So about this euthanasia for the elderly thing

[Cyrano]

Have you ever noticed how Republicans constantly accuse us Dems of all the things that they actually do and want to do?

Limbaugh calls us Nazis even though it’s fairly obvious which party embraces fascism. They say it’s Obama who’s a racist, not them. They are the “real” Americans while we are “traitors.” They are the ones who care about life (right up until the second of birth) while we are the “murderers.” (So how many doctors that perform abortions have Democrats killed over the years?) They are the ones who are doing “God’s work” while “socialists” like us are trying to enslave mankind.

There’s no end to the list of their own characteristics that they project onto us.

Which brings us to their accusation that the health care plan (which doesn’t exist yet) will include killing off the elderly? Here’s what scares me about this. Exactly who do you think is likely to adapt a plan to kill off the elderly if/when we reach a time when resources are running short and costs are soaring?

The fact that Bush/Cheney & Co. has never been held responsible for their crimes makes it likely that some future Republican Administration would be far worse. Therefore, how can anyone believe that euthanasia for the elderly would be “off the table” under another thug administration?

Many DUers may not agree with my opinion on this, but just look back over the past eight years. War profiteering, torture, spying on Americans, shredding the constitution, telling the rest of the world to fuck off, leaving New Orleans to drown, and crimes against humanity, are just a few of the charges against Republicans. Given that track record, (plus Bush’s attempt to destroy social security which helps many seniors to survive), how can reasonable people reach the conclusion that Republicans would stop short of mass euthanasia of the elderly?

Unfortunately, the only way to prove that I’m right is for us to allow the Republicans to win or steal the White House once again. That’s not a risk I want to take. Do you?

[Ilsa]

1. I'm going to try to convince the next one that says Obama is pushing euthanasia that

he misheard and Obama really wants echinacea for us all.

[indepat]

2. 'pukes will do whatever it takes to get the job done: would put nothing past

them. :P

[depakid]

3. Projection ought to part of the poplular lexicon

just as playing the martyr card ought to be recognized for what it is- and stomped on rather than rewarded.

[KamaAina]

4. The Big Lie

accuse your opponents of that which you are, in fact, guilty of.

Pioneered by none other than Josef Goebbels. Godwin's Law doesn't apply when it's the truth!

[HughMoran]

5. The Projection Party

Too bad it doesn't have a good strong sound to it, it's the perfect descriptor.

[The Mailman]

6. That's what scares me

If we pass universal coverage and lose the next election, couldn't the GOP more easily kill off the elderly when they're at the controls? Right now, its not controlled by the gov't. So, they can only do so much evil when they're in power.

[Cyrano]

7. Welcome to DU, Mailman

The original post, along with your seeming endorsement of it, might sound like paranoia to many. But after the past eight long years of total criminal insanity, paranoia is just another term for survival.

[The Mailman]

8. Thanks!

After what we've endured, I feel like we really need to watch out for unintended consequences. We've got the control and time to do it right.

[Chemisse]

9. But we already have universal care for the elderly, Medicare

So they already have the ability, if in power, to slip toward euthanasia.

[Chemisse]

11. I like your post regarding projection, by the way

It is well put, and oh so true.

[busybl]

10. they would have to start with our elected officials

I've never seen such a collection of broken down old men.

[GodlyDemocrat]

12. IIRC, its the Republicans that oppose funding Medicare and that oppose health care of the very sick

because of their "preexisting" condition.

[BrklynLiberal]

15. ..and they are most certainly the group most likely to invite the old and the infirm

to off themselves.
In their view, if you are old and/or sick, and not rich....you are not worthy of keeping alive.

[Historic NY]

13. Charlton Heston started this with Soylent Green....

before he went completely Repuke.

[Cyrano]

19. It's certainly possible that the "Soylent Green solution" is on the

corporate/Republican fall-back agenda if/when we reach the point of very scarce resources. It may sound like paranoia right now, but it's been demonstrated that human beings are capable of cannibalism in extreme circumstances.

In the case of our corporate "masters of the universe" and Republican thugs, the circumstances wouldn't have to be too extreme for them to happily embrace a "Soylent Green solution." Especially if it meant getting rid of minorities, "socialists" and non-"Christians."

[BrklynLiberal]

14. I believe that is called "projection." The repukes have to be thinking of this stuff

in order to accuse everyone else of trying to do it.

Projection: Projection is one of the defense mechanisms identified by Freud and still acknowledged today. According to Freud, projection is when someone is threatened by or afraid of their own impulses so they attribute these impulses to someone else.

<snip>
Psychological projection (or projection bias) is the unconscious act of denial of a person's own attributes, thoughts, and/or emotions, which are ascribed to the outside world, like the weather, the government, a tool or another person or people. Projection is the most profound and subtle of our psychological processes, and extremely difficult to work with, because by its nature, it is hidden. It is the fundamental mechanism by which we keep our selves uninformed about ourselves. Humor has great value in any attempt to work with projection, because humor presents a forgiving posture and thereby removes the threatening nature of any enquiry into the truth.

Paleo-anthropologically speaking, this faculty probably had survival value as a self defense mechanism when homo sapiens' intellectual capacity to detect deception in others improved to the point that the only sure hope to deceive it was for deceivers to be self-deceived and therefore behave as if they were being truthful.
<snip>
In classical psychology projection is always seen as a defense mechanism that occurs when a person's own unacceptable or threatening feelings are repressed and then attributed to someone else.

An example of this behavior might be blaming another for one's own failure. The mind may avoid the discomfort of consciously admitting personal faults by keeping those feelings unconscious, and redirect their libidinal satisfaction by attaching, or "projecting," those same faults onto another.

Projection reduces anxiety by allowing the expression of the unwanted unconscious impulses or desires without letting the conscious mind recognize them.

[SmileyRose]

16. I'm going to a townhall next week and gawd help the first blue hair that comes unglued

As soon as she's done with the crocodile tears over that awful black man that wants to take her medicare away from her I'm going to stand up and yell at the top of my lungs with a disgusted sneer.

"Turn your hearing aid up Grandma - no one is threatening to take your government Medicare away from you and put you at the mercy of same corporate thugs who screw over the rest of us."

[skygazer]

17. Wasn't it Texas under Bush that legalized government unplugging

of terminally ill patients who were indigent?

Yes, I agree there's a lot of projection going on. The entire GOP could keep the psych industry employed for decades.

[Cyrano]

18. What's ironic is that many of them refer to psychology as

something that only"elite, effete, liberals" believe in.