Insurance hell
Best moment on The Sopranos tonight (so far) is Tony Soprano yelling at an insurance flunkie who comes into his hospital room in an effort to get him out of there. She says that if emergency medicos hadn’t found an insurance card in their “wallet biopsy” on him in the ambulance, they would have dumped his ass at Martin Luther King Hospital. Tony sneers as her: “Get out of my room, you sick c***.” Spoken on behalf of insurance victims everywhere.
Second-best moment is Tony Soprano going up against a fundamentalist religious nut.
April 2nd, 2006 at 10:28 pm
To continue on that thread - Tony is concerned that the “carting” business not be sold so he continues to have a W-2 and health insurance for himself and the family. I’d always wondered how he’d had “benefits”.
Great writing tonight - loved the moments where he was appreciative and lucid and gravitating to the Zen.
April 2nd, 2006 at 11:17 pm
Explode your TV Channel
Here are my notes for the here! meeting, most of which we never covered, but that form a geneal outline for how I’d explode a television channel, were I ever granted such powers. Interestingly, after writing all this out, I’m…
April 2nd, 2006 at 11:46 pm
If only Tony Soprano and every crime family in the country would go up against the fundamentalist religious nuts. That would be an interesting real life vendetta. Not even their God could save them from that siege. What if?
April 3rd, 2006 at 12:08 am
qcontent,
You must be referring to Islamofascists as the ‘fundamentalist religious nuts’ you’re apparently so petrified of.
Now I see even more clearly what JJ is so fervently interesting in promoting. Forget about the F and S and words on prime time public airways. He wants that C word front and center, too. “Of course there are standards”, he says!
Whose? At what base level? Any man who would address a woman as a “C”…..
The appropriate tags for this post are “Subhuman Culture” and “Hatred of Religion by a Sunday School Teacher”.
April 3rd, 2006 at 12:32 am
Here’s a better, all-inclusive tag: “Rally the Base”.
April 3rd, 2006 at 1:13 am
Eileen… sigh. Can’t people have any fun?
I actually don’t like the Sopranos much myself, even though there’s much from the first season I remember, including that haunting episode where he killed the stool pigeon while taking his daughter around to visit colleges.
April 3rd, 2006 at 1:45 am
Wow! What happens next week? Does he get medieval on an advocate for school vouchers?
April 3rd, 2006 at 4:59 am
Eileen,
You don’t need just a chill pill. You need chill by IV. Take Tony’s bed now that it’s free.
April 3rd, 2006 at 7:17 am
Most of the First Amendment profanity crowd is at root religious-phobic, even if they don’t realize it themselves.
When a murdering mobster clashes with a “religious nut”, who do you root for?
April 3rd, 2006 at 10:43 am
When a murdering mobster clashes with a “religious nutâ€, who do you root for?
I root for the guy that’s not trying to convince me that the dinosaurs didn’t exist
(yes, I think the term religious nut applies here quite nicely).
April 3rd, 2006 at 11:13 am
Thank God my needs aren’t determined by your standards, JJ.
I wonder what you’d do if some man called your wife, daughter or mother a “sick c***”? If that isn’t your standard for what’s acceptable, then what is? And if the insurance agent had been black and he’d called her a “sick n*****”, would that be okay in your book, too?
As for the term ‘fundamentalist religious nut’, you don’t have to be the least bit religious or a member of the PTC to find that one offensive. Do you bandy that one about at your church?
Jeff, in my opinion your standards are sketchy at best.
April 3rd, 2006 at 11:24 am
So don’t visit his site.
April 3rd, 2006 at 11:39 am
That would be my choice, John, not yours. I find it fascinating what liberals think. How often do you visit conservative sites? Do you ever reach beyond your own comfort level to learn other views? Do you examine your own views in that context?
In my world, the most craven term a man can use toward a woman is c***. It doesn’t get any better because it’s addressed to an insurance agent on tv.
April 3rd, 2006 at 11:44 am
Pretty funny to see a mafia guy worried about his health insurance policy!
April 3rd, 2006 at 12:12 pm
eillen, you really need someone to f your c, and god help you if it’s a n.
April 3rd, 2006 at 12:35 pm
Stop f-in spoilin’ here. I waz too busy blo-in my b-fren in HIS hospital bed (got shot in a meth lab bust, f-in pigs) to get around to watchin’ the last episode. F-in c’s and ho’s and softee d’s all of you. Now where’d I put that f-in remote…
April 3rd, 2006 at 12:57 pm
I thought the ‘c’ word was used perfectly - it was the insurance woman who was being craven - questioning the injured instead of the attending physician! She deserved the name.
