One Question About the Schiavo Case
I'm not going to offer my personal opinion about Terri Schiavo. I don't think I have any standing to do so. The only way I would consider myself to have standing would be if I believed one of the following two things:
- People should be forced to accept life-saving medical care against their will.
- In the absence of a document clearly expressing their desires, the nearest family member should not have the right to make a decision regarding what the person would have wanted in that situation.
I don't believe either of those two things. Which leads me to the inescapable conclusion that this is a family dispute. We have mechanisms for dealing with family disputes. They're known as courts of law. Sometimes courts make good decisions. Sometimes they don't. They are, however, the best mechanism we have to resolve these kinds of disputes. Obviously this gives you a good indication of where I stand on the Congressional intervention. What it does not tell you is whether I think the courts made a good decision in this instance or not. And I'm not going to tell you that, so don't ask.
So the question I'm going to ask about this entire tragic situation is only this - Do you think this case would be getting the kind of non-stop media blitz it's getting if Terri Schiavo was not an attractive white woman? Because I don't. First Laci Peterson. Now Terri Schiavo. Tragedies happen to non-attractive, non-white, non-women too. We just don't get blitzed with them.*
*Not that I'm suggesting we should. I'd prefer if we didn't get blitzed with these types of stories at all. Sad? Absolutely. However other things are happening in the world which directly impact a lot more people and should be getting a lot more attention.
Comments
I suppose it couldn't be getting all this news coverage because the Schiavo case has been in and out of the courts for the last eight years. It couldn't be because it has been heard in over 30 separate hearings, and those all before this last week. It couldn't be because the case has been heard by over a score of different judges in over half a dozen different venues, state and federal. It couldn't be because of the rumors circulating about Michael Schiavo wanting his wife dead to keep the money from the million dollar lawsuit settlement after she lapsed into a coma (the money, by the way, was put into a trust fund for her care, and at last report less than $50,000 is left). It couldn't be because he is supposed to want her dead so he can marry his lover with whom he has fathered two children since Terri lapsed into a coma. It couldn't have gathered so much publicity because of the threats of revenge against those who don't support Terri by Randall Terry, or the offer of a quarter million dollars to whomever kills Michael Schiavo, or the offer of $50,000 for the murder of a judge in the case. It couldn't be because Michael has turned down a firm offer of one million dollars, and a reputed offer of ten million dollars, to sign over his guardianship and walk away. It couldn't be because of the attempted interference by Governor Bush and a state legislature run amok, or by his brother, the president, and a US Congress determined to interfere with the judicial process. It couldn't possibly be in the news because it almost sparked a showdown between the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, along with the Department of Children and Families, against the local law enforcement officers who were carrying out the judges' orders that no one be allowed to interfere with the nursing home staff carrying out the court order. No, I guess none of that makes this case newsworthy at all, not in the least. It just has to be because Terri Schiavo is a young, attractive (?), white female.
Emphasis on white.
Ace bets twenty.
Posted by: hnumpah | March 26, 2005 11:42 PM
Look, I know we disagree on this in general. I do agree the case would be getting media coverage regardless. I just don't think it would be getting the 24/7 blitz it is getting. It's dominating the airwaves. Just like the Laci Peterson case did. And husbands killing their pregnant wives is, sadly, not all that uncommon. Beyond that, this is a matter of opinions. We'll have to agree to disagree.
BTW, if you have doubts about the attractive comment, see the pictures the media keeps showing of her prior to her current state. She was quite attractive.
Posted by: Lesley | March 27, 2005 07:05 AM
It's getting the 24/7 media blitz it's getting because her parents got the governor, legislature, president and US Congress involved and turned this into a states rights/separation of powers case instead of keeeping it a dispute between family members that was properly adjudicated by the courts. Despite their protestations to the contrary, it is their actions that have brought the right to lifers out of the woodwork and turned the area around the nursing home into a media circus.
I've seen the pictures, before and after; to me, she just wasn't that attractive. I'm not saying she was butt-ugly, just that my standards are a bit different - not better, just different. You and Sigourney Weaver, now... rrrrroooooowwwwwwrrrrrrrrr!!!!!
Posted by: hnumpah | March 27, 2005 07:26 AM