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A History of the Deather Movement in America
This website exists to document the Deather movement and to be an information resource to document and describe the chain of disinformation that led to untruths concerning health care reform in 2009. It will be updated regularly with factual references appearing in the news concerning Deather and Death Panel subject matter.
For more information on Death Panels or the Obama Death Panel, please visit www.ObamaDeathPanel2009.com.
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 A Deather is a person subscribing to the idea that Democratic health care reform would include Death Panels. A Death Panel is government mandate to destroy those deemed to be not worth keeping alive based on their "contribution to society at-large. In this model, the terminally ill or the very old would be required to face a Federal evaluation of their care with examination of their future worth as opposed to the monetary cost of keeping them alive. A fetus developing with illness or congenital defect would also be examined by a Death Panel. The mother would then be mandated to have an abortion if the Death Panel determined the future worth of the fetus was not significantly "contributive" to society — contributive enough to warrant the monetary expense of the care expended.
The idiom Deather was born in the summer of 2009 (A.K.A. "The Summer of Death") and injected into the public consciousness by former Alaska Governor and Vice Presidential challenger Sarah Palin.
On August 7 2009, Palin (via a Facebook post) claimed the Democratic Party's health care reform plan would include Death Panels (she used the phrase "Obama Death Panel"). According to Palin, these Death Panels would put the elderly and Palin's youngest child (a Special Needs child) in mortal danger.
On July 31, 2009, just prior to Palin's Facebook post, The Death Panel concept appeared in an editorial in the Investors Business Daily (IBD) Publication:
The editorial added the physically disabled (Hawking is a quadriplegic) to the list of those who would be a targeted by the Obama Death Panel. Hawking, a life-long resident of the United Kingdom and graduate of both Oxford and Cambridge, responded with the following public statement:
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"I wouldn’t be here today if it were not for the NHS (National Health Service). I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived."(SOURCE: http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=9674)
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Though the IBD subsequently retracted the incorrect information related to Hawking, Palin's use of the phrase "Obama Death Panel" along with the IBD editorial aroused the ire of many Americans who believed Democratic health care reform would include a mandate on health care providers to euthanize the elderly, the infirmed and the unborn within certain criteria.
The Death Panel controversy originated from the misinterpretation of Living Wills (also known as Advance Health Care Directive). Living Wills are end-of-life discussions between a doctor and a patient to determine the instructions for future medical care of the individual BY the individual receiving care. The Democrat health care reform legislation of 2009 suggested that Living Wills should covered by health care plans. The mention of Living Wills in the new health care proposal was misconstrued by some in opposition to the reform who equated the Living Will to a Death Panel. It was suggested (first by Palin, then others) that a Living Will would or could be an incentive for doctors or health care providers to encourage the death of some individuals instead of providing further care based solely on the dollar amount of keeping them alive. The misinterpretation continued to thrive even amidst efforts of many responsible news outlets and government officials to clarify. Perhaps some of them did not try hard enough since these untruths continue to perpetuate.
On August 14 2009, the language referring to Living Wills was removed from potential legislation mostly due to public outrage fueled by the misinterpretation. A classic example of misinterpretation of the Living Wills element was manifested in protest signs which read "Obama Lies, Grandma Dies". Despite efforts to educate the public, Deathers continued to insist the road toward destroying the elderly (the vernacular: to "kill Grandma") exists within the framework of the legislation. Various Democrats such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama spoke out to educate Americans and to challenge the reality of Death Panels. However, hostilities against Democratic-led health care reform continued to flourish due to further promulgation by the Senior Senator from Iowa, Chuck Grassley.
Grassley followed Palin's lead and proclaimed his constituents had reasons to worry about a potential Democratic health care reform because such a reform is a backdoor plot to destroy the elderly (SOURCE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/12/grassley-endorses-death-p_n_257677.html). The concept of Death Panels via Democrat-led health care reform was also propagated by popular Conservative pundits such as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. The idea of potential Death Panels somewhat succeeded in mobilizing the Republican base and scaring the elderly which culminated in energized and controversial town hall protests against Democrats in the summer of 2009.
In sum, Deathers describe Democratic-led health care reform (via the Obama Death Panel) as a secret plot to install government regulation which ultimately will govern the eugenic nature of American civilization.
Deathers are not a political faction and do not represent a specific political party. However, a Deather is more likely to be a Republican than a Democrat. The foundation of the Deather movement is the idea that the Democratic Party is evil and their single goal is to destroy America and American values. Hence, Deathers are currently most associated or aligned with Birthers (those who do not believe President Barack Obama was born in the United States), KKK or Aryan Nation ideology (groups outraged over the ethnicity of President Obama), and Pro-Life groups (those who oppose abortion) to thwart Democratic-led health care reform.
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 I REPORT; YOU DECIDE.
DISCLAIMER:
Due to the volatile nature of this subject matter, I have decided not to identify myself in conjunction with this website. The last thing anyone needs in this economy is to become right-wing PREY to men with guns at the Town Hall.
You may call me Death and you may contact me at Death@WhatIsADeather.com unless you are offering me a job, then you may call me Mr. Death.
Please use your CAPS LOCK button sparingly.
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