[politics] The Schiavo case
Mar. 23rd, 2005 08:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
holzman_tweedHave you noticed that a whole bunch of folks who all cheered when Kevorkian was convicted have suddenly figured out that starvation and dehydration are a rotten way to die and it isn't terribly humane to force someone to endure that once the decision has been made not to keep them alive?
Somehow, I wound up on the AFA's mailing list, so I get to see how they present issues. The way the issue is presented is quite fascinating. On planet AFA, this isn't about "pro-life" or euthanasia.
On planet AFA, Terry Schiavo isn't in a persistent vegetative state. On planet AFA, she doesn't have a mass of spinal fluid and scar tissue where her cerebral cortex used to be. Rather, she's merely "disabled" -- very much aware of her surroundings, can communicate clearly and unambiguously, etc. They're not even acknowledging the factual details of the situation that would allow them to take a "pro-life" position. If the facts were as presented on planet AFA, I might even think they had a point.
On planet AFA, this is about punishing Michael Schiavo for not remaining sexually faithful to a woman who was in a persistent vegetative state for the last fifteen years. On planet AFA, he didn't offer to divest himself any inheritance from Terry Schiavo's estate. On planet AFA, the insurance settlement wasn't eaten up by medical and legal costs. On planet AFA, Michael Schiavo didn't tell someone where they could stick a literal million-dollar offer for the right to make Terry's medical decisions. On planet AFA, they're sure that there's a big pile of money somewhere that Michael Schiavo is out to murder his unhealthy-but-not-vegetative wife for, and one of the reasons they like seeing an endless legal battle is that they want him to have to spend all that money and have no inheritance from his wife's tragic death.
On planet AFA, the fact that it took seven years to reach the point where it was time to remove the feeding tube is evidence that he's making her wishes up rather than evidence of the lengths he was willing to go to in order to exhaust all medical options first.
Somehow, I wound up on the AFA's mailing list, so I get to see how they present issues. The way the issue is presented is quite fascinating. On planet AFA, this isn't about "pro-life" or euthanasia.
On planet AFA, Terry Schiavo isn't in a persistent vegetative state. On planet AFA, she doesn't have a mass of spinal fluid and scar tissue where her cerebral cortex used to be. Rather, she's merely "disabled" -- very much aware of her surroundings, can communicate clearly and unambiguously, etc. They're not even acknowledging the factual details of the situation that would allow them to take a "pro-life" position. If the facts were as presented on planet AFA, I might even think they had a point.
On planet AFA, this is about punishing Michael Schiavo for not remaining sexually faithful to a woman who was in a persistent vegetative state for the last fifteen years. On planet AFA, he didn't offer to divest himself any inheritance from Terry Schiavo's estate. On planet AFA, the insurance settlement wasn't eaten up by medical and legal costs. On planet AFA, Michael Schiavo didn't tell someone where they could stick a literal million-dollar offer for the right to make Terry's medical decisions. On planet AFA, they're sure that there's a big pile of money somewhere that Michael Schiavo is out to murder his unhealthy-but-not-vegetative wife for, and one of the reasons they like seeing an endless legal battle is that they want him to have to spend all that money and have no inheritance from his wife's tragic death.
On planet AFA, the fact that it took seven years to reach the point where it was time to remove the feeding tube is evidence that he's making her wishes up rather than evidence of the lengths he was willing to go to in order to exhaust all medical options first.
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-23 02:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-23 04:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-23 04:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-23 05:22 pm (UTC)In the Lamb's blood, he is bathed...
And he thinks I'm depraved?
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-23 09:37 pm (UTC)I spent some time yesterday scouring different websites and just frothing at the mouth. You just said everything I was going to, except I might have used more swear words. ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-27 04:00 am (UTC)I asked this on my own journal: how come the keep-her-"alive" faction hasn't brought out anyone to say "I was in a persistant vegetative state for more than a decade, and now look at me!"