[DRAFT] Brace Yourselves

[Sacara]

[Name] Brace Yourselves
[Desc] A recent study done by researchers at @@ANIMAL@@ University shows one out of every three @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ are afraid to smile in public because they are embarrassed by their crooked teeth.
[validity] low average income

[option] "The most common reason we heard for this toothy problem is that people just can't afford to purchase braces," explains the lead researcher of the study, holding a wet pair of dentures. "Most health insurance plans don't cover orthodontic procedures, resulting in many people foregoing the idea of straight teeth entirely. If we want to get @@NAME@@ and our citizens' teeth back on track, we need to mandate health insurance plans cover the cost of installing braces."
[effect] orthodontists are bracing for a surge in business

[option] "This is more than an insurance issue; it's a national identity crisis!" says your Minister of Foreign Affairs, having just come back from an international summit. "All the other ambassadors in @@REGION@@ constantly make jokes at our expense because of how ugly our teeth are! We are the regional laughing stock! Children all across @@NAME@@ should be mandated to wear braces so we can dispel this stereotype of having horrible teeth. I'm sure you won't have a problem covering the cost for something so essential, will you?"
[effect] schools are forced to remove all magnets to avoid any painful accidents

[option] “This whole debate just leaves a bad taste in my mouth,” comments your secretary, whose teeth are facing every which way but straight. “Our society puts too much of an emphasis on the need for straight teeth. Whatever happened to body positivity and loving yourself the way you were born? We have to start teaching our children their teeth look perfect, regardless of how many different directions they are pointing."
[effect] @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ flash their teeth when threatened to scare off potential predators

[Name] Brace Yourselves
[Desc] A recent study done by researchers at @@ANIMAL@@ University shows one out of every three @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ are afraid to smile in public because they are embarrassed about how their teeth look.
[validity] lower average income

[option] "The most common reason we heard for this toothy problem is that people just can't afford to purchase braces," explains the lead researcher of the study, holding a wet pair of dentures. "Most health insurance plans don't cover dental and orthodontic procedures. If we want to get @@NAME@@ and our citizens' teeth back on track, we need to mandate health insurance covers the installation of braces."
[effect] orthodontists are bracing for a surge in business

[option] "This is more than an insurance issue; it's a national identity crisis!" says your Minister of Foreign Affairs, having just come back from an international summit. "All the other ambassadors in @@REGION@@ constantly make jokes at our expense because of our ugly teeth! We're the regional laughing stock! Children should be mandated to wear braces so we can dispel this stereotype of having ugly, gross-looking teeth. I'm sure you won't mind covering the cost for something so essential to our national identity, will you?"
[effect] schools are forced to remove all magnets to avoid any painful accidents

[option] “This whole debate just leaves a bad taste in my mouth,” comments your secretary, whose teeth are facing every which way but straight. “I think we put too much of an emphasis on the need for straight teeth. What ever happened to body positivity and loving yourself the way you are? We have to start teaching our children their teeth look perfect, regardless of the way they are facing."
[effect] @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ flash their teeth when threatened to scare off potential predators

Name: Brace Yourselves
The Issue: A recent study done by researchers at @@ANIMAL@@ University have shown that a majority of @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ have either 'crooked' or 'extremely crooked' looking teeth.
Validity: low average income, capitalist

[Option] "Of the people that we interviewed, over half responded that they were 'too scared' to open their mouths in public," promptly states @@RANDOMNAME@@, one of the lead researchers of the study. "We found the reason of this to be lack of insurance coverage of braces. As you can see in our potential remedies, the government must mandate that insurance companies cover braces if we wish to see a fix to this problem."
[effect] the nation is known for it's wide ranging dental coverage

[validity] nations without a national healthcare system
[Option] "This is much more than a simple insurance issue; this is a national identity crisis!" exclaims your Minister of Foreign Affairs, who has remarkably straight and pearly white teeth. "Every time I go to a meeting all the other ambassadors make fun of @@NAME@@, all because of our teeth! It's starts to wear on me, ya know? Surely our government, in the name of public decency, can cover the cost of all tooth-related problems, no?"
[effect] there's a piece of metal inside of everyone's mouth

