On Terri Shiavo,god,politics, and the right to die.
I have spent the last couple of weeks watching the Terri Shiavo case closely via the news.
My heart and mind are heavy w/sorrow and anger.
There was a time when I was adamantly opposed to euthanaisia and the right to die,etc. Beeing that I was myself a hardcore Christian pro-lifer{anti-abortion} type of person.
As time has progressed I have altered my views on this matter. I am now staunchly in favour of both euthanasia and the rigth to die. The Terry Shiavo case has also affected mindset very deeply. I cannot for the life of me understand why this torture of the poor woman or other people in smilar vegatative states, not to mention the amount of money it takes to force someone whom would have naturally died{by the natural laws of the Universe as set up by whoever or whatever Created it it all or "is" it all}.
What I find the most disturbing about Terrys case{and others like hers} is that she has been PROVEN to be in a proven vegetative state w/little to no hope of recovering from it, and close to 15 years of beeing stuck in it pretty much proves the point that she is not going to get better, barring some sort of miracle, but as much as we may wish to see miracles in such cases happen-they never really do! It's fantasy, and it's a fantasy that costs people n such states decades of torture, costs nature{and or the Creator/Creative force it's sovereignty to be natural and usurps it's place of having natural laws that regulate the world; for example when we force people to live in such states we just contribute to a overpopulation problem on the planet that is depleting it's natural resources and contributing to variuos other environmental,social,etc, problems on the planet; there is a reason why nature or the Creator/Creative force/whatever has set up natural laws of life and natural death}.
As I was saying, what is truly disturbing in this case of Mrs. Shiavo, is the political and religious circus it was turned into{and to make maters worse, the religious right forces and the the anti-abortion,etc, forces of the U.S. have promised that if Terrys feeding tube was not put back in and she was "allowed' to die-that there would be hell to pay form them...SCARY!!!}.
I have personally fought to hold off my hatred towards these heartless religious fools during the last two weeks, but they have caused such passionate hate towards Christianity to rise up in me, and I've dealt w/personal hate towards them as people{which I've fought to moderate rather than let control me}.
Why? Good question.
The mantra of these fools is "sanctity of life" and "Gods will".
I wonder, what do these clowns know about "sanctity of life" and "Gods will"
Sanctity of Life, what about the natural law of "SANCTITY OF DEATH?"
This poor woman has been FORCED to live in this state for 15 years!!! So, these religious pipe-dream fools may claim, well...her spirit is alive and vibrant. GET OFF IT!!! You can't tell me that you would appreciate beeing forced to live in a vegetative state for so long w/no hopes of recovering{w.evidence stated by mediucal professionals as such}, forced to live in a box unable to express yourself AT ALL!, unable to-possibly not even aware of the instinct to survive and to feed onself{regardless if one is able to or not}, forced to live in a biological prison that is sustained by huamn made machines!!! With parts of your brain working and other parts not, with any show of emotion on your face and any reaction physically to touch just beeing nerves and as far as gthe expresions go-dreams and nightmares and perhaps memories and that's it!!!
I say bluntly to all those whom say they would want to...LIARS!!! You are lying to others, and lying to yourselves!!! However, you do have the right to choose I suppose, but if your prolonged life affects others financially,affects the natural process of life and DEATH and interferes w/natures way of keeping nature in balance and to stave off overpopulation and overuse of natural recourses and stuff-then how can your right trump that of everyonse else,nature, and perhaps even the natural will of whatever or whoever Created or brought the natural universe to fruition by setting up it's evolution to happen!
How is it "Sanctity of life" to torment someones body and mind like this???!!! On top of this-it also affects the "sanctity of life" of the loved one sof somene in thsi kind of state. Lets take Mrs.Shiavos case here; her loved ones have forced her to live in this state merely for selfish ends of not wanting to let go and let the natural process of death take place, they have been selfish in that their religious moral views and their own desire to not be without her have trumped her right to die a natural death and prolonged hers and their suffering! Why not just move on, it is the natural way of life and death. What are Terrys family afraid of? Really, they beleive in biblegod and bibleheavan right? Well then..."if" their god were real, why don't they just let her go to be w/that god and be at peace and rest finally??? "Sanctity of life", it's a catchphrase beeing abused for selfish ends.
