Evan — there is so much disinformation out there about reform efforts, mostly aimed at senior citizens, doing no more than playing with their emotions to get them upset about concepts that are simply untrue.

Don’t take my word for it. You can see the statements being made at
http://www.Politifact.com (which won a Pulitzer Prize for its factual reporting) or FactCheck.org — either one does an excellent assessment of inflammatory statements being made by those who choose to disrupt emotions rather than discuss the truth.

I guess I am now one of the “angry mob” because I do not follow in lock-step.

BOTH sides are generating scare tactics to blast the other side’s opinions, but tonight I heard those such as myself described as an “angry mob”by my government.

That takes it past a difference of opinion and makes it personal.

While I sit there and watch a You Tube of all Obama’s comments on health care and think “this is not fair, they are taking individual sentences out of context”. I give HIM the benefit of the doubt, I see him as an American who has a different viewpoint than I do. I am honestly trying to see the President as a man who is trying to do what he thinks is right. Deep down, I think he is.

But…
because I do not share his viewpoint, the Democratic National Committee puts out a commercial that denigrates MY opinion and those who would fight for it.

When I listened to Valerie Jarrett, she asked how Obama could get the message out more effectively. I had an answer that I never had the chance to give.

Change the tone. Positive commercials. Don’t attack. Show how the average Joe would benefit. Be pro-active. Positive.Don’t get defensive no matter how badly the other side taunts. Let the people speak. Let them be angry. They are telling you information. Let the Republicans sound like they are negative.

I would have given that advice – and I’m a dead-on Republican!!!

Now it’s just a huge partisan fight that gets nastier and nastier. But neither side has clean hands. Which makes any and all information we get suspect. Who do we trust? Who CAN we trust? What is true and what is hype?

Oh man, maybe I’ll write a post.

In most cases when a company rolls out benefit changes they don’t face a highly organized and well financed opposition that is intend on pushing fabrications and distortions. And because they have a certain level of control over employees they can communicate with them directly without the filter of media.

That certainly isn’t the case with health care reform. While I agree the Administration should be doing more to make their case, they faces structural obstacles to communication. The biggest problem is that reaching those who are still open minded is difficult and Americans in general don’t respond well to facts and data. You also can’t make people pay attention — there’s plenty of information and analysis available if you look — and as you noted the complexity of the plans requires a great deal of attention to grasp. It’s much easier to listen to the scare stories about senior citizens being exterminated.
As for the idea that the opposition is resorting to mob tactics the answer is that in some cases they are. When they shout down opponents at town hall meetings or try to block a Congressman’s car, then that goes beyond civil debate. It also makes it less likely that the non-idelogically driven are going to make the effort to show up at these meetings. Just like the right wing media the winner is he who can scream the loudest.