Sunday 19 December 2010

a disreputable propagandist

Michael Moore, obviously.  He has managed to hook himself up to the self-marketer Julian Assange so that they can both be fawned upon by the less intelligent Guardianista left.  His film Sicko, which showed a hospital in Cuba in order to illustrate the inferiority of US healthcare to that available to the Cuban people, was banned by the Cuban government, says the Guardian.  Or, no, it wasn't, also says the Guardian.  In fact it was not.  The Cuban government was so scared of the film that they showed it on national television.  And the hospital wards shown in the film were in a hospital in Cuba, right enough, but were wards not available to the Cuban people, but only to the Venezuelan elite, who pay hard cash.  (Chavez has just abolished parliament and granted himself absolute powers, anybody notice that, Guardianistas, hein?).  So, courageous whistleblowing by Moore and Assange.  Not.  A real Cuban whistleblower is Yoani Sanchez, who says this and points out to anyone who will listen that healthcare is not free at the point of use to Cuban people, that the hospitals they use are crumbling 19th-century buildings with only the most basic facilities, and that doctors who speak out about such things are sacked and have their medical qualifications stripped from them.  But we don't see Moore and Assange, who have taken no personal risks, hand in hand with Sanchez and fighting for human rights and decent healthcare for all, do we?  And while we are on the subject, the legal process which Assange is facing is just that.  He may be acquitted, he may not.  He is having due process.  It is not a CIA plot against him.  My personal view is that men accused of rape should have anonymity until the verdict, but that is another matter.  People who should know better have donated money to support Assange.  Why not build a free hospital in Cuba if you have money you have no use for?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Agree.