Schiavo-Rant!

What better way to post my first item in months than to join the thousands of other bloggers who are blogging away about Terri Schiavo? I was spurred to action by a short article (they are all short, have you noticed?) on FoxNews.com written by a young priest. He brazenly compared Terri Shiavo with Jesus Christ and implored us all not to forget the humanity of Terri.

My ranting response (mailed to him as well as some Fox News feedback channel) follows:

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Father Chern,

I read your column on FoxNews.com (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,151335,00.html), and I had some thoughts of my own.

It seems to me that the main similarity between the Terri Schiavo tragedy and Jesus's crucifixion is that they epitomize their societies' respective culture wars.

In Jesus's time, the Jewish ruling class were outraged by Jesus's apostate sect, and they recognized the danger its populist appeal represented to their established power structure. In reaction, they put Him through the most public, sickening ordeal imaginable to serve as a clear object lesson to other would-be heretics. Ultimately, however, the rear-guard efforts of the reactionary establishment were overwhelmed by the more progressive philosophy of the Christians.

Today, America has its own entrenched power structure. Its mighty leaders are also clinging to the last vestiges of a fading, reactionary worldview, in which the only acceptable definitions of "pro-life" and "family values" are, ironically, ones that spring straight from the Old Testament scripture of Jesus's antagonists. Unfortunately for Terri, Michael, and the Schindlers, our latter-day pharisees have no compunctions about capitalizing on Terri's tragedy for the basest of political motives. And so, we all suffer as the likes of Tom deLay and Jeb Bush do their utmost to turn Terri's life into a sickening, mass-media object lesson, threatening all who dare to embrace the progressive notion that we have the right to end our own lives with some dignity.

In the broad sweep of history, today's reactionary culture warriors are doomed to the same fate as their first-century counterparts. In the meantime, anyone who is truly concerned about the humanity of Terri and her family should be doing everything in their power to draw the curtains on her sham crucifixion and allow her life to end in peace.

Respectfully,
John Lum
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- posted by John @ 10:58 AM