Terri Schiavo: A Cause for the Left?

[deek]

by Mark Polit


The battle over Terri Schiavo has been framed as a battle between the radical right which seeks to uphold the sanctity of life, and the left which focuses on an individual's fundamental right to self-determination.

In this case, however, the right has framed it correctly. There is no issue of self-determination, since their is no clear directive to act upon, and Terri is not able to express a preference. Even if Terri had made an off hand comment about what she would prefer, people who acquire a disability typically decide that living "that way" is far superior to dying. It is not up to a judge, a spouse, or a politician to determine when someone else should be rubbed out.

This has not been one of those "difficult cases" of end of life care, since Terri was not chronicly ill. She was not in pain (until they starved her). She was not kept alive artificially (unless you consider food and water artificial). She was not on a "machine" (a tube is merely a fork or spoon for people who can't swallow). Terri was a person with a disability. She was apparently conscious. And she was certainly alive. Since when has it become a progressive position to deny a person the right to their very existence?

Progressives, should not be suckered into an oppose position, because the right is grandstanding. Progressives have a proud history of defending those who cannot defend themselves, seeking to give voice to the needs of the voiceless, and fighting for life over death. It is the right wing that promotes a culture of death, waging a war of aggression, torturing and murdering prisoners of war, supporting the death penalty, and seeking to roll back funding for health care for seniors and the poor. The powerful have long dehumanized other classes races or groups. And starving to death Terri Schiavo embodies the prejudice and misperceptions of disability that are prevalent in our society, just as similar dehumanizing attitudes have led to the aweful oppression of other minorities.

more at http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0328-25.htm

Mark Polit has been a disability rights activist for over two decades and currently does research and policy analysis in disability policy for a major US labor union.

[Demit]

1. He's using a straw man argument here, to advance his cause

And gives the game away with the passive-voice opening "the battle has been framed". Who framed it that way? Who is saying that the left is focusing on self-determination? Seems to me the focus has been more on following the rule of law.

I think the disability rights people are mistaken to characterize Terri Schiavo as "a person with a disability". I think it's disingenous. And to adopt the other misinformation--that she is being starved, that she is apparently conscious--does a disservice to his cause of fighting for the rights of the disabled. JMO

[Demeter]

2. To Be A Person, One Must Manifest a Personality

and to do that, one must have something besides the reflexes. Otherwise, you have a mass of living tissue, on a less than a plant-like level. Terry Schiavo died 15 years ago, and no amount of special pleading will change that reality. And if in the unlikely event there was some vestige of a personality lurking in all that artificially living tissue, totaly unable to communicate with the outside world, it would have gone insane anyway, and be longing for release.

The disability people are a paranoid lot, and I say this as the mother of a disabled child, who will never be able to live independently, but manifests massive amounts of personality, can interact with the world and others, and delights in life. At some point, letting go is the human thing to do.