[validity] nations that have a national healthcare system
[Option] "This is much more than a simple insurance issue; this is a national identity crisis!" exclaims your Minister of Foreign Affairs, who has remarkably straight and pearly white teeth. "Every time I go to a meeting all the other ambassadors make fun of @@NAME@@, all because of our teeth! It's starts to wear on me, ya know? Surely our national healthcare system, in the name of public decency, can cover the cost of all tooth-related problems, no?
[effect] there's a piece of metal inside of everyone's mouth

[Option] “This whole debate just leaves a bad taste in my mouth,” comments your secretary, who’s daughter is scheduled to receive braces within the next month. “Our society puts too much of an emphasis on straight teeth. What ever happened to body positivity and loving yourself? We need to start teaching our children that how you were born is the way your teeth were meant to be!"
[effect] foreign schoolchildren recognize @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ by their scary-looking teeth

[Jutsa]

The issue itself is nice, but I'm a little confused by the criteria:
1) How come it's for nations with low average income?
2) What about nations where insurance really isn't much of a thing? ed: like below 0. Or nations where it's a giant industry, and probably has dental coverage already?
3) What about nations with universal health care, or communism? Actually, that'd be a good alternative to option 1; having the NHS cover dental work.

Also yes I posted something before this, but I was thinking "bad teeth" instead of "crooked teeth".

[USS Monitor]

2) What about nations where insurance really isn't much of a thing? ed: like below 0. Or nations where it's a giant industry, and probably has dental coverage already?
3) What about nations with universal health care, or communism? Actually, that'd be a good alternative to option 1; having the NHS cover dental work.

I think option 1 could use a doppelganger or a rewrite to deal with this.

Also try to avoid to use effect lines starting with @@NAME@@ because it looks weird in the national happenings.

[Sacara]

The issue itself is nice, but I'm a little confused by the criteria:
1) How come it's for nations with low average income?
2) What about nations where insurance really isn't much of a thing? ed: like below 0. Or nations where it's a giant industry, and probably has dental coverage already?
3) What about nations with universal health care, or communism? Actually, that'd be a good alternative to option 1; having the NHS cover dental work.

1) Nation's with average income can afford braces
2) Hmm...
3) Also a good idea.

2) What about nations where insurance really isn't much of a thing? ed: like below 0. Or nations where it's a giant industry, and probably has dental coverage already?
3) What about nations with universal health care, or communism? Actually, that'd be a good alternative to option 1; having the NHS cover dental work.

I think option 1 could use a doppelganger or a rewrite to deal with this.

Also try to avoid to use effect lines starting with @@NAME@@ because it looks weird in the national happenings.

Oops. Not a fan of option one's effect line as it currently stands anyways.

How should I restructure this to accommodate the aforementioned suggestions?

[Jutsa]

For capitalist/NHS nations, just replace the government must mandate that insurance companies cover braces
with the government must make the national health service cover braces.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Braces are naturally funny. I think there's a lot more you can do with the humour here.

[Australian rePublic]

Option 2- What about people without crooked teeth?

[Jutsa]

They could make them extremely uncrooked... I guess.

But yeah that's still a decent point, Aussie.

[Sacara]

Option 2- What about people without crooked teeth?

What do you mean? The speaker says he'll fight to get everyone who has crooked teeth braces. Why would folks with straight teeth need them?

I'll work on adding more humor.

[Trotterdam]

Does anyone ever have perfect 100% straight teeth naturally?

Sure, some people's teeth are less crooked than others, maybe enough that you don't really notice, but a perfectionist would still want to make corrections.

[Sacara]

Draft two is up. More feedback is appreciated.

• Added a doppelganger for option two
• Attempted to add more humor

[Jutsa]

At first I thought about option 1 needing a doppleganger as well, but thinking about it,
I'm sure private healthcare insurance can exist to rival the government one.

That said, I think a good validity for this issue would be to have private industry;
can't see this happening in nations with socialism, though.
I mean, the government controls the insurance, I'd think. There'd be no difference between making
insurance companies and making the government pay for it.

[Sacara]

At first I thought about option 1 needing a doppleganger as well, but thinking about it,
I'm sure private healthcare insurance can exist to rival the government one.

That said, I think a good validity for this issue would be to have private industry;
can't see this happening in nations with socialism, though.
I mean, the government controls the insurance, I'd think. There'd be no difference between making
insurance companies and making the government pay for it.

Thinking about it, I probably should have the validity be capitalist. However, would I need the doppelganger for option two? How many capitalist nations have a NHS?

[Jutsa]

I mean, mine does. It's probably safe to keep.