But I think the best part was when Tony muttered to the ambulance attendanct, after he admitted that he had looked in his wallet for an insurance card and said that he was just doing his job, that ‘there was a lot of that at Nuremburg”.
My father drilled that into me as a kid - just following orders wasn’t an excuse for the nazis, why should it be for anyone else.
CJF
April 3rd, 2006 at 12:57 pm
Mumblix: Just saw that one. ROLF-in’ now.
April 3rd, 2006 at 1:15 pm
I agree with Colin. Though I detest the c word, it fits perfectly here. But not because of what the insurance rep was doing. Blaming her is like blaming the telemarketer for interrupting your evening. Blame her company. Pick a fight with her bosses. Tell the regulators they’re causing more problems than they are curing.
However Tony is just the kind of guy to use that word. It’s great writing.
April 3rd, 2006 at 1:28 pm
As a resident physician and doctor myself, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a utilization specialist talk to a patient directly in that way–a family member yes, but to go through their chart in front of them, while they sit in the hospital, and bring up trying to get them out of the hospital? Nope.
It doesnt happen too often, since scenes like what happened in this episode would be a daily occurance!
I see those people talking to the doctors ALOT, and from my experience, we are the ones that explain to the patient their options and when they should go home.
Generally I make a decision and then make a plan–I’m fortunate enough to work at a place in which the utilization people can’t make us push people out the door that aren’t ready.
Poor tony though! And even more funny about the Paramedic getting busting for stealing money out of tony’s wallet!
April 3rd, 2006 at 1:29 pm
Jeff,
it really was a great episode. best of the season so far.
however im not sure i’d call the minister a religious “nut”. yes he was a fundementalist, but there are a lot of people here in america who share that pastor’s beliefs. of course most Christians arent as extreme as that gentleman, but the Sopranos isnt really a show about subtlety.
but what made that episode so great was Tony was buying most of it until the guy got righteous about the dinosaurs. and even though Tony also really liked the rocket scientist - who was well spoken and far more open minded than the fundementalist - Tony actually believed that the power of prayer helped his recovery, and i wouldnt be surprised to see Tony praying again in the future.
either way, terrific episode touching on spirituality and science in a way that you’d never expect on the Sopranos.
April 3rd, 2006 at 1:29 pm
ps that woman truly deserved to be called what she was called.
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:38 pm
As somebody who doesn’t watch the Sopranos, this whole thread is bizarro world. Without a TV fantasy for context, I see a lot of guys who presumably have liberal tendencies beating up on a sole woman for objecting to the word “c*nt”. *She* is not enlightened enough to understand that calling a woman “c*nt” is acceptable in some situations — presumably also if she’s the stripper or prostitute that they’re raping.
As somebody completely untouched by the Sopranos, am I reading this right? A mob boss, involved in murder and petty illegal activity, hiding his crimes behind a front business, is a sympathetic hero for calling a woman a c*nt and putting down religious people?
And why is Jeff Jarvis, and everyone else here, suddenly using astericks after days of flogging the free use of “bullshit”? If this is such a great way to put down a woman, why the astericks? Is bullshit more acceptable than c*nt? Is bullshit political speech, and c*nt not? And if that’s the case, would c*nt become OK later, if more Democrats started calling Republicans c*nts?
I’m fascinated by the slippery justifications of people who think everybody else is a hypocrite.
April 3rd, 2006 at 5:31 pm
This is pretty much how Hollywood presents anyone with a religious sensibility, as if this were the only type of religious person that exists. It’s a surprise on this show, which usually shows even minor characters without such a one-dimensional stereotype.
In recovery (and this character states he’s a former coke addict) I’ve met a WIDE variety of religiously-converted people, and maybe 3% of them are like this guy. Many instead still look and talk just like the hardcore bikers they’ve always been, and you’d probably cross the street if you saw them coming. THAT would have been an interesting religious character for Tony to meet, don’t you think? Alas, Hollywood seems incapable of such an approach.
April 3rd, 2006 at 5:34 pm
{w Says:
April 3rd, 2006 at 12:12 pm
eillen, you really need someone to f your c, and god help you if it’s a n. }
Worm–what a sick little slimeball, you are. How old are you–12?
April 3rd, 2006 at 6:56 pm
I wrote it’s the perfect word because Tony is a vile, misogynistic bully and it’s a vile, misogynistic, bullying word. That’s not an approval.
April 4th, 2006 at 9:21 am
Carson,
I’m glad someone else noticed that, too. Everyone seems to be cheering on Tony’s salty language and denigrating anyone who is offended by it yet…they won’t use the word themselves because, deep down, they know it’s too offensive to use even in this context.
That’s sort of like Madonna stating several months ago that she wouldn’t let her young child be exposed to the pulp music she’s produced but obviously doesn’t mind that it affects other mother’s children.
