Yesterday, Elaine and I attended our monthly AARP Chapter meeting. On display was a letter to one of the Carroll County newspapers complaining about AARP and telling everyone to cancel their memberships because of AARP's supposed support for "death panels". The writer said that he had attended one of our meetings where two ladies from AARP had said certain things that he did not like. Reading his letter, it seemed to me that he must have attended a different meeting than I did.. or, he heard things there that I did not hear.. but I must admit, I did not have my hearing aid in at the time and may have missed something.. but I doubt that.
I attended two recent AARP Chapter meetings in which two ladies spoke. At one meeting, the two ladies did represent Maryland AARP and they proposed that the attendees examine all Health Care proposals and decide about the issues. They hoped, but did not push, that people consider that Heath Care Reform is needed. At the meeting, there was one gentleman who asked obnoxious, and, in my opinion, dumb questions. If the writer of the letter to the editor was this gentleman, I would ask him: Why did he partake so freely and greedily of the free lunch provided to him by AARP? Why did he interupt the speakers so rudely? Why didn't he walk out in protest? Why had we never seen him at an AARP meeting before? Why does he like Medicare so much when it is a "public option" program? Does he honestly think that "death panels" could ever exist in the U.S.? Was he appointed by his organization to come and heckle the speakers?
At the second meeting, the two ladies did not represent AARP, but rather the Emergency Preparedness department of Carroll County (a Republican lead County in Maryland). They were trying to inform the attendees about available emergency facilities in the County. At that meeting as well, there was one gentleman who asked obnoxious and dumb questions. One could tell that he was not listening closely enough and had his mind set that these were enemies to his way of life. (This was not the same gentleman from the prior meeting.) If the writer of the letter to the editor was this gentleman I would ask him basically the same questions: Why did he partake so readily and greedily of the lunch provided to him by AARP? (he was later part of musical entertainment) Why does he like the "public option" Medicare so well? Why was he so rude to the young ladies? Why does he think that "death panels" could ever exist in the U.S.? Is he a member of the same group as the heckler from the earlier meeting?
Once again, we have had to put up with loud-mouthed, mis-informed meeting disrupters. Fortunately, in this case, only one person in each meeting made a jerk of himself.. that is only 1% of the attendees. Free speech is wonderful and I am all for it.. but sometimes I wish that these loud persons would get a soap-box to stand on and spout off in a public park where those that want to hear them could and those that do not want to hear them would be able to walk away.
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2 comments:
I was at a Bob Evans with Kathleen a few weeks ago, and an elderly man was croaking about how Obama was ruining the country for seniors; spending all their money bailing out so-and-so; trying to destroy health care with Obama-care, etc. I kept thinking that if the Republican's had privatized Social Security like they'd tried under W., then they would have been living in cardboard boxes after the market crashed.
Good point, son.
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