A Brave New World
In my latest article in the American Thinker I conduct an in-depth study into the Left`s fascination with and pursuit of death. Many Conservatives have been puzzled by the zeal among Liberals to kill poor Terri Schiavo, and I try to elucidate the deep, convoluted workings of the Humanist mind and explain what is to us a bizarre impulse to kill.
I have been greatly honored; David Limbaugh (brother of the Great Rush Limbaugh and powerhouse Conservative intellect) has linked my article on his website! Read his comments here.
To any new visitors, I`d like to welcome you to my site! Feel free to hang around, take your shoes off, and make yourselves comfortable. I welcome any and all here, and If you`d like to leave a comment, feel free! I promise I won`t bite!
I have been greatly honored; David Limbaugh (brother of the Great Rush Limbaugh and powerhouse Conservative intellect) has linked my article on his website! Read his comments here.
To any new visitors, I`d like to welcome you to my site! Feel free to hang around, take your shoes off, and make yourselves comfortable. I welcome any and all here, and If you`d like to leave a comment, feel free! I promise I won`t bite!
posted by Timothy Birdnow | 1:05 PM
9 Comments:
Read your "Brave New World" piece.
I anxiously await your comdemnation of Tom DeLay, who chose the time and manner of death for his father; and I anxiously await your condemnation of capital punishment, and especially of President Bush, for choosing the time and manner of death for convicted inmates.
I am continuously amazed by those who wish by some wild contortions of illogic to connect the execution of convicted criminals to the tragedy of Terri Schiavo. There can be no comparison! Terri Schiavo is a woman having what remains of her life and her liberty as a human being stripped from her by the naked force of law. She has done nothing to deserve this treatment not even declare this as her will. The law says her husband has the right as her closest living relative to do so. Those who languish on death row have committed conscious acts resulting in horrific crimes to earn their fate. The judges and juries that convicted them saw enough proof against them not only to deny their freedom to live among the rest of society but also to recommend that in their crimes such viciousness existed as to qualify these beasts for the harshest punishment of all. There is no connection between the two and no hypocrisy in sight.
Do we always get it right? Only a fool would answer yes to that question. However, I am absolutely certain that Terri Schiavo has done nothing to deserve what those same courts are imposing upon her. She is blameless in what has befallen her in every aspect save one. She married badly, as do many of us. Tim you hit the nail on the “deathhead” and judging from the comment above it must smart!
I am continuously amazed by those who wish by some wild contortions of illogic to connect the execution of convicted criminals to the tragedy of Terri Schiavo. There can be no comparison! Terri Schiavo is a woman having what remains of her life and her liberty as a human being stripped from her by the naked force of law. She has done nothing to deserve this treatment not even declare this as her will. The law says her husband has the right as her closest living relative to do so. Those who languish on death row have committed conscious acts resulting in horrific crimes to earn their fate. The judges and juries that convicted them saw enough proof against them not only to deny their freedom to live among the rest of society but also to recommend that in their crimes such viciousness existed as to qualify these beasts for the harshest punishment of all. There is no connection between the two and no hypocrisy in sight.
Do we always get it right? Only a fool would answer yes to that question. However, I am absolutely certain that Terri Schiavo has done nothing to deserve what those same courts are imposing upon her. She is blameless in what has befallen her in every aspect save one. She married badly, as do many of us. Tim you hit the nail on the “deathhead” and judging from the comment above it must smart!
This entire article seems to be a strawman.
Who exactly is advocating killing Terri because she doesn't deserve to live?
It certainly isn't the courts. The court case started when Michael Schaive petitioned the court to determine what would Terri have wanted to be done for her in this situation. So the court isn't trying to decide evaluate Terri's worth, rather it is trying to determine if SHE would have considered her life worth living in her current condition. And that is all the difference in the world.
And when I look at the those outside the court supporting Michael's side, I see them motivated to protect Terri's choices on her own fate, to protect a spouse's right to make these decisions for an incapacitated mate and to object to outsiders interfering with an extremely personal decision. Where are on earth are finding anyone who says she doesn't deserve to live? Perhaps some lunatic fringe?
There are some important moral issues involved in this case: you don't need to build a strawman.