I can't pretend to understand the pain that Terris' parents and family have gone through seeing their loved one in this state, but I do understand that yes,psychollogically, it can be difficult to let a love done go and move on; I feel for her family- I do; but they are just playing god and usurping the throne of nature.{Now there are cases where using technology to keep someone alive is beneficial, a mechanical heart for example-where a person can actually have some quality in their given life; or...if someone is in a brain damaged state but still can have quality to life and interaction w/other social beeings or if not-if the medical professionals say that the chances of someone coming out of that state before too long are highly probbale if not actual-than yeah-prolonging is a good thing=ditto can be said for "some" cases of people in comas} But,there is no REASON to force someone to live out all their days in this kind of tormented state other than selfishness, and t is imposing on that persons will and right to die and either go back to the earth or back to the "source" and have some fuckin peace.
Now, speaking of the "source", we now get to the "Gods will" part.
I.myself personally believe either in a Destic,Pantheistic,or Panendeistic view of this "source". www.deism.org www.deism.com www.pantheism.net www.pantheist.net www.panendeism.com {in case you do not know these philosophies at all, you can check these links}.
Now, first off I'm going to play devils advocate w/their Christian conception of God, just to show their hypocrisy and their absurdity and selfishness.
"If" this god actually exists, then...are'nt these dumbasss right-to-lifers{?} and Christian right-wingers{botht eht regular people, and the religious fucks in the govt}usurping their gods throne and will? I mean, did not this very god{"if" it exists; which I don't believe so myself} set up the natural laws that govern life and death? By forcing her to live{or forcing anyone in such states to live in such a state}are these clowns not telling their own god{and all other conceptions of a god} "FUCK YOU!"? If a person is going to die w/out such imposing human technology, and that technology is not going to give any quality at all to their life{it can be useful and "good" -IF it is meant to make ones life better and more fullfilling}, is that not "GODS WILL"? Are you not taking the right from that god to bring his creation home and end her/his suffering? What good doe sit even do your own selfish egos and wants to keep your loved ones w/you in such states, you know that you feel the hidden temptation to curse your god everytime you see your love done in such a suffering state, you are not only prolonging their suffering, but your own and your gods{"IF" he/she/it exists}. HOW SELFISH to steal from the/your Creator{or your conception of it} like that!!!
These are things that the Shindlers{Terrys family},and the Republican party, the Bush family, and the religious right-to life hypocrites need to take into seriuos account! [It s also someothing that all of whom are in similar situations should seriusly consider].
I am utterly disgusted w/the religious Christian forces that the Shindlers in their despair rallied. These fuckers{the religious forces-not the Shindlers, please don't misunderstand my insult} even went so far as to invade Terrys husbands privacy, and harrased him; I saw in the paper one day a bunch of these bloody hypocrites kneeling in front on Micheal Shiavos home w/protest signs, stickers on their mouths, praying and beeing complete assholes!!! My gawd!!! If I were Micheal or even just one of his neighbors, I would've called the cops on them, and if that did'nt work-I'd have gone out and spit in each of their faces and shoved 'em off onto the road! There fake love is hatred in disguise, they are hypocrites and wolves in sheeps clothing.
Then ther are the dozens and dozens of Christians that gathered outside Terri's hospice, whom exploited Terris suffering and death to selfishly push their faith and their religious morals, this circus of clowns even extended to the upper echelons of the federal govt, they wasted preciuos time and energy{that could've been spent dooing ACTUAL CHARITY helping the poor,downtrodden,oppressed, and homelss/starving here and abroad in 3rd world debating the private case of the Shaivaos and Shindlers; what a fucking joke!!!} they even went so far as to pray and to blur the lines between seperation of Church and state, even the tyrant Bush family weighed in to prolong Terrys suffering{not a surprise; they love to inflict suffering on innocent people}!!! What a travesty of democracy,freedom,govt, and religion!!!
Christians tried to bring water to Terry agianst the law, and rightly they got arrested.
These religious fools, and the govt, both ignored the medical professionals stated facts that Terry was'nt really aware of anything around her, that she was essenitally{mostly} braindead and would'nt recover!
