i agree jo mar. Mob mentality. If someone, anyone, obviously not the people in government now - almost none of them on either side - would sit down and write something reasonable and explain it to everyone - mobs wouldn't be gathering.

It starts with the guys getting paid to run this country - followed by media - and their party wars - who cause this mentality with confusion and ridiculously obscure and lengthy legislation. Everyone in that video was of the same mentality. Whoever shot it was obviously playing to our mentality as disabled individuals and were anti tea party. we don't even know if he had pd and why was he sitting there in particular?

what would happen if he sat on the other side and his sign said, "i have pd and have paid for health insurance all my life. it's hard enough on me why should i pay for yours?" that makes him a bad, stupid guy right?

the media and the govt produce those mobs and their anger and disgust. the people in that video probably have insurance - and would probably not abandon a loved one with pd. I wouldn't judge a video by its face value. If you want to see hate, i could search you tube for anti bush videos.

the bias emerges as soon as you find out how the videographer thinks. the problem is not those people, the problem is a dysfunctional government. all of it. i am not talking about parties ....they all need the boot.

madelyn your signature quote belongs here but i am too lazy to copy it. I don't think the people in that video deserve to be defended - just trying to be logical. this comes close to bashing a certain "type" of person. that is not politically correct is it? i'm very confused about that. i've given up the practice of worrying about what is political correct. it only applies when convenient.

it's not the people.....it's the government.

paula

I also do not think it was aimed at the gentleman because he has PD; nor do I think LImbaugh's mockery of MJFox was aimed at his Parkinson's. It was aimed at his politics, and he attacked him thru his illness.The mentality exposed bespeaks inhumaneness, intolerance, disrespect, loutish behavior as well as supreme ignorance.
I also doubt most of the participants understand the health reform bill. The polarization within our society today I feel is mostly about fear. and some politicians are masters at manipulating this emotion.
The video evoked a reptilian response within me as well as a profound sadness. My course of action was to send the link to everyone on the planet whose email address I had or to whatever forum I belonged. It was on Huffington's site as well as an alternative news site today. I emailed both sites the link; have no idea if my input precipitated the news stories.
My anger has subsided, leaving me with just sadness. I came of age in the sixties, still waiting for the altruism I felt in those days to return. Perhaps if I live long enough. madelyn

Hi Paula, we were posting at the same time. I also do not understand the health reform bill, just a few parts of it. I think I am respectful of others' views, or I try to be. I am just sad about the responses of the rally participants. madelyn

sadness - i agree completely.

paula

But it does matter that he has PD. Not that having PD is better or worse than having another disease, but his having PD is germane to why these people felt they could so berate this guy. He was offering up what is for most a highly personal and painful reality. A frightening weakness. This was no Michael J Fox or Muhammad Ali, or Andy Grove. This guy is just a guy: just a guy who not only laid bare the sickness in our society but the individual sickness of PD.

Fortunately people you meet individually on the street--even in central Ohio--aren't likely to treat you so badly even if you are freezing or festinating right in their way, but get the mob together and the weaker members of society had better watch out. It just gets down to basic animal behavior: the mob is afraid that there won't be "enough" (of money, health care, material goods, American dream) to go around and they get scared (don't tell them that). They want to make sure that some sickly competitor doesn't take anything that is "rightfully" theirs. It's an old, old story, putting all your fears and frustrations but mostly your fears onto the shoulders of a weaker being, a scapegoat.

This clip has hit the internet and televised news shows around the world. Representative Kilroy, who herself it turns out has MS, took time on the house floor this morning to lament the episode. Its on c-span http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/292588-1. She starts talking at 10:11.

Devils Advocate statement:

Everyone is upset over the guy with pd. He chose to sit where he is and may have known exactly what he was doing. We are not helpless because we have pd. He was clearly baiting them.

Which of us is right? Neither of us knows. But what if the statement above is correct?

Which is what madelyn is saying. Attack via disability...and that would be from both sides -the real issue is pure politics. Here we go again.

Judging and categorizing people because we take the bait of politicians and media is our own fault. It's like an illness - this falling for political views usually based on falsehoods and hate.

I imagine the actions of those people will come to haunt them when they are alone. I'd like to know about the guy with pd and the videographer.

Paula - the "videographer" was the Columbus Dispatch - a newspaper. They were reporting on the rally. This footage was not taken by an observer, but by a reporter and camera crew who were there to cover the story.

I think "mob mentality" is too easy an excuse. Is hateful behavior more hateful when it is carried out by only one person? If a person feels he is given permission to treat another badly simply because he is surrounded by other like minded people, is he less culpable? I don' t think so. "Everybody else is doing it" is a child's excuse.

The way we behave toward one another is evidence of the polarizing effects of our current politcal process. We have been given permission to use hate speech and to incite anger and fear as a tool for the advancement of political causes. Until we, as a society, refuse to be influenced by those, on both sides, shouting at the opposition, flagrantly using hyperbole and playing to the fears of the weakest among us, we will never be free.

The idea that all is fair in pushing a political agenda will be our downfall. We must become our own advocates, learn what is at stake ourselves and stop depending upon politicians who have motivations that may or may not be in our best interests. And we must demand a return of civility to the process. We do not have to be in the majority. My favorite quote comes from John Adams ,“ It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.”

I also kind of wondered the same as Paula , even if it was a news crew , it still could have been some sort of set up/stunt to make a point.
Or to make a more "hot" story.

Just seems odd to me that they happened to have the camera crew in that area at that time.

maybe the jerk tossing the dollars was a part of the act.
Or maybe the PD guy was in on it... acting..
or maybe "PD guy" was saying some outrageous stuff before it all began..
who really knows..
maybe I read too many mysteries & espionage books LOL

Awhile after seeing it I started wondering about those other scenarios.

Call me a Pollyanna but I hope real people would not act that way.
But then again there are a lot of jerks out there.
*sigh*

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/#35918426

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/#35937837

They're afraid some poor soul might get a govt healthcare handout..The same morons who want to see Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare abolished

Evidently, those pompous, arrogant, dispicable, low life Neandertals, think pd is a liberal's disease

If I was healthy Id move out of this country..Its getting to bizzaro for me, when a white collar pundit with more money than brains trys to belittle a man with pd by throwing money in his face, like he's deadwood, and an unworthy burden on the system..Some people really make me sick..My cat has better worldly qualities that those curbstone thugs

This kind of despicable mob behavior is nothing new; it's just that we (as a people) tend not to get indignant about it unless it comes into our homes and affects us or our family in some way. Would we (myself included) even be talking about this incident if the man in the video did not have PD?

Having grown up on Long Island, I will always remember Kitty Genovese, shrieking for help as she was raped, robbed and murdered in full view of her Queens neighbors who were hanging out their windows on a hot summer evening. Why did the many witnesses fail to act? They "didn't want to be involved.""

Last fall, more than 20 people watched or took part as a 15-year-old California girl was gang raped and beaten outside a high school homecoming dance. Again, no one came forward. If everyone is doing nothing, that becomes the norm.

sheryl