This article really frightens me, but not for the reasons you intend. It is disturbing because it falls squarely into the recent partisan trend to paint the other side as the height of evil. What you are writing here about liberals is every bit as bad as Michael Moore's conspiracy theories about Bush invading Iraq to steal oil and enrich corporations. You have no basis for your claims that liberals lust for death; in fact, your definition of liberals seems to apply only fringe left-wing extremists. But because you disagree with the view that the government should not become involved in a family dispute, and that Church and State should remain separate, you are using emotional language and groundless psychoanalysis to paint them everyone who advocates those ideals as death-worshipping Nazis. I want you to take a deep breath and repeat after me: JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE ISN'T A FUNDAMENTALIST CHRISTIAN DOESN'T MAKE THEM A DEATH-OBSESSED NIHILIST. Secular humanists have values, too: values that center around this world, and the sanctity of human life and reason. Any true humanist opposes forced euthanasia, because they value above the all the individual's - not God's - right to determine how to life, and end, their life.
Perhaps Terri Schiavo didn't really express a desire not to life in her current state. I don't know, but neither do you. Personally, I don't think she needs to die, and I think Michael Schiavo would have been better off turning over custody to her parents. But I think it's ridiculous to think there will be a 'miracle cure' for a missing cerebral cortex, and I don't understand how you can call it murder to essentially let nature take its course by removing Terri's feeding tube. Does this position make me a rabid deathmonger? I don't think so. Does supporting President Bush's war against Iraq, where 20,000 INNOCENT civilians have died, make YOU one? I wouldn't say it does, so stop saying it about us.
You might like this
http://www.crisismagazine.com/feature1.htm
I haven`t been able to post comments on my own website, so now I`m forced to answer you all at once. I know-I promised to be nice (I should learn to be careful what I promise!)
To pschmitt: Tom Delay`s father was on dialysis and a respirator, and was truly being kept alive by machines. There is a world of difference between being kept alive artificially and being killed by having food and water cut off-if you don`t know that then you shouldn`t be commenting. And I don`t recall George Bush ever passing a death sentence on a condemned criminal.
2. Thanks Tom and Gindy!
3. Thanks for the input-Dadahead. I`d like to respond to your post but couldn`t get in. There are many, many things to discuss.
4. Anonymous I you are the one setting up straw men. I never said people were advocating killing Terri because she does not deserve to live. I said that the left has a zeal for this case because they want to establish the precedent for Euthanizing the infirm-which is precisely what they are doing to Terri. You in the left argue that personal worth stems from a social standpoint, and since poor Terri Schiavo is brain damaged she should be ``put out of her misery`` like a lame horse or sick puppy. The courts, I might add, are clearly violating Florida State law, and have ignored several Federal statutes including a Congressional subpeona. Yes, the courts (particularly Hanging Judge Greer) ARE trying to kill the woman. Finally, we have no way to tell what Terri`s wishes were. This entire episode is based on the word of Michael Schiavo (a man quoted as saying ``when will this bitch die``) and THAT based on a comment made while watching a movie of the week about Nancy Cruzan. This is a very flimsy reason to kill someone. Heresay is not normally admissable in court.
5. To Anonymous II-thanks! That was a very moving article!
To Kai,
The frightening aspect of all this lies within the soul of the Left. I notice you can`t refute my argument, so you accuse me of radical partisanship. You compare me to Michael Moore, a propogandist who invented all sorts of crazy conspiracy theories and supported it with provably false ``facts``. I looked at this matter through history and philosophy, and I have yet to have anyone respond in kind.
I am a standard Catholic and not a fundamentalist Christian-who`s making baseless charges and appealing to emotion?
Yes, secular humanists DO have values-which are antithetical to my own and much of society. They value life until it no longer serves-then they value an quick, easy death at the pleasure of the beautiful and intelligent. That is my whole point-there is a culture of death.
I am not saying all liberals are trying to slip arsenic in our drinks, I am saying that Liberalism has is comfortable making decisions regarding life and death since liberals see themselves as the final authority. This is not just a fringe issue. Most liberals support abortion for this very same reason.
It is Government which ordered the death of Terri Schiavo. You don`t seem to be able to see that. She would live without government interference in this case.
In the absence of knowledge of Terri`s wishes we should logically err on the side of life, not death. I never said that there would be a miracle cure-I was pointing out the hypocrisy of the Fetal Stem-Cell people who told us that if we just funded research adequately we could cure anything.
Finally, cutting off food and water is not ``allowing her to die``. If we cut off YOUR food and water, would that be allowing you to die? Just because you are healthier than Terri Schiavo, you seem to think YOU have the right to sustenance, but she doesn`t.
Good article Timothy!!!
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