Screaming for Discourse on Health Care Reform
An SDSU professor speaks on the debate raging at town halls across the country.
As the nation’s elected officials take the health care reform bill to the people, town hall meetings across the country look more like sporting events than civilized discussion and debate.
Lack of healthy debate
From New Hampshire to Pennsylvania to Kansas City, screaming matches have replaced civil discourse, and thoughtful dialogue has been overshadowed by name calling.
President Barack Obama encouraged people at one town hall meeting to “talk with each other and not over each other,” and he specifically asked for questions from those opposed to the new health care reform.
Agreeing with each other
But according to Michael Eichler, executive director of San Diego State University’s Consensus Organizing Center, what’s happening is a symptom of today’s society, where people surround themselves with people who think alike and sources of information that agree with their own opinions.
“People tend to only want to be around people who agree with them,” Eichler said.
“And when something controversial, like a national health care policy comes up, instead of a healthy debate … what you see is everyone with a preconceived, predetermined opinion surrounding themselves with people who agree with them and then going after everybody who doesn’t agree.”
Similarities to the 1960s
Eichler said the disruptions at the town hall meetings are both ironic and similar to protests in the 1960s, where liberal-leaning protestors focused on disrupting meetings and causing mayhem. He said today’s activities, led by more conservative protestors, could have a similar outcome.
“You can argue that in the '60s, a lot of these tactics backfired and didn’t make people more liberal and in fact made people more conservative,” he said.
“So will these tactics make people now, since they’re led by conservatives, make people more moderate and more liberal as a result? What’s our reaction to these disruptive tactics? Will we adopt them or will we recoil from them and have more sympathy for the president and his policies?”
