There's quite a lot of sense in the book published by Dmitri Orlov. I might even speak more positively of it were it not for the following.
I noted a recent article on his blog which I thought to be of particularly low quality:
http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2009/08/hunger-insurance.html.
All the more pathetic that it was followed by numerous uniformly enthusiastic comments of rather mindless flattery such as (each in entirety):
"EW said... Hi, great post. Someone posted a link to your blog on my site as I've just posted about this too. Not as funny though! Pleased to have discovered your blog."
and:
"Anonymous said... An instant classic."
I attempted to post my own thoughts as follows:
" It's not very clear what point you are making here in so many words. Something relatively specific to the narrow cultural zone between the Atlantic and Pacific perhaps. (The reference to HMOs suggests so.)
If you are trying to use an analogy to make a point about private v public health provision, well:
Firstly--Analogies are pretty second-rate as devices for reasoned argument; the analogy may or may not be soundly made. Analogies are best confined to use as tools of illustration rather than reasoning.
Secondly--If we are being proposed a conclusion that private health provision is much worse than public provision, then I have something to tell you called facts.
I live in the UK where we have the NHS. It is passably good at putting bones back together after an incident (though not superbly so as attested by my crooked jaw and dentition, and my mother's continuing crippledom following a hip failure).
Apart from the bone-repair capability it is an absolute disaster of profitmaking, bureaucracy-building pseudoscience pseudo-healthcare dominated by big pharma and associated corporate evils related to major operations conveniently resulting from the equally crap food supply we have here.
ALL my healthcare I have to pay for myself, because the NHS will only provide corporate pseudo-healthcare.
Worse than that, the NHS has ruined my life with 40 years of dental mercury poisoning, in response to which I only get lies and even nasty libels.
Judging from your collapse book you can do better than this drivel article. I suggest you be wary that celebrity (and mindless fan-clubbery) may cause self-criticalness to be undermined by complacency.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 6:13:27 PM EDT"
It's now three days later and that comment has not yet been approved by the "moderator" of his blog.
PS: This energyark blog will not abuse the efforts of commenters here with any such "moderation".
