Why does the word "socialized" frighten people?

[Sparkly]

Why is "socialized medicine" used as a big scary phrase, so that saying it ends discussion of single-payer health care for all?

If it's that people fear something that isn't there -- such as, the government limiting access or 'making decisions' for them, or the US turning into a class-free non-capitalist socialist country, or unaffordable taxation -- why isn't that easily dismissed with one sentence?

What's the fear about?

[C_U_L8R]

1. they're anti-social?

at least anti-society

[ClassWarrior]

2. Repetition.

It's that simple.

NGU.

[Sparkly]

4. Of what, though?

What goes through people's minds (who fear the term) when they hear it?

[ClassWarrior]

8. See below.

Poster #3 sums it up pretty well.

NGU.

[havocmom]

9. That and the old BS that it is a gateway drug to the dreaded 'communism'

the rich and powerful assign bad connotations to concepts which threaten their cushy gig and then they get the bad shit repeated.

Brainwashing the masses to the masses own determent.

I think the repetition that Socialism is a some great evil is what paved the way for getting Americans to distrust/fear/work against collective labor movements. Now the American worker is pretty much an indentured servant with no power over their own situations.

[tibbiit]

20. yep

repetition equals a success in propaganda.
tib

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. 50 years of indoctrinization about the evils of "socialism,"

which was represented as almost like communism, the evilest thing in the whole world. So now it's a totally knee-jerk reaction; "socialized" anything = BAD. No thinking required.

[Sparkly]

7. Right -- it seems their thought processes just stop as soon as that word is uttered.

Can't simple explanations allay each of their fears though?

[baldguy]

25. 50? Try 80 or 90.

Every govt program the cons didn't like has been described as "socialism".

[Iggo]

5. Really?

You don't know? Come on. There was this cold war. It was in all the papers...lol.

[MADem]

6. It's all about Russkies, commies, evil people taking away "YER MONEY" and "YER STUFF" and

giving it to "LAZY BUMS" who don't work hard like "YEW" do.

[Sparkly]

10. Yeah, I've thought of that

If the idea of what it does for themselves were emphasized, would it finally put that to rest?

As Michael Moore said at the end of Sicko, it's fundamentally about replacing "me" with "us" -- and it's so hard to get there for too many people.

[liberal N proud]

11. Because the right wing has vilified it just like they have liberal

and any other phrase that goes against their twisted psycho mentalities

[annabanana]

15. And that villification began the moment the Bolsheviks beat the

Mensheviks

[Teaser]

12. a century of conditioning

.

[K Gardner]

13. Dunno, but it drives me bats. Was talking to another nurse yesterday

about healthcare in Italy and someone piped up and said "oh,you mean it's socialized", and I went nutso, LOL. Did one of my famous Che Guevara rant like thingys. But hell, even the people you COUNT ON to be informed about healthcare, i.e., doctors and nurses and hospital execs, arent. Its like the other reponses to this post have said: Repetition, repetition.. the oldest form of brainwashing.

[Sparkly]

14. Exactly

What I'm wondering is whether or why simple answers to their fears wouldn't persuade them, and knock the suppositions about "socialized" aside.

[annabanana]

16. You might try "nationalized". . . It hasn't received the full

treatment by the media over the course of the last 60 - 70 years...

or even our own friendly word: "public".

[wake.up.america]

17. Sounds nice to me. I have more interesting things to do than fight for economic survival...

or impress people with my "toys".

[K Gardner]

18. Well, exactly! n/t

[OHdem10]

19. During the "Commie Scare" period of the 40s, 50s 60s, leaders

yes News Media also, used Communism and Socialism interchangebly.
Despite hype, our country is not an "educated" country. There is
the tendency to see things in black and white. good or evil.
The GOP has capitalized royally on this. Frightening people of
government gives the GOP more in roads to their Minimal Government.
Government would take their guns, take their bibles, permit gays
rights, and yes, elevate Blacks.

The Democratic Party has never developed and overarching belief
system and principles to counter this. Democrats from districts
where some of this thinking might be pervasive have little or nothing
to help their constiuents understand the differences between
Socialism and Social Democracy. It is easier to trianguate
with the GOP.

[HughBeaumont]

21. I'll tell you why it frightens people.

And this was mentioned earlier -

Because there are nose-in-the-air people of all colors and parties who literally recoil and become disgusted with the idea that, God forbid, "my hard earned and overpaid-for tax dollars go to help welfare queens and their nine crack babies, lazy (insert slur here) and crackheads who don't deserve it."

I think it began with the rich and their whole "Red Scare" thing (one of the largest and most unconscionable lies ever foisted on the American people, somewhere between "a rising tide lifts all boats" and "liberals will RAISE YOUR TAXES!"), and Reagan solidified it with his "corporate aiding and abetting disguised as middle class relief" agenda.

