Normally I don’t get into anything political, but after the recent passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in June 2012 I got to thinking about some Sliders episodes. Essentially the law that has been passed will require everyone in the United States to buy health insurance or pay a penalty.
Now I’m neither liberal nor conservative, and my intentions are to look at things in relation to Sliders. Ergo the endless possibilities of… what if?
I revisited some Sliders episodes over the weekend and found season four’s “Just Say Yes” quite interesting. The government or DEA (Drug Empowerment Administration) forces people to get high on drugs. The general population and healthcare system treats it as a danger if people “get low”. Since Obamacare will force individuals to have insurance or pay a penalty doesn’t it not seem out of the realm of possibility of forced inoculation/drugging? No I’m not talking about now but later in the future with more tweaking as years go by, with Obama or no Obama.
Quinn’s double is seen as a criminal and anti-drug agitator by his government simply because he doesn’t agree with their policies. And in all likelihood we will be labeled as the criminals if we don’t buy or pay the penalty. “Staying off drugs won’t hurt you, people. There’s nothing dangerous about getting low. So don’t listen to the lies of the government and the pharmaceutical conglomerates. Tune out, turn off and drop in, people. Do you hear me? Am I getting through?” – Quinn’s double
Who could forget the season one episode “Fever” where Quinn’s double is deliberately infected by the government? What’s to stop our own government and healthcare system to do the same for a little more profit? Just force everyone to buy some healthcare, infect the population and see the dough roll in. Yeah maybe these comparisons are a bit of a stretch but when you step back and look at the big picture you can see just how close we’re getting to fictional parallel worlds. Maybe you should give “Fever” and “Just Say Yes” another viewing. I’ll leave you with some final Sliders wisdom:
Arturo: “There’s one constant about every America we visit.”
Rembrandt: “Yeah, the healthcare system always sucks.”
– from the second season premiere, “Into the Mystic”