
Such a satire, though a lot of the info your advising being ignored due to weakening your point is completely untrue as ...
Latest Open Threads
Kasama is a communist project for the forcible overthrow and transformation of all existing social conditions. We are open to learning, unafraid to admit our own uncertainties. We will not shrink from what we do know: the solutions cannot be found within the current world order or the choices it provides. We are for revolution. We seek to find the forms of organization and action for the people most dispossessed by this system to free themselves and all humanity.
To take this road, we need a fearless, open-eyed debate, discussion and engagement. We need fresh analyses of the rapid changes shaping the world around us. We need to sum up a century of revolutionary strategies and attempts, victories and defeats – instead of the conventional wisdom and facile verdicts that paralyze our movements. We need to re-imagine a radical politics that can take life among people and move mountains.
Dig in.