Steyn: Lower life expectancy in U.S. due to its being a "continental-sized nation" with "different kinds of people"
August 18, 2009 4:19 pm ET
From the August 18th edition of Premiere Radio Networks' Rush Limbaugh:
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Hhmmmm....who could he be talking about?
Simple.
Almost as funny as her calling out the health care/life expectancy as a post hoc fallacy, while discussing the real reason for the discrepancies; Because of minorities, our life expectancy is lower.
I really think many of the callers to right wing radio are fakes, always too convenient. Any time I hear Rush, he has a conservative black man calling.
I can't say if it's Dennis Prager or Hugh Hewitt ( I hear them both occasionally, and get them mixed up), but within seconds of a topic being discussed, there's always a doctor, military person, some other professional or expert in the field of the topic, who has a long list of facts and statistics conveniently in their hand.
Which is right-wing code for... "F%&@#$G minorities! and all people NOT white."
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
Has this Steyn person and other wingnuts not seen the Statue of Liberty?
What a bonehead.
Damn minorities, and probably illegal aliens, are dragging down our life expectancy. Go ahead and smoke that cigarette, eat that box of Twinkies you will have the best medical system in the world to take care of you after you're 40.
How can we arrange to get some of Japan's DNA so we can be genetically predisposed to be healthy?
The caller seemed bright, but wrong just the same. There are so many factors that go into life expectancy. Diet plays a big part, just as how active a population is and the kind of preventive approach available in a given country. The racial component plays a minor role.
You don't need to look to Europe, just look up north. Canada is just as multi-cultural as the US, just a continent-wide (have no idea why that matters) and yet they live longer. Do they eat better? Doubt it. Are they more active? Maybe a bit more--building igloos takes effort. Then what is it that they have that we don't have?
A single payer health care system that deals as much in prevention as it does in treatment. Feel sick in Canada--you go to the doc. There's little or no cost involved and a developing illness can be caught sooner with a better outcome. Here, only the well off and the well insured don't have to think twice about going to the doc.
Of course, according to HillBilly, the real reason Canada and other countries have better life expectancy rates is because their populations are smaller. That makes just as much sense blaming a diverse population.
"Whites have a fine life expectancy with our current system, so lets not change it. If minorities aren't benefiting, why should real citizens - that is, Caucasians - cares?"
So here you have it folks. The Big Tent of the GOP.
CDC...life expectancy rises in US
Looks like all those ten year old reports you've been using are null and void!