Nope, instead they and Terrys family took selected footage of Terri that 'seemed' like she was reacting to others and smiling and shit, which in reality the medical professionals stated time and again was mere chance, that at other times she would'nt in other words-it's nerves and perhaps dreams/memories. That footage was really used to subvert the reality and the facts, this is truly sad and disguting!
The so-called "charity" and "good-will/works" and "Altruism" ,etc of the Christian rightists and the Bushes and Republicans was mainly selfish and egotistical. Oh, how those fuckers trying to bring Terri water in her final days must got quite an ego boost looking good to all their fellow religionists on international television striving against the police and the meidcia professionlas and getting their sorry asses righly arrested{of course, you know they are going to claim a ungodly persecution against Christians and God because of this}fools!!!
Thier true hidden motive was themsleves,their religion, and their god; and Terry just happened to be a useful tool for their ends! The Politicians, well, of course the Republicans and the Bushes joined in this parade of stupidity, dooing so makes them look good to a powerful and wealthy Christian right voting group{s}; yes-they were pandering to the religious right-that was their motive!
Where were these people beforehand in Terrys case{and by the way she is not the only one in this kind of situation, she just happenned to be a convenient face for their selfish religious and political cuases}, where are they when children are starving down the street from them, where are they when there are billions of starving and oppressed people in the 3rd world? Oh yeah-in their fucking pews in their god-forsaken churches w/their nice clothes and jewelery on -in their pumped up emotional worship states of their psyches, and living in their beautiful nicely decorated suburban homes, enjoying large and yummy meals, enjoying their movies about their religion "passion of the christ", "left behind"{books and movies } and their christian top 40 music, and the millions of dollars sunk into making this propaganda shit!!! That's where they are!!!
Yes, their true colors shone through loud and clear!
Of course, I agree that removing Terrys tube and leaving her to starve and dehydrate for two weeks was'nt exactly the most ethical thing to do either; for the life of me I cannot grasp why the ell they did'nt just put her to sleep w/a needle or something, a much more humane death, much less suffering; however two weeks of that to death is the lesser of two evils when compared to forcing her to live decades in that state.
I'm sorry that Terry is dead,I'm sorry her loved ones have lost her, but it was time to let nature take it course, and let the creator- whoever or whatever it is, take this energy/matter called Terry back. It was time for her needless suffering to end,and the needless of suffering of all whom claim to love her.
Speaking of which, Micheal Shiavios love!
Throughout this whole damn sideshow, the religious right{amongst others} have demonized this poor man. Focusing on his restrictions to Terrys family seeing her, and on his beeing w/another woman.
Is he selfish to want to move on w/another woman-sure! it would also be selfish of him to not do so, as he would be supressing his natural needs.
Now I do not now whether Micheal was telling the truth or not about the conversation he and Terry had years and years ago where she allegedly told him that she would not want to be in that kind of vegetative state and forced to live; but ethically and legally as her legal partner and guardian it is right to decide whether she live sor dies in this case, ethicists agree. The law alos agreed consistently w/him for years on end; who knows maybe they gave hima polygraph or something to determine whether this conversation actually happenned or ot, and perhaps he passed, maybe she did say so.
WORST THING IS...that even "if" she did say so, and even "if" she expressed it in writing, the religiuos christian fools and their pro-life{try pro-hypocrisy} forces have stated that they'd still fight to keep her alive{which would be against her stated and proven will} in which case-they have shown the fact that this not about Terry to them, it is about them and their religion.
Now, Micheal has had to deal w/lot of hypocrisy from the religious Shindlers, his wife whom he loved has been forced to suffer in this state, and he has been forced to be stigmatized as an adulterer for moving on after so many years w/anothe woman to fullfill his natural nature/creator/creative force given needs and desires for emotional and sexual intimacy. It's no wonder he tried to keep his wifes family from seeing her at times, they seem to get a sick religiuos joy out of her suffering and their own suffering{but then "suffering" is a pillar of the absurd Christian faith after all}-god forbid anyone should be allowed to have joy,peace,fullfillment, quality of life, or the right to natural death!
However, he has still allowed them access, as they are her family. Maybe at times the man has acted innapropriately towards them, but given the circumstances, it is somewhat understandable, though no-he was not in the right to do so. But lets cut the man some slack.
