Analysis question 1

It seems that with every controversial political topic, identities always come into conflict. Health care is something that everyone connects with. Like Laura said, people seem to need to include an identity statement when talking about the issue (like "as a doctor" or "as a senior citizen").

I work at a bookstore in Union Station and over the summer a man came in looking for both Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly's latest books. Clearly we did not agree politically. When I was ringing him up he asked me if I was a fan of either Beck or O'Reilly. When I smiled and said "no", he said "Young lady you are going to be paying for the rest of your life for what these guys are trying to do. What do you have to say about that?" His question caught me off guard for a couple of reasons, the first being that I was at work and didn't have time to discuss politics. But also I did not like the way he made assumptions about my identity. He assumed that because I am young, he was more knowledgeable than me. His age also allowed him to ask me a personal question to begin with. It was clear that our identities were conflicting, not just our stances on health care. His being an older conservative man conflicted with my being a young liberal female. The funny thing about this exchange is that we both judged each others identities before the question was asked. While I was busy judging him by his choice in pundits, he was probably making assumptions based on my age or hair color or choice in shoes (TOMS) and decided I was a fair-weather liberal. In the end, I answered the customer by smiling, muttering something about the past 8 years, and telling him sincerely to have a nice day.

Identity plays a big role in this and every debate. I think we have an almost ego-maniacal way of trying to make everything about us. While health care reform will clearly affect all of us, I believe our need to identify with it is based more on a desire to feel important than it is to protect our fellow "seniors" or "liberal constituents". But maybe that's a little harsh.