On the Supreme Court:
"Ultimately, there are certain things beyond my control. I can't control what the Supreme Court is going to do. I have to look at that with detachment. I can't control that. That's just the reality I have to accept. And we have to work with reality. Once we know what the Supreme Court is going to do, then we can develop a strategy of how to go forward.
"It will be a decision and we will have to figure out what happens next. What I do think and hope is that advocates for single payer and universal coverage and advocates for meaningful health care reform will start to think more strategically and cohesively. I've observed that a lot of advocates don't see eye-to-eye on how things should be, which result in tensions and resentments; and that's not healthy, it's counterproductive.
"What I would like to do is hopefully become someone who can help build bridges in the advocacy world. To get people to see that we share common goals; we may see the paths as being different on how to get to the ultimate ideal/objective, but if we don't start working together.
On Deadly Spin:
"I call it "invisible persuasion' and I'm hoping the book sheds some light on this and makes it more visible to people so they know how it's done and how corporate spin has shaped the health care debate.
"In the book, I try to give people tools how to be wise to manipulation and what to look out for. People should know that most of the advertising being done (to discourage health care reform) and the organizations that are sponsoring them are in many cases just front groups for the insurance industry. It's been estimated that $250M has been spent trying to discredit the health care law. When you get that kind of spending, it's no wonder people don't know what's in the law. This is done purposely. In this book, I try to explain why that happens and where that money comes from and how all of us are susceptible to this type of persuasion."
On his advice to the public:
"Be skeptical about what you hear. Know that almost everyone you hear expressing a point of view has an agenda. Don't outsource your thinking to TV commentators. Take the time to try and educate yourself.
"If you don't know what's in the Affordable Care Act, try to educate yourself. There are more reliable places to get information. For example, Consumer Reports provides factual information on the ACA. One of the key ways why the special interests are so successful is they know we outsource our thinking -- we are so willing to let others think for us"and we're so gullible.
"We all lead busy lives, but educating yourself is important. Think beyond yourself. Think about your children and the kind of world we're creating for them. It's important to spend a little time to get informed before you pull a voting lever."
Deadly Spin: Attacking the Corporate Strategy That Keep Us Ignorant
Did you ever wonder about why and how the general public stays so ill-informed on what is really in the Affordable Care Act or just how and why we remain the only industrialized nation in the world with a for-profit insurance company?
Wendell Potter explains it all in his book Deadly Spin. From clandestine meetings carefully organized to leave no paper trail to creating third party front groups, Potter lets the reader in on the dirty secrets most big corporations would rather have the masses be in the dark about because the stakes are high and the profits even higher.
"I wrote the book because I wanted people to have a better understanding of just how the special interests are able to manipulate public opinion and how the vast majorities of people just don't have a clue," said Potter. "And how effective it is to get people to think, act and vote against their own self-interests"and how corporate interests are capable of influencing public policy through public opinion." For information on how to order the book, click here .
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