Lets also cut the man some slack in the fact that he has had a girlfriend for some time. I'd love to see how long one of these rleigious hypocrites could last and repress their bodys and psyches natural needs if they were in his shoes!
Now again, I don't wish to be too hard on the Shindlers; as I Stated, I have not been in their shoes and cannot fully grasp their pain, but why they wished to prolong their own,Micheals, and Terrys pain is hard to understand w/out seeing the selfish motives for it. I am not trying to attack them, I feel sympathy for them, but...
Also, Micheal would have shown much more compassion for his wife had he begged the courts to stick a needle in her and end her suffering quickly and humanely as opposed to yanking out the feeding tube and alowing her to starve and dehydrate for two weeks. But, from what I'e heard many medical professionals said that she would not feel the pain{or not much anyways} die to beeing mostly in a vegatative near braindead state.
Now my personal view has of the last little while become that these kinds of cases, because of their emotional,phsychollogical,financial, and other strains on loved ones, other people, the hospitals, human population, nature, whatever possible Creator/Creative force "may" exist, and the physical and sub/unconciuos burdens and perhaps even spiritiual burdens{like beeing locked in a cell not ale to communicate or interact at all}on the individuals in such states. that the law should be changed, people because they do not wish to part w/their loved ones should not be legally allowed to force their will for this on their loved ones{unless stated in a living will that they wished to be kept alive} that are in such states or on themselves, the medical professionals, society at large,nature,etc.
OR...In the very least, such cases should not be allowed to be made into such circuses, and facts should weigh over religious biases, compassion over selfish deire to not lose a loved one to natural death and over religious/theological beliefs{which in a case like Terry Shiavos, religion has harmed this poor woman and her loved ones; not mention the world at large in this case becaise of the circus that the religious right made it into, so much}.
Of course, I do not have the final say, the medical professionals and law decide such things.
Just stating my current emotional view.
I also think, that whether or not my view in the few sentences above are right or not; lets say they are'nt{I'm open to that possibiity, and could alter my opinion on that particular part of the argument}that such circuses around such private matters should not be allowed. And for this,sadly, Terrys parents were to blame, Micheal never asked for this circus,this travesty, they did, they begged the religious right and the Bushes and the republican party to step over the ethical line and make this into a circus, they allowed their daughters suffering and death to be made circus and a mockery of! They even requested it.
As for the Buses, specifically Jeb Bush{Florida state governer; where this happenned} in this case, they should lose their power positions since they abused them{which is nothing new for the Bush fmaily criminal religious/elite dynasty}.
The religious right leaders whom put on this circus sidshow outside Terrys hospice and outside Micheals private home, should ALL be rounded up and fined financially for it; the one sin charge of it{:Jesse Jackson for example} should be fined very heftily!!!
And such a mockery should never EVER be allowed to occur again w/out seriuos consequences; they cheapened Terris sufeering and death.
I'm sad that Terrys is dead, I'm more sad[and disgusted] that she was forced to suffer{or live} in that state for so long in the name of "god" and "religion" and "sanctity of life"{all of which have been spit upon by this}; However I'm very glad to hear that her suffering is over, that this charade is done.
I still feel sympathy for her parents and family{and even moreso for Micheal}, though it was her parents and family that ended up initiatiting this circus charade{religious and political} and exploitaion of Terry;
but to the religious rightists whom never knew Terry personally or hardly knew her{or her family and Micheal for that matter}, I say -HA! See the power of your impotent god to keep he alive!
I get a gleeful satisfaction out of seeing their prayers and their wasted efforts to subvert Terrys rights, and natures rights,etc, come to naught!!
Gee... does'nt the Babble..er..Bible teach that even a shred of faith{as small as a mustard seed} in a believer in Jesus as Gods incarnate/son/propitiation -that such such will have gods/christs spirit work great miracles through each and every believer{not just designated "faith healer' clowns-whom all turn out to be a joke anyways}- "even greater things tha will you do, cause I go to the father"-Jesus, "whatever you aks in my name, will be done"{of course your retort is- "if it's according to gods will", HOW CAN IT 'NOT' BE GODS WILL TO NOT ONLY KEEP SOMEONE IN THAT KIND OF STATE ALIVE- BUT ALSO RESTORE HER HEALTH FULLY TO HIS/HER/ITS GLORY BEFORE HUMANKIND!!!; you all pick and choose, if something bad happens-it's gods will, something good happens it's Gods will; gee let me try tis, I believe in the purple elephant of heavan-so when something good happens- I project it onto the purple elephant, if something bad happens-visa versa; see the lunacy here???}.
