So I got up a little early today (OK, can you really say being up at 2am is a 'little' early) and I've been shuffling around the apartment like King Richard before the dawn (thank you Star Trek for the reference). I've been thinking about perception. While it might not be the best representation of Middle America, I saw an episode of Extreme Home Makeover where they surprised the winners on a city bus. Supposedly this was just a typical bus with typical people. Why is it that bus on TV was missing people I see on the bus? Where were the women with three kids and a stroller? Where was the guy who had been drinking since 6am trying to stagger his way home, or to another bar? Why was it only one person was listening to a PSA and no people were on their cellphones? Where were the Walmart women (who are like Elfquest women without the elf fetish)?

I know it was just TV but it didn't even try to give a real representation of real life, which only continues the weird stereotype (if you can classify it as that) of what Americans are like. TV would make it seem we are this semi fit, maybe slightly overworked but resilient group of people. The reality is so much different and we don't get that. There was a recent funny story that was a national issue. There was a kid locally that fell out of the stands on to the football field. Unlike the kid in LA that fell, this one survived. There were a few interviews with the grandfather who took the kid to the game and the mother. Depending on which station you saw the story on, you may have seen a woman either in the background or she would have been identified while she was holding the kid. It was implied she was a friend of the family or a sister. In reality she was the lesbian lover of the mother.

They are open about their relationship and I got my information from a reliable source, and I would say it was pretty reliable since I was in the room when the mother called to tell this person about the kid being on TV because of the fall. Honestly I think of it as a situation where it probably didn't add anything to the story but the way it was avoided on the three reports I saw it came off as odd that this other woman wasn't identified properly.

The thing that I always get upset about when watching the news or hearing and seeing things represented in the media is seeing initially or learning later how inaccurate they are to the real reality. Now, with the falling kid story, I can see how, in a warped sort of way, some right wing group could say that having a lesbian couple raise a child could lead to the incident where the kid falls from the stands on national TV. It would be a whacked out theory, but in the land where Sarah Palin is considered by some to be a Jedi Master, crazy theories can happen. Does that mean we alter the story just to pull the emotional strings we're looking for?

Another example of this going on in the state of Arizona is the death panel? Oh, maybe you didn't hear about this but Jan Brewer cut funding for people who had already been approved for transplants under state funded medical insurance. Yes, people that had been approved were cut off, leaving them to pay bills of anywhere from $200,000 to a million or more in medical costs. Since the people were already looking for the state to assist them in funding, the cut off left many realizing they would die. One person who did die wasn't officially considered a causality of the plan, but there are just under 100 people who are scrabbling to raise funds who are effected by the decision.

This issue was highlighted on some local stations and on MSNBC. Unfortunately, and you will see why I use this word in a moment, the person who has become the spokesperson or the head go to person for the press is a very nice man who needs a transplant. His story is dramatic because a friend offered to give Francisco Felix his liver when he died, but after the reversal of funds on October 1, Felix didn't have the money to cover the $200,000 for the transplant so the liver went to someone else. The press came with loving shots of the Felix family, interviews were granted with the wife because Francisco cannot speak English well. While there has been sympathy given to the family, more comments than you can imagine sound like these two posted on the NATIONAL CBS website about a week ago:

I made an emphasis of pointing out the two negative messages I saw on the CBS website because even though these are the comments of two people out of 12 postings, which would seem to show they are in the minority, if you look at comments from the state media outlets the number is more 60/40 with the comments I posted. It illustrates the short sightedness of a lot of people because by the postings I've seen people who think like the postings listed feel the transplants are going to 'those people,' you know the ones that come here illegally, who can't speak English and drain the public. Those same people ignore the other person highlighted on the MSNBC report; the white man who worked hard in his life and had to be put on the state medical system because in the PRIVATE sector he couldn't get insurance for his preexisting heart condition. He has had one pacemaker put in which has extended his life some but if he doesn't get a new heart he will die. Is it his fault no insurance company will give him a policy, so he doesn't deserve top of the line service?

I talked to a man a few weeks ago, who actually steered me in the direction of this story, who was looking at getting an amputation of both legs because he was on the state medical plan and because of the cuts, instead of getting the treatment that could save his feet he has to get them amputated. Let's just say he's not a happy person.

These are two examples of the truth that is out here. It's not political spin many people need. They don't need reinforcement of their stereotypes. What they need is the truth of what is happening to people all over the country. They need to know why health care for all is important, not that it is for immigrants or worthless people. We need to be shown the real world, not the dressed up one for TV. We need to see people as they are, not looking off like some 1940s effeminate man in a comedy leaving us to wonder if he is or isn't gay.