On a Few Contradictions
The people who insist on "letting Terri die" confuse me with their own confusion. It seems weird that they would care about this case at all if what they say is sincere. They say that they want her to die because living on a bed and being fed through a tube must be a terrible way to live. Then they say that starving her is not a problem because she can't feel anything, is not aware of anything, and is in fact not even a person anymore. They say that in actuality she is already dead.Does anybody else see all the contradictions here? If she is not really a she, but just an it that can't even feel pain anymore, then why should they feel so strongly about letting this particular "it's" bodily functions keep existing? If she can't feel the suffering of starving or dying of thirst, as they claim, then she can't feel any discomfort from her difficult condition either. So why would this matter to anybody so much as to protest about it and set up a whole lobby around it? If Terri is not a person, as they claim, and is just an empty shell, why would anybody particularly care that her family wants to keep this thing around to treat it as if it was a person?
I mean, given those beliefs, one might find such a desire odd, or even bizarre, but why would it be so tremendously controversial that someone would want to keep a specific "thing" around the house? And in case someone objects, while I agree that a person might have a concern for what is done with their body after they pass away, Terri's "body" (if we assume that is all that is left of her), is being treated with respect and great love. But of course, that is not the issue anyway--such matters are not the stuff that divides nations. No, if she really is not a person, as those who want to starve Terri claim, then I find no logical reason why such people should feel a strong need to voice their opinion. Well, perhaps there would be one, that of an altruistic desire for not letting her family waste their entire lives giving love to a "thing." But of course, no one that believes these things has said that.
If you think Terri is just a thing, a body devoid of a person, then there is no good reason why you should find it so terrible that some people who do think she is a person want to take care of her. Why not give them the benefit of the doubt, and let them do it, if after all according to what you think she is not feeling any sort of pain? On the other hand, if she is a person, and an innocent one at that, then how dare you ask that anyone withold from her the food and water we all need to live? How dare you impose death on her? That is not something one does to a person in a civilized world. Right?
posted by ertandberni @ 5:40 PM
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