[Sacara]

Reviving another old draft, this time from 2018.

Would love to hear feedback!

[Jim the Baptist]

I feel like the problem/issue is not really very well defined in the premise. Based on the stat filter you have suggested, it seems like you are supposing people in @@NAME@@ cannot afford proper orthodontic work because they don't have a high enough income.
Firstly, average income doesn't necessarily determine how much money people have to spend on dental work or whether the government will provide it or not. What if I have a high income nation but 100% taxes so no one can afford dental work? Then I would like to be getting this issue but apparently I can't because I need to have low average income. Or what if I have low average income with 100% taxes and the government does provide decent dental care? In that case the issue wouldn't really be relevant to me, but I am receiving it based on my comparatively low average income stat.
Putting a low average income stat filter is based on an assumption that in high income nations everyone has perfect teeth, or in low income nations everyone has ghastly crooked teeth, which I think is a bit presumptuous.
What if my nation is income-rich but people have bad teeth for other reasons (for example, in some countries like Japan, crooked teeth can be considered 'cute').
So what I am suggesting is that you think about a better way to frame the issue. If you want to approach it from an income perspective and stat filter for that, make that clear go all out with it, although I think that's not necessarily the best approach.
Is it that people don't have enough money? Or is it that there are not enough decent dentists around and the government does not fund dental work enough? Or, is it an issue of beauty standards which you touch on in option 3? The options all just seem to re-define the problem rather than providing different solutions to one unified issue.

[Bears Armed]

Might this tie in to the existing issue on Fluoridation of drinking water?

[Sacara]

I feel like the problem/issue is not really very well defined in the premise. Based on the stat filter you have suggested, it seems like you are supposing people in @@NAME@@ cannot afford proper orthodontic work because they don't have a high enough income.
Firstly, average income doesn't necessarily determine how much money people have to spend on dental work or whether the government will provide it or not. What if I have a high income nation but 100% taxes so no one can afford dental work? Then I would like to be getting this issue but apparently I can't because I need to have low average income. Or what if I have low average income with 100% taxes and the government does provide decent dental care? In that case the issue wouldn't really be relevant to me, but I am receiving it based on my comparatively low average income stat.
Putting a low average income stat filter is based on an assumption that in high income nations everyone has perfect teeth, or in low income nations everyone has ghastly crooked teeth, which I think is a bit presumptuous.
What if my nation is income-rich but people have bad teeth for other reasons (for example, in some countries like Japan, crooked teeth can be considered 'cute').
So what I am suggesting is that you think about a better way to frame the issue. If you want to approach it from an income perspective and stat filter for that, make that clear go all out with it, although I think that's not necessarily the best approach.
Is it that people don't have enough money? Or is it that there are not enough decent dentists around and the government does not fund dental work enough? Or, is it an issue of beauty standards which you touch on in option 3? The options all just seem to re-define the problem rather than providing different solutions to one unified issue.

You bring up good points. I was debating with myself which validities to put on the draft and decided to punt that debate until later.

As a fix for your concern about income after taxes, the validity should instead be average disposable income. Easy fix. And option one lays out the reasoning as to why most people do not have braces -- they are prohibitively expensive. In the United States, braces can run you anywhere from $2,000 to $13,000... not exactly penny change. If you wanted your nation to be like Japan, then you would be able to choose option three.

Draft three is now up. I made it explicitly clear in the premise the draft is about citizens embarrassed by their crooked teeth. I also made some wording changes throughout the whole issue to tighten it up. Still looking for feedback!

[Drew Durrnil]

add a new validity: no universal healthcare

[Verdant Haven]

Definitely either need a Validity: Capitalism, or a doppleganger for the private insurance option for socialists and those with universal healthcare.

I love the first effect line. It wasn't the direction I thought it would go, but I'm a sucker for puns.

The final upshot of the second option is basically identical to the first - everybody rushing to the dentist, and a nation of perfect teeth. Are there any additional steps that might be suggested beyond just braces to make the effects stand out a bit more? A whole program of image-enhancement laws/mandates?

The result of option three is pretty much continuing what currently is happening - folks with crooked teeth - just smiling more. I might consider having it not just be positive about crooked teeth, but perhaps launching a campaign to try and shame other nations with straight teeth? Something more than a "love yourself" campaign. Try to turn the tables a bit, and make the option a bit less of a consequence-free choice.