Getting to the point.
First, let me thank Jake for reminding me that I needed to read Gene Weingarten's chat transcript. Let me then also provide his take on the Schiavo case
"Gene Weingarten: My initial reader poll for today was going to be this: A. The actions of congress, the president, and the governor of Florida in the case of Terri Schiavo are:
1. Admirable acts of conscience that are vital to a respect for the sanctity of life.
2. Severely misguided acts, but ones done with the best of intentions.
3. Grotesuely hypocritical, politically motivated, wildly demagogic acts by individuals who will happily kill thousands in an immoral war, who will pooh-pooh torture, reward the architects of both the war and the torture with medals and promotions, and who will enthusiastically condone the death penalty. Their actions in this case may well result in their roasting in in Hell, if there is a Hell, which there may or may not be. We are not sure because we are not complete religious fanatics but normal, moral, confused, decent people trying to make sense of a difficult world, noble and honest in our uncertainty. I decided not to do that, because it would seem too extreme. We must be more restrained.
"Gene Weingarten: Has anyone raised the possibility that -- in the wildly unlikely case that this poor woman does in fact have some consciousness -- that what she is most likely thinking is KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME, and that