Never mind that they have no problem with socialized police, schools, libraries, fire departments, sewage, sanitation, etc, etc, etc who help their dickhead selves as well as the people they look down upon. Never mind the continuous proof that peaceful societies who help their fellow man, help the mentally ill, rehabilitate their prisoners instead of making them into worse people, give their citizens needed health care, etc, generally perform far better than societies that don't do any of those things (i.e. OURS).

No, they would just love to go to sleep at night and cling to that tiny thread of hope that maybe, for once, they're doing better than someone else out there. And as long as they have a Republican-run, corporate-favoring media and pro-corporate econ professors and pro-corporate politicians that keep pounding this pro-unbridled corporatist message in their heads like a railroad spike in the earth, this attitude will go on until the light gets extinguished.

[BearSquirrel2]

26. My socialist things

Never mind that they have no problem with socialized police, schools, libraries, fire departments, sewage, sanitation, etc, etc, etc who help their dickhead selves as well as the people they look down upon. Never mind the continuous proof that peaceful societies who help their fellow man, help the mentally ill, rehabilitate their prisoners instead of making them into worse people, give their citizens needed health care, etc, generally perform far better than societies that don't do any of those things (i.e. OURS).

Have no doubt that the right doesn't like any of these. The would have Blackwater run the police, Edison run the schools, Barnes and Nobles run the Libraries, Halliburton run the fire departments, etc. etc. etc. ...

It a logical fallacy that if you take on one aspect of a thing, you take on all aspects of the thing. The way to defend this is to point out the massive number of things that you think should never be nationalized such as

* Grocery Stores
* Electronics Stores
* Auto manufacturing
* Airplane manufacturing
* Farming
* Meat Packing
* Tire Manufacturing
* Plumbing
* Commercial Construction
* The vast overwhelming majority of television
* etc...

[conservdem]

22. What sentence dismisses the fears you listed?

I think the majority of people like the idea of capitalism (I mean reasonable, not irresponsible capitalism). Socialism is viewed as being inconsistent with capitalism, thus the reaction.

[rasputin1952]

23. It comes from years of indoctrination and obfuscation...

most people don't have a clue about "socialism"...they immediately equate it with communism, and fear they will lose everything to the "state".

If you ask someone what the difference between government mandated health care and private health insurance is, they immediately respond, I don't want the government telling me where I haver to receive my care!" When it is pointed out that private insurance tells people where they can receive care, and who the preferred providers are that will be paid under their coverage...and that they can easily be denied care for a condition if the insurance company deems the savings in their is more desirable thqan your health, people start to think about universal health care in a different light.

The catch is, one must be assured they can chose thier own provider, usually someone they are familiar with and
trust. It is also imperative to leave an "opt-out" provision, so if people want to stay in the private sector they can. But what would be the sense? If you got the same care, and paid less in a tax, than you did in a premium, what would be the incentive of staying in the private sector?

Socialism, like anything else, needs to be monitored. Capitalism is monitored, (or at least was until all of the deregulation started gaining momentum again), and if left to it's own devices would crumble under it's own greed.

A combination of the two philosophies can benefit the most...as it would lift everyone, and we would benefit as a nation. We first have to combat all of the "negative" connotations that have been foisted upon the populace, and it's not easy to do away with the propaganda of generations.

[Loge23]

24. "Capitalism" is scaring me

For the latest outrage from the cherished world of unfettered capitalism comes this beauty:
with many Americans struggling with health care - both insured and uninsured - we can all take comfort in United HealthCare ex-CEO William McGuire's benevolence.
The Bad Doctor McGuire has been ordered to pay back over $400 million, yes $400 million, that he basically stole from the backs of the poorly insured victims of his scam. $400 million to this guy is like most of us paying a $25 littering fine.
According to some reports, the thief does get to keep $800 million for his efforts.
$800 million. And I can't find a freakin' doctor that accepts this BS insurance!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22136498/

[area51]

27. kick.

As another poster mentioned, the nazis don't have a problem with socialized police, fire protection, etc. If a nazi tells me that they don't like socialized medicine, I ask them if they're willing to put their money where their mouth is, and are planning on running their own fire dept., police dept., trucking out their own garbage, digging a latrine, etc.

[Tellurian]

28. REPUBLICANS are the Axis of Evil.. Watch the movie "Sicko"..

Moore's movie should be shown in every US school in the country. There has been a concerted effort by Republicans for over 50 yrs to steer us to exactly where we are now. Seeing how it was done...rent Moore's movie "SICKO"!

[Cameron27]

29. Greed and ignorance.

People who are doing well, never imagine a time when they won't be doing well. They see all their precious tax dollars being wasted on social programs and combined with the propaganda of the Ron Paul types, they see it as an affront to their distorted notion of personal responsibility and the American Way.

[killbotfactory]

30. "four legs good, two legs bad"

propaganda works.

[bunnies]

31. It sounds like Socialist? nt

[sandnsea]

32. The VA system, the military

The soviet system. County hospitals. Not all socialized health care is good.