The Romanian Dream » politically correct

The “Not My Fault” Culture

Mircea — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 05:04:19 +0000

The scene unfolds very quickly as one reckless driver doesn’t stop at… a stop sign and hits a car who was passing through the intersection. In his defense he did brake after seeing the other car. Damages are somewhat minimal: the right fender for the victim, the front bumper for the aggressor. Not really a big deal. That’s why we have insurance, right?

The interesting part starts now. If you were to ask the person who failed to stop: “whose fault the accident was?”, a magical moment will take place. You will find out that maybe it was the car’s manufacturer fault that the breaks didn’t stop the car sooner. Or that it is the others driver fault, because he was obviously speeding though the intersection. Or maybe the Stop sign is not visible enough. Or the road is not well maintained. Or whoever is responsible for the road knows that this is a dangerous junction and should have placed a traffic light there. Or maybe it’s because a squirrel chewed on the brakes while the car was parked. See a pattern here? Everybody and everything is to blame, except for the one that should get the blame… at least in his eyes. It’s what I call the “Not My Fault” response.

The response is so common and so well rooted in the behavior of the people in the US that I say that the culture around accountability is the “Not My Fault” culture. Admitting that it’s your fault will cost you. It’s safer to just play dumb and pretend that you’re actually a good person.

And if you think that things are not that bad, think about liability waivers. Why would, for example, a gym need a liability waiver? I tell you why… because if someone breaks their neck while going down the stairs they would actually sue the gym if it wasn’t for that waiver. It’s not your fault that you are a dumb-ass and cannot pay attention while going down the stairs. It’s the gym’s fault for putting the stairs in your way.

When stupidity overrides common sense, “Not My Fault” becomes the default.

Taboo – Immigration

Mircea — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:20:23 +0000

Introduction here: http://theromaniandream.com/blog/2009/07/17/taboo/

Instead of spitting venom, here is an infographic on the immigration ‘process’:

Source: http://reason.com/

Isn’t that f*ing awesome?

Group Death Cooperative

Mircea — Wed, 19 May 2010 03:35:53 +0000

I’ve written about the American Health System before: http://theromaniandream.com/blog/2010/02/01/taboo-%E2%80%93-american-health-system/

It’s not that my naivety level has suffered any major changes lately, but my experience with my health care “provider” (aka Group Health Cooperative) is a surreal one.

Lately I have been having some mild pain in my right hip and I went to have it looked at. After a somewhat short visit at the primary care physician I was referred to orthopedics and physical therapy. The first surprise came when scheduling the PT appointment. The time I have to wait for someone from PT to consult me from the moment I made the appointment: 3.5 weeks. That’s not surprising considering my previous experiences, but 3.5 weeks is too long. But wait! After the visit to the orthopedics, I found out that I need an MRI for them to be able to tell what’s wrong. I attempted to schedule that today and the happy event will take place on the 20th of July. That’s about 9 weeks, or if you want it in months: more than 2 months. I’ll say that again: 9 weeks! What kind of health care is this?

What do you suppose will happen in the following 9 weeks if there is something fundamentally wrong with my hip? Do you think that the way these guys choose to provide medical services is at least flawed if not absolutely moronic? Do I need to say that this is for an insurance that’s supposed to be one of the bests that there is, at least in these area?

At least, back home in Romania, if you have the money and you are willing to shell it out for a quality medical service you can do that. Think about this for a second and you’ll see how wrong the system is over here on so many levels.

That being said, I’m officially giving the longest finger to the nice Cooperative and I’m looking forward to switching to Premera, where hopefully things will suck less and I will manage to get some bang for the buck the insurance company gets.

The American Dream: A Ponzi Scheme That Works

Mircea — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:49:18 +0000

Here is an interesting article I’ve recently came across:

Going to America: A Ponzi scheme that works

The article makes the interesting claim that coming to America, and by extension following the American Dream, is a Ponzi scheme that actually works. It also goes through a couple of stories that are supposed to be inspiring. They are supposed to show us normal people who made their way to the US and are now living their dreams. Pff. It emphasizes the advantages that this would have and how the cultural diversities are really the catalyst for expressing yourself. On how you can find a place that exactly maps on your beliefs and the way you want to live your life.

Now, back to the real world: this really sounds to me more like an ad than the reality. There are also some bad things about how foreigners are treated in the article, but overall it sound like an ad, that is written with the inspiring American Dream in the back of the head.

What the writer of the article fails to realize is that every Ponzi scheme out there seems to work in the eyes of the ones who contribute to it. What differentiate a “classic” Ponzi scheme from the American Dream one is that with the classic one, sooner or later you realize that it’s a scam and you are no longer willing to put your money/time into it. With the the American Dream on the other hand, even if you realize at some point that it’s a scheme that doesn’t really fit you very well, the option to stop investing and to admit failure is a far more costly one that just keep investing and hope you’ll find your warm, fuzzy cloud that is everything you wanted and you dreamed of.

