Susanna J. Sturgis   Martha's Vineyard writer and editor
writer editor born-again horse girl

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Preaching to the Choir

July 24, 2007

So a friend and I went to see SiCKO last night. SiCKO is Michael Moore's new film about the U.S. health-care "system." The short version is -- GO SEE IT. Even if you think it's all propaganda, it's brilliant propaganda. Don't wait for the DVD. This one's worth seeing in a movie theater, especially if the audience is anything like the one I was in. Once we got warmed up, we booed, hissed, gasped, and cheered at the appropriate places. I walked out of there ready to kick some butt.

I've been following some online commentary and subsequent discussions about the film and its reception. I can tell that plenty of people are like me: we all want to believe that this is going to be the salvo that gets USians into the streets demanding a single-payer health plan, but cynicism and despair run so deep that we don't say anything too hopeful for fear of jinxing the possibility. Moore's just preaching to the choir, goes the mantra. Nothing's gonna change.

So I say, What the hell's wrong with preaching to the choir -- or the converted, or whatever you want to call us? The choir doesn't live by bread alone any more than anyone else does. When the harmony gets ragged and the notes start going flat, great preaching fills your lungs with air. If you're more a minstrel or minnesinger than a chorister and you do most of your singing on the road, great preaching bucks you up and fills those thirsty boots with water, wine, beer, or Gatorade enough to keep walking for another few miles.

Keep preaching, Mr. Moore, and I'll do my best to keep singing. In honor of SiCKO, I just posted "No Legislation Without Representation" to the Essays & Articles section of this website. I wrote it last year around the time Massachusetts passed its health-insurance reform plan, but I'd been toying with the basic idea for quite a while. Check it out, and carry it on.

 

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