Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Life



"I Just Can't Stop Loving You," from Bad, by Michael Jackson.

Well this one is obvious enough, isn't it. I've been listening to Michael given the trial, and as odd as I feel about it, you cannot deny this man's obvious musical gift. I'm going to stop right there.

About two months ago, a news story overtook the airwaves, the web, and the cable news networks: the Terri Schiavo story. Anyone who has semi-regular contact with me knows that this tragic case and its accompanying, blatant hypocrisy and overt pandering to the Christian right absolutely inflamed me. Strange though, I had completely forgotten about it until today's minor story regarding her autopsy report (http://news.yahoo.com/fc/us/assisted_suicide) (one day, I will learn how to intelligently post links beyond my cut-and-paste job). To make a long story shorter, the autopsy demonstrates that her brain had deteriorated to a massive and irreparable extent, and that, surprisingly, she was blind. To vindicate her husband, it also demonstrated that she was not the victim of any kind of physical abuse, an accusation that her parents long fostered in the media. So many aspects of this story and the country's response to it are wrong, but to me what stood out was the (seemingly genuine) passion with which many people embraced the cause that her "right to life" be defended to the extent that it did. I suppose I cannot dispute their passion, but it was so puzzling to me. How could anyone admit that they would prefer to remain in this state? Are they deluding themselves into thinking they would prefer this existence to death, regardless of (or rather, especially given) their beliefs of the afterlife? Finally, how could her parents not realize that she was blind? What selfish motive was behind their fight to keep her alive? It seems that anyone who has experienced a loved one's extended illness would choose for their loved one a peaceful death rather than a long-suffering life. I do not even want to comment on our congressional leaders' response to this tragedy, as I would like to remain semi-coherent and if I start ranting I will forget the point of this post (pandering to the Christian right; obvious groundwork to erode abortion laws and garner support to overrule Roe v. Wade; pathetic favoring of pretty, white woman's story while ignoring the thousands of poor minorities that are constantly overlooked by political leaders and the media; etc., etc., etc.)

I guess the point is, even despite obvious, scientific realities, only confirmed by the autopsy, Terri Schiavo's parents and the thousands who didn't even know her somehow believed that life in that state was preferable to death, and that there was a possibility that she could be cured. I don't know whether to pity such delusion, or to admire such ardent faith.

1 Comments:

Blogger Pete Eriksson said...

You danced to that album in your bedroom as a youngster, didn't you? ; )

10:30 PM CDT  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home

Add to Technorati Favorites