Comments on: Stop Calling Her Terry

By: Mr. Hell's Kitchen

Mr. Hell's Kitchen — Fri, 01 Apr 2005 19:22:16 +0000

A week without Vi, is a week without sunshine.

By: Hope

Hope — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 14:10:21 +0000

Yes, the differences were interesting.

Hope

By: Administrator

Administrator — Sat, 26 Mar 2005 14:12:15 +0000

Just a quick response as I’m headed out the door. I’m not willing to do anything to Mrs. Schiavo. For me, the question is not so much whether Mrs. Shiavo should continue to be kept alive without consciousness as it is whose decision it is – her own, or a manipulative hypocritical federal government. Mr. Bush signed the law in Texas that stipulated that if no-one is paying, out comes the tube. The very interests that Bush is with are the ones that set up this situation in the first place – money, money, money. There are people in hospices all over the country that won’t be able to continue because of cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. I don’t subscribe to any blaming of the victim in any case, but from what I understand it may actually be more or a malpractice issue – again, this government wants so-called “tort reform” that would limit what people like Mrs. Schiavo could be granted. And – I am completely convinced that this case is also intended to stir up hatred from what remains of our judicial system. The laws that the courts are following in this case are ones that all the republicans are for – and now they will stir up hatred when the judges follow the law. It’s astounding that they could even get away with it. Myself, I’m a “right to die” person – and for me, this stresses the importance of a living will. I’m a “right to live” person too – when the person involved wanted that. My father didn’t want heroic measures – and it was better that way. In this case, she’s gotten every treatment available, she’s gotten every legal option there is – it has gone on 15 years, and the tapes you see are VERY selective. Wherever Mrs. Schiavo is, she isn’t with her body anymore in any case. I would wish for the same death myself – a gentle slipping away without pain, which is what she’s getting. But when people will lie and say things like “she just said she wants to live” when she is incapable of higher brain functions, when people call her a gift from God when they ignore thousands of others who could be helped, it sickens me. When the poor and the blue collar and the lower-middle class and the middle-middle class are being squeezed, when all our futures are being destroyed with national debt, health insurance is cut or denied, destruction of the ecosystem, imperialistic war, and so on – it’s a little hypocritical to talk about a culture of life. Jesus is with those people whose lives are being ruined by this administration – not with the hateful so-called religious who call for the bombings of clinics, or with the ones that kill more people with the death penalty in one state than in whole countries elsewhere. I would never claim that Mrs. Schiavo is “human garbage.” I just believe that when people choose not to live in that state – and there are several witnesses to her wishes on that – the government shouldn’t seize the case – esp when they don’t give a shit about anyone else in that condition.

As for the school shootings – I agree that the media circus is not desirable – I was only commenting on the difference in reaction is interesting. Actually, I felt that the Columbine hysteria was pathological – a building-block for things to come.

By: Ian Stephenson

Ian Stephenson — Sat, 26 Mar 2005 09:49:24 +0000

I’m an Australian so the nuances of your political environment are a little beyond me. What I find difficult is that you are willing to do to Ms Schiavo something that here in Australia you would have to face the courts for if done to an animal – namely withhold food and fluids until death ensues. What a terrible way to die.

My wife (Sue) gets the opportunity to work with folks who have suffered from motor accident injuries, some with significant cognitive and motor impairment. Sue loves these people. They are not human garbage just because their IQ no longer reaches a certain level.

Perhaps one of the indicators of a progressive and healthy society is to look after those who are weak and in need with love and sacrifice. Perhaps we need people like Ms Schiavo just as much as they need us for survival. They can teach us to love without needing something back, where touch and tenderness are more important than political persuasion or economic determinism.

By: Hope

Hope — Sat, 26 Mar 2005 08:19:56 +0000

Two points. I get the impression that those on the Indian reservation would like to be allowed to mourn free from an intrusive media presence. And post-911 there is inevitably less novelty news value in school massacres, no matter where they occur.

I agree with you that strangers calling an afflicted person by her first name is repellant. Also, her present sad state resulted from an eating disorder, apparently, so there was a bit of self-harm in play.

Hope