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| photo courtesy of Daily Wired |
That “all the world’s a stage” chimed true on
Sunday evening at the Miss U.S.A. pageant. Our now-crowned bell, er, belle representing the nation’s
capital, gave a response to a judge’s question about access to affordable
healthcare. Her response set social
media into a frenzy. What did she mean?
Here at the Lab we too were intrigued by Kára
McCullough’s use of the word “privilege” in her in-the-moment response and her
later attempt to clarify. But we’d like to re-focus commentary on the judge’s
question.
To set the stage: The pageant judge asks each
contestant a different question. The
question to Miss McCullough: “Do you
think affordable health care for all U.S. citizens is a right or a privilege,
and why?”
Gone from beauty pageantry are saccarine questions
like “What are your hopes for the world we live in?” – the proverbial “world
peace” question. Here the contestant
must show their prowess with contemporary political and social issues. Is
affordable health care a right or a privilege?
Miss McCullough, who works as an emergency preparedness specialist in the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission's Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response, answers:
“I’m definitely going to say it’s a
privilege. As a government employee, I am granted health care. And
I see firsthand that for one to have health care, you need to have jobs. So
therefore, we need to continue to cultivate this environment that we’re given
the opportunities to have health care as well as jobs to all the American
citizens worldwide.”
The second part of Miss McCullough’s
reply complicates her response, to the point that she
almost contradicts her first statement. We're left wondering what she actually thinks about affordable healthcare, people and
human rights.
She states: “We need to continue to
cultivate this environment that we’re given the opportunities to have health
care as well as jobs to all the American citizens worldwide.” Here she places
the opportunity to access affordable health care and employment on the same
plane, and seems to suggest that we as Americans need to create the conditions
in which all U.S. citizens worldwide can thrive. Had she placed “jobs” before
“health care”, we might have taken the liberty to infer she’s reiterating she
is ok with affordable access to healthcare being contingent on a federal
government employer.
And this sort of circular answer is what riled
social media. Is she for universal
access to affordable health care, or not?
Tuesday she spoke to clarify herself
on Good Morning America: “But I would
like to just take this moment to truly clarify. Because I am a woman, I’m going to own what I said. I am
privileged to have health care and I do believe that it should be a right, and
I hope and pray moving forward that health care is a right for all worldwide.”
BUT, as we said earlier, we’re less
interested Miss McCullough’s in-the-moment, gee my nerves are getting the best
of me, response.
Isn’t the heart of this issue the
judge’s question, setting up access to health care
as either a “right” or “privilege”? Miss McCullough’s selection of the word
“privilege” rather than “right” characterizes the U.S. healthcare system as it
is, a system in which, despite the Affordable Care Act and in an environment
that threatens its continuation there remains great
class divide between those who have affordable healthcare (good health
insurance) and those who don’t.
Who is the judge to ask a person on
a podium her opinion on something that’s essential, a basic right, for all
Americans, for all human beings, to live a decent life of dignity? Are those
two words “privilege” and “right” the best words to characterize how
fundamental it is for people in the U.S. and everywhere to have access to
affordable healthcare, for themselves, their families and friends, their
communities, our country?
Imagine the judge asking one of the
following:
“Do you think safe food for all U.S. citizens is a right or a
privilege??”
“Do you think access to safe drinking is a right or
a privilege??”
“Do you think access to decent school for all U.S.
citizens is a right or a privilege??”
“Do you think fresh air for all U.S. citizens is a right or a
privilege??”
Not to close on a downer, we leave you with a salute to our favorite answer, given by runner-up
Miss New Jersey, Chhavi Verg, to the fifth and final question about whether
social media is a positive or negative influence in our culture. She responds
in no uncertain terms: “With great power comes great responsibility.”`
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