Editor, Times-Union: There are times when I talk to my fellow contemporaries about the state of affairs in our society that I am reminded, and sometimes on a daily basis – how the parasites who control our society, and the world for that matter – have infected the minds of their host, which is us; the people in society. The parasites have conditioned us to behave and think against our own best interest. Therefore, a term comes to my mind and this term is: classical conditioning. Throughout the decades, or even centuries for that matter – the parasites who control our society, have used, and still use classical conditioning to control our behaviors. For example, I am going to use a conversation I had recently about single-payer healthcare with a fellow contemporary. I was discussing this topic with this individual, and the first remark this individual made was: “Why should freeloaders get healthcare?” In other words, if you do not work, why should you have healthcare? Which is an excellent example of our classical conditioning, which is – a behavioral process whereby a response becomes more frequent or more predictable in a given environment as a result of reinforcement. Let me explain: Decades ago, capitalist foundations and other corporate class institutions insisted that medicine serve the needs of “their” corporate capitalist society. Thus, they (the corporate capitalist society) figured out that if they offered healthcare to workers, they would get more people to work in their capitalist institutions. Consequently, people have been conditioned for decades, if not a century, to associate work with healthcare, which is an example of classical conditioning. Again, the corporate parasites have infected the minds of their host, which is we, the people to think and behave in certain ways. This is why for decades, if you do not work for a capitalist institution, it has been very hard to afford to pay for healthcare, or to even get healthcare. For decades we the people of this society have been conditioned to believe that if you do not spend your lives working for capitalist institutions, you do not deserve healthcare, and the conversation I had with this individual is a very good example of this. It is as if someone who is pursuing their own projects, pleasures, visions and ideas should not have a right to affordable healthcare, as compared to someone working for the capitalist corporate class. Because of years of conditioning we the people have learned to associate healthcare with work. We are conditioned workers. Decades ago capitalist institutions insisted that medicine serve the needs of their corporate capitalist class, and consequently implemented healthcare at work to entice people to work in their capitalist institutions. So then, does my fellow contemporary truly believe – that if you do not work, you should not have healthcare, or is he just an example of years of conditioning by the capitalist corporate class. Bennie Hively Warsaw, via email
