ceci n'est pas un wank

[mamajoan]

I don't really want to get into the Schiavo thing. I've already typed way more about it (on other fora) than I ever intended to. Plus it's 10:28 and I really swore that I would get to bed by 10:30 tonight.

So I'll just say this.

ww1614 wrote that the Schiavo case is a tabula rasa* onto which we can project whatever we want. And she was absolutely right. Whatever your personal bias, opinion, slant -- you can find an angle in this case to support your position. It can be a love story, a tragedy, a horror movie, a medical mystery story, a legal procedural. It can be a story about domestic violence if that's what you want. It can be a story about religious faith and the nature of spirit/self. It can be a cautionary tale about the dangers of our government or of failing to make one's wishes known. It can be another example of evil doctors and legislators persecuting a disabled person; it can be a story about parental devotion.

Terri Schiavo, the human being who once lived a normal everyday life, is gone. In her place is a symbol, as ide_cyan and others have said; and you can make that symbol represent whatever is meaningful to you. But the bottom line is that we cannot know. We can't know what Terri would have wanted, we can't know exactly how much (if any) of her is left inside that shell, we can't know what might have happened if she had gotten more therapy; we can't know -- at base -- what is the right thing to do.** And that's what makes this case so compelling and so disturbing to so many people -- that we simply can. not. know.

Whatever happens, rest in peace, Terri. So mote it be.

---

* although she didn't use that actual term, and I bet I know why. ;)
** Those claiming with the most vehemence that they do know what's right, are protesting too much methinks. The louder the claim of righteousness, the less certain the conviction at bottom.

Comments

[ww1614.livejournal.com]

Damn show should have ended there! And if I have to frickin' remember "Tit for Tad" as the last episode of VMars I could bear to watch, I may have to hurt someone.

I hate tv writers. Have I ever mentioned that?

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Wait, would you really have wanted BTVS to end after Tabula Rasa?? No Smashed? No Wrecked? No ... wait, I think I answered my own question. ;)

[emrinalexander.livejournal.com]

I'll just say that the one thing that objectively anybody who looks at her medical records can and does know, is that this poor woman has no functional cerebral cortex. Most of it has disappeared, the rest is atrophied and withered with cerebral spinal fluid filling the empty space. There is no electrical activity there.

A body without a functional cerebral cortex is like a car with no engine. They both look like what they are but neither is going anywhere.

[mofic.livejournal.com]

I think this is really the salient point. We can speculate a lot on the motivations of Terry Schiavo's husband and parents, on what her married life and childhood life were like, on who's telling the truth and who's lying. But it does seem - from what I've read, anyway - incontrovertible that she no longer has a functioning brain capable of thought. There's no there there. And it does seem that every judge who has looked at this has come to the same conclusion. I do see that part as really clear.

The rest? Well, so much of it seems to be just political grandstanding, so the Republicans can get points from their Religious Right supporters and also paint the Democrats as the Evil People Who Killed Terry Schiavo. With a little how-dare-you-activist-judges-thwart-my-brother thrown in for good measure.

The tabula rasa idea is an interesting one. (Why wouldn't ww1614 want to use that term? And how do I write her lj name and make it look like one, like everybody else does?) I actually don't think any of them are unknowns that we project our feelings on. I think there's so much known and we *still* project our feelings on them. I think that's often the case with high profile news stories that have previously unknown people at the center of them. We have a first impression based on our own backgrounds and predispositions. It may change as we learn more about the individuals involved, or it might not. But it's always affected by our backgrounds and predispositions in a more salient way, I think, than a personal story about a public figure.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

incontrovertible that she no longer has a functioning brain capable of thought
Yes, but apparently this doesn't mean anything to the religious nutcases. I mean, the parents still claim that she responds to them and such, despite the fact that medical expert after expert after expert has testified that such is really not possible.

The tabula rasa idea is an interesting one. (Why wouldn't ww1614 want to use that term?
Because it's the title of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode that held particular significance to the Buffy/Spike relationship of which ww1614 is/was so fond.

And how do I write her lj name and make it look like one
You simply type [lj user="ww1614"] but with angle brackets instead of square ones.

I actually don't think any of them are unknowns that we project our feelings on. I think there's so much known and we *still* project our feelings on them.
Interesting. Read munoz's reply below; he seems to be saying kind of the opposite. Thus the two of you are handily proving my point that this case can be all things to all people. Thanks! ;)

[munoz.livejournal.com]

I agree with your comments about the case. I find it rather amusing that the Federal court system isn't playing ball with Congress, and pretty much agreeing with the "sovereign" courts of Florida that Terri Schiavo is unconditionally deceased, and that her husband has the legal standing to determine the fate of the body.

However, something you wrote made me think:

But the bottom line is that we cannot know. We can't know what Terri would have wanted, we can't know exactly how much (if any) of her is left inside that shell, we can't know what might have happened if she had gotten more therapy; we can't know -- at base -- what is the right thing to do.** And that's what makes this case so compelling and so disturbing to so many people -- that we simply can. not. know.

Most of these unknowns are real unknowns. There is one, however, that is only an unknown from certain points of worldview. I refer to the "right thing to do." Some religious individuals have very clear knowledge of the right thing to do (although what that is varies among individuals). They have no doubts, and therefore it is not for this reason that they are disturbed by the case.

My personal conviction is that there is very little left of Terri Schiavo within the body, and whatever is left has probably gone irreparably insane. Nevertheless the right thing to do eludes me, sometimes, as do most cases involving definitions of life or death. But this is because I remain unclear about the natures of life and death, and their boundaries, and the permeability of those boundaries. Some people are not so confused; they are clear, and they know, and they are not disturbed. And that is what worries me.

(It has always struck me as rather odd that people who believe in an afterlife are so concerned to preserve those whom they consider to be living human beings. I am similarly befuddled by pro-life advocates who take their stand on account of Christian faith. By all accounts what they should really be worried about is the eternal hellfire and damnation of those who choose and perform abortions, not the lives of the so-called unborn, who - if there is any consistency at all - will spend eternity in the blissful company of God. After all, there is a reason no Christian community feels the need to baptise the pre-natal.)

[psu-jedi.livejournal.com]

After all, there is a reason no Christian community feels the need to baptise the pre-natal.

This reminds me of an pro-choice argument a friend of mine made at one point. He said that all people want the best for their children, and for them to end up in heaven. But they are born with sin (so says the Christian doctrine...I'm not going to debate that here, I'm just reiterating what a friend said), so they'll spend the rest of their lives trying to overcome that so they can get into heaven. The unborn have are without sin. So, if you want to be a good parent and make sure your child gets into hHeaven, wouldn't you want to abort them before they're born? When they are totally and completely without sin? Pretty much guarantees them entry.