Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/05/07/banksy-installed-a-stunning-ar.html
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I think I’d prefer a hefty raise + hazard pay over a Banksy that I don’t even own.
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I hope the buyer decides to keep it at that hospital to display, but regardless the drawing (and Banksy’s gesture) is heartwarming.
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Agreed, but it needn’t be an either/or thing, so I’m not going to complain!
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Not gonna lie; I got a little choked up when I first saw this.
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And some dumbass tries to steal it out of the foyer in 3 … 2 … 1 …
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I hope he has another ready for when the nurse is discarded after all of this is over.
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Nurse here.
The thought is wonderful and the artwork is cool.
The fact that a giant hospital system has to plan to sell donated art work to fund their healthcare worker’s salary says a lot about the decisions of the British government. Not a lot of good, but a lot.
Well, at US hospitals, nurses get no hazard pay and a giant cut in our salaries! The hospitals nationwide aren’t profitable enough to keep paying us during this time - the money made from taking care of covid19 patients pales in comparison to their usual profit, sand the first cuts have been to nurse staffing.
And before you ask, Yes, we know that cutting staffing means more mistakes and more deaths and longer term higher costs, but that’s not important compared to short term profit for the corporations.
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Exactly my thinking. I worked as a clerk in a hospital while attending university. I really wish we had a more socialist healthcare model in the US.
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I may be being naive here but the moment I heard that the coronavirus had arrived in the US I thought well, ordinary Americans will maybe see that a healthcare system based purely on corporate profit and a gouging insurance system doesn’t really work and maybe when it’s all over they will rethink it and come to the conclusion that providing care for all (tax-funded) does not mean sliding into communism. And then I thought hmm, Trump.
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I have much respect for your comment. While my partner was dying it was the nurses that I saw every day doing a job that was beyond belief. I know that the job is traditionally gendered by women (no disrespect for the guys) but holey fuck why isn’t this the top tier of medical treatment! Personal care for our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons, daughters, nephews and nieces. What ever their identity.
So much love and respect for what you do.
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According to the video on the BBC link it is being sold and the result is going to NHS charities (not to the NHS).
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I know what you mean, and for an American it might sound socialist to have general healthcare.
But being based in Germany, ‘socialist’ sounds just plain wrong.
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Cuba’s is apparently impressive.
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I never said national socialist.
And we’re going to simply conflate an ideal with bad leadership?
Heavens, no! I didn’t even think in that direction! So sorry if you thought so!
Just to explain:
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we had a socialist “republic” after WWII in eastern Germany, and while there are people advocating for socialism and there is a left-wing party promoting socialism, the majority of Germans would definitely not want socialism around here. If you would place someone with ideas like Bernie Sanders promotes for the US on a German political spectrum, he would be slightly left of the centre, perhaps. Very definitely not in the remotest in a “socialist” area, but near the social democrats (SPD). I know this is differently perceived in the US.
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The German health care system wouldn’t be considered “socialist” in the slightest by the vast majority of Germans. The medical system in general is frowned upon by most Germans (I kid you not!) because it is perceived to perform abysmally, etc. But nearly noone who is in their right mind would call this socialist. And it isn’t. It isn’t even fully social, because it definitely disadvantages low-income groups, as there isn’t a real progressive rate (disclaimer for Germans reading this: that statement is not fully true, but catches the gist; don’t get me wrong).
Summing up 1 + 2, on the grounds of my two semesters of political sciences, my Germanophone background, and my knowledge about (also: truly socialist) healthcare systems I still would claim that the term “socialist” doesn’t apply to universal healthcare in general. I hence would discourage the use of the term. I also expect you’ll get a strongly averse reaction by many US Americans to the term… for different reasons than in Germany.
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It has been said the health service is one reason bad leadership is able to persist. But that was not the point.
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