As Neitzsche said "God is dead"{or at least bible-koran-torahgod/montheistic/personal and anthropormorphic god is dead}, or it exists but is indifferent to us-like a scientist or something; or perhaps not eterrnally indifferent, but temporarily indifferent having bestowed us through evolutiuon w/reason and the ability to look at the universe and personally/subjectively/relativistically see design, and/or how abou this-it does'nt care to be worshipped-it's beyond that kinda pettiness!!!
I can understand emotionally the selfish motives of both Terris parents/siblings/etc and Micheals too. They have all treated each other like dirt, and they need to admit their wrongs in this and move on. Though the major reasons for the demonization of Micheal{having a girlfriend}-that is unfair, at times not allowing her family to visit-he acted unfair, but then again-so have they! I am prone to side more w/Micheal however, and I do think that he made a grave mistake in not begging the law to put her to sleep humanely as opposed to the starvation/dehydration-slow death process.
I leave this post w/some comments about this case
from some fellow posters from the"Faithless Community"{ www.faithless.org } websites Mesage boards/forums{ a sister site and project of the Universist movement- www.universist.org }:: I think their comments are quite fitting for this post: All their names are their pseudonymns from the forum not their real names and are in= \ /
"If these people care so much about 'gods will', then they are beeing hypocritical to that will. She would've died 15 years ago, medical science is what saved her life{NOTE: from me-Bill Iconoclastithon Baker; OR PROLONGED HER SUFFERING}"- \Age of reason/ {note from me}
"Terri did'nt leave the bad legacy...she showed the rest of the world how sick, melodramatic and hypocritical Christianity can be"- \Helmespc/
"She died.... what a crappy legacy her parents and these fools{NOTE; from Bill= the Christian right/Bushes/Republicans} have left her with"- \Speedsashe/ [correspind this one with the one above it]
"So many people are makng money out of Terry Shiavos case and playing politics, most of whom could care less about her condition"-\Busman/
"Those Lawyers must be rollin in it..."- \Helmespc/
"Seems to me, the people that don't know god are these people bringing her water. If this is a 'god' thing...god has stopped her mouth from taking in food, she does'nt even KNOW to eat when she is hungry; in the natural world{the last 500,000 years} such a beeing in this state would have died. Yep, shge would've starved to death. It is through mans artificial means of keeping this poor shell of a human alive! {NOTE: from Bill= to suffer and be a needless burden on her loved ones and on nature,etc}.
It's horrible that this has to happen, these situations such for anyone involved, it's hard to watch someone you love die, but...dieing is a part of life, t's OK. It's hard to let someone go, but I really feel the parents are beeing selfish. Let her move on damn it! hey are Christians, so they believe she will be floating off to heavan to be w/the lord. Well then let her float away, she's in a horrible situation. She does'nt even KNOW to fullfill the instict to nurish herself... come on people!"-\Psychenaut/
And finally, one for the biblegod-worshippers to think about;
"Amazing! If tens of thousands{perhaps more} people of 'faith' were earnestly praying for Terrys life to be spared and it was'nt, that means one of three things:
1}God{as they concieve him} does not exist
2}God heard but chose not to answer their prayers
3}GOD WANTED TERRY TO DIE!
he certainly does'nt need a feeding tube to save someones life{NOTE: from Bill=or perhaps maybe-heal them!}or at least he SHOULD'NT-beeing god and all!"- \Zeon/
Let compassion reign only when it is mixed w/REASON and evidences, otherwise it is just hypocrisy,fake piety, and lies!!!-The Very Irreverand Bill "Iconoclastithon" Baker
Labels: Atheism, Deism, Euthanasia, Faith, God, Mercy, Reason, Religion, Religious Right, Republican, Right to Die, Sanctity of Life, Science, Terri Shiavo