Poor Terry

No need for a quote here to start the post. We all know Terry Schiavo and her much-publicized medical condition. Although, there is a slim percentage of doubt that she did not want to be kept alive artificially, I can assert it is certain she would not want members of her family fighting publicly with her motionless body as a background prop. Congress grandstanding and Presidential meddling notwithstanding, Mrs. Schiavo has a right to end her life as she sees fit. Her physical state is sustained artificially as many doctors familiar with her condition can attest to. Although she is not on life support per se, she is incapable of sustaining life beyond respiration and other core bodily functions without outside interference. The real injustice is that the tape clips we are being forcefed by the media are from a longer tape, around 4 hours, that display the fact that Terry Schiavo is not responding to stimuli from her visitors as the clips we are being shown suggest. As humans, we have a kneejerk reaction that things that behave in human-like ways are somehow exhibiting emotions and higher level thought. We humanize pets and even appliances because our instinct to socialize runs to the core of who we are as people. The media is playing on this instinctual behavior to maintain the level of fervor that has swept the country over this case. Instead of giving us the full story on a case that gives us insight into the life or death situations that we all have been or will be forced to make, the media has used it as a ploy to gain ratings. One of the many ways that the media has been a disservice to the American people, especially in my generation. We can only hope that she will be given every comfort in her last hours, and that her wishes to die on her own terms are granted.