Is that it’s like to be liberal? “I support your right to do whatever you want and say whatever you say…just don’t do it in front of my kid, please.”
Man, that’s funny….and sad.
April 5th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
Wow, you conservative types sure like to reach false conclusions.
It’s Soprano that’s saying the word, you know the fictional mobster who steals, cheats and kills people.
So it’s in character when he calls the insurance lady ‘cunt’.
Last I saw, T aint no liberal.
April 5th, 2006 at 1:17 pm
Ellen,
You must have me confused with someone else. How did I transform from being petrified of fundamentalist religious nuts, into being a cun* caller? Hell, I never met a c*nt I didn’t like. Some of my best friends are cun*s. What’s the problem here, ****?
Next thing I know, you are going to be equating me with the likes of your trusted Republican friend Brian J. Doyle, Homeland Security Press secretary and internet pedifile.
(Bush’s moral standards at work for the security of all US citizens; even our children.)
April 5th, 2006 at 5:49 pm
tony -
I think I would have preferred to see an evangelical who was not a nut. You could see that Tony was actually tempted by this guy, but the door slammed shut as soon as he started babbling about dinosaurs. Too easy! It also made Hesh’s daughter’s comment about evangelicals being “friends of the Jews” inane rather than merely naive.
Oh well, Chase knows where to find me.
PS - Of course that woman was a sick c**t! What else could you call her, a “darned meanie”?
PPS - Could we lay off Eileen, please? Disagreeing with her is no reason for rude putdowns (this means you, Jeff).
April 5th, 2006 at 11:03 pm
I think one of the best moments was Paulie telling the elderly patient to go fix the sat. dish himself.
April 6th, 2006 at 12:51 am
The power of words.
ronbo, and those of you who have spoken up in my defense, thank you.
I’m going OT for a minute, so if you don’t choose to read this, don’t. Who knows, it may be deleted by the time you read it anyway. Far be it for me to speak truth to ‘power’.
This thread has illustrated the problems related to a base freeforall in public forums, throughout the media and political interchange in terms of speech. Worms crawl out if invited. Abusers run rampant if encouraged. Hosts, writers, editors and directors who invite them to are responsible.
Yes, I know Tony was a gangster talking. Yes, I know it was on unregulated cable. But when one encourages and mainstreams the base that’s what you’ll get. What were the alternatives to calling her a sick cunt, ronbo? Many. The multiple Godfather movies didn’t need to resort to this level of ** to be an extraordinary success.
Now to get personal. I’ve dealt with a real life abuser…lost a child as a result…and even that guy didn’t resort to the C word. Could I as a woman have called him ‘many’ names in the process? Sure. But even I - in response to his abuse - did not.
That a bunch of worms do so on the internet in response to a call to action for ‘free speech’ is, quite frankly, way beyond sad.
Now then. Here is why Jeff wants to ‘eliminate me’ from the conversation. I call him directly on his tactics. Like this: the **real** reason Jeff showcases the use of cunt on TV is because by doing so, he suggests the use of fuck and shit on the Public Airways are (comparatively speaking) benign. [The issue is NOT about insurance hell.] Therefore, according to JJ, the FCC is full of shit, and Therefore we should allow further degradation of our airwaves without regard to community standards or laws. Carson Fire’s comment was spot on in this regard.
I’m reminded of my many experiences as the sole, young female in the boardroom of a major U.S., international company. I’m also reminded of my many experiences in rooms full of male lawyers - when I was the only female. Men don’t like for women to speak truth to their power. I would state my case, opposing lawyers would attempt to tear me to shreds and similarly denigrate me on a personal level. Then, with a smile, I’d offer to pour them a cup of coffee during the break. By the end of the meeting, they treated me with respect on all levels. I earned that respect, one man at a time in both the business and legal worlds. The attorneys I worked *with* often stated they would never want to be on the other side of me on a lawsuit. Not because I was a ****, but because I was successful.
So, JJ, care for a cup of coffee? I’ll even pour. And I’ll continue to to call you when I see you - without calling you names in the process. And as you lecture ME about taking the high road regarding my exchange with jihadis here, and according to you, ‘lowering the level of discourse’, I’m still listening, even after this post.
The minute you speak up against worm, et. al., regarding *their* level of discourse and what you, personally find to be acceptable, I’m sure the real conversation can begin. But as long as you treat women like dirt - if they don’t speak truth to your purported power - you’ll get my continuing respect in return.
Are you game? By the way, I should add that I’m [also] your contemporary. And let’s don’t compare CV’s, eh? Suffice it to say I’m neither your daughter nor your whipping woman.
Truce or dare, JJ? :))