Taboo – American Health System

Mircea — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:05:54 +0000

Introduction here: http://theromaniandream.com/blog/2009/07/17/taboo/

Today’s topic: American Health System

To put it short the system is as crappy as it seems viewed from outside the US. Even crappier.

Health care is a business in the US. It’s not about the patient anymore. It’s about the profits of the Health Care “Provider”. Anything and everything will be done to save every cent they can. On paper your health insurance might be great, but when you need something the story you are told is completely different.

To give an example: Lately I’ve been experiencing some ankle pain. I made an appointment to have it looked at. It took “only” 2 weeks from the moment I made the appointment until I finally got to the doctors to see it. How does that happen? Or is the “let’s schedule you in 2 weeks maybe your pain goes away until we see you” principle at work? To put this in context: I have one of the best health insurances available here. At least available for the “masses”. Hundreds of dollars flow into the health care providers pockets each month for them to take care of my health. How the heck is that possible?

To give you another absurd example: Somebody suffers an accident and needs urgent care. Hospitals have what the call “Urgent Care” or “Emergency Rooms”. Kinda like what you see in the movies, NOT. What do you think it’s the average time you spend in one of these special rooms? I’ve never heard of anyone spending less than 3-4 hours. Even heard of cases of 8+ hrs. How the hell is that urgent? I thought that if you have a problem that needs urgent attention, you’d receive urgent attention. And what do they do? Make you fill a mountain of paperwork and ask the same questions over and over again.

So, in conclusion: Health care, pfff… I don’t want to think what you go through when you don’t have insurance.

I’m not saying that the system back in Romania was perfect, but at least over there money could and would get you immediate attention. You would solve your problem and go your way. Health care in US, pfff…

Taboo – Ugly Women

Mircea — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 18:26:57 +0000

Introduction here: http://theromaniandream.com/blog/2009/07/17/taboo/

Today’s topic: Ugly Women/People

Hot topic today. We’re talking about being ugly and how you can solve this.

First of all, in the US only poor people are ugly. Yeah, it’s nasty… but that’s the way it is.

If you look, for example at people’s teeth you will see that almost everybody has perfect teeth.

And dental care is extremely expensive. You cannot afford it? You have ugly teeth.

Next we can look at food: since you are whatever you eat, guess what you eat when you cannot afford good (organic) food? Crappy food. Fast food. Do this for a long period of time and you will look and feel crappy. Health issues? Cannot afford healthcare?

Cannot afford quality cosmetic products? Or designer clothes?

Guess what… you’re ugly.

So being beautiful or not is more of a surface thing. And the surface is all that matters over here.

There is a clean and clear separation between the two extremes and a middle ground doesn’t really exist.

The solution for ugliness is… money

‘Experts’

Mircea — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:09:17 +0000

I like people who know what they are talking about. People who can teach you a thing or two if you have the time and can read between the lines.

On the other hand, I don’t like people who can do one thing right in their area of expertise and think that this entitles them to express an opinion about anything and that opinion is the ‘correct’ one. Here is an example: http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/04/jason-calacanis-top-tech-products-and-a-political-rant/

A somewhat known guy who runs a somewhat known company is giving you a list of his favorite tech products. Everything is fine until he decides to slip in a rant about the Middle East and oil. Here it is:

For over a year, I haven’t visited a gas station and have been able to give the finger to the bastards in the Middle East who believe that women and gays are about as valuable as dogs, and that the freedoms we enjoy in the United States are the root causes of all evil. If Obama had any leadership ability, as opposed to his consensus-building nonsense, he would have taken the billions we’re going to spend in Afghanistan and simply spent that money on electric car and solar subsidies in America. We have to stop wasting our money building schools and bridges for backwards societies that don’t appreciate them and start spending that money on energy independence. There is no reason we couldn’t put solar panels on every rooftop in America, and electric cars in every driveway, instead of spending money fighting enemies that don’t want the freedom we’re promoting.

This shows that he doesn’t know a thing about how politics works, how democracy or what is really happening in the Middle East. For this he instantly earns the dumb-ass title and a nice shiny bumper sticker that he can place on his cool electric car.

Proud to be a … Nigerian?

Mircea — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:31:45 +0000

Two headlines caught my eyes:

Sony changes advert after complaints from Nigerian government
District 9 Banned in Nigeria

Basically, Nigerian authorities taking action against some things that damage Nigeria’s image in the World.

To tell the truth, I’m impressed of how oficials from Nigeria stood up for their country(and people) and wish I would see some kind of action from the Romanian authorities sometimes. Until then all I have to say is that if I was a Nigerian, I would be a proud one.

Why do Americans buy Honda Element?

Mircea — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:59:11 +0000

Q: Why do Americans buy Honda Element like crazy?

A: Because they want to be within their own Element.

Why do Americans buy Honda Fit like crazy?

Mircea — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:48:48 +0000

Q: Why do Americans buy Honda Fit like crazy?

A: Because they want at least their car to be fit.