Beware the New Meme

Well, that was quick.

Two days ago I blogged (in part) about the NPR coverage of the healthcare showdown.  (I pointed out that the NPR morning news feed said the President didn't care about Congressional procedures. NPR very conveniently took that blurb down by the 8:30 'drive-time' rebroadcast- presumably because they finally figured out how scandalous it sounded to reasonable people.)

Having gotten the bill onto the President's desk, NPR has now executed a hard pivot to a new meme.  It seems to go like this:

Meme 1: You either like the whole bill, or you want to kill the whole bill.

Submeme a: Americans like lots of the bill and Republicans  are determined to take it all away, even the parts that Americans like;

Submeme b: You can't alter the bill in any way; only destroy it wholesale.  It's impossible to merely alter parts of it.

Meme 2: There are no alternative proposals to the current bill, which will vanish if altered in any way.

Submeme a: Since there is no alternative to the bill, Republicans (and anyone else) who wish to alter it are in fact determined to prevent any improvements to the American healthcare system.

Submeme b: Since the bill with vanish if altered in any way, Republicans (and anyone else) who admit to liking any portion of it are in fact making a wholesale endorsement of it.  Republicans (and anyone else) claiming otherwise are lying hypocrites.

Forwarned is forarmed.  Word.

PS- I remark on NPR coverage mainly because I get no TV reception and I can't afford cable.  Beyond the odd Internet snippet, I never watch MSNBC, Fox, CNN, ABC, etc.  In addition, the radio reception in my neighborhood is shakey enough that the lone NPR station is pretty much the only news feed we get.  And we only get that in certain rooms in the house.

I'm not motivated enough to throw money at this situation in order to change it.  I use the computer instead.

Comments

[Elise]

This really hit home for me with a slightly different twist when a commenter at a Left blog insisted it was "intellectually dishonest" to have opposed single-payer and now complain about the health care bill we got - as if those were our only two options. So perhaps that's a variation on - or a fallback position for - Meme2: Okay, there is an alternative but just one and that's Single-Payer.

You know, I wasn't happy that HCR passed but I wasn't in despair. Today, after reading some supporters of the bill, despair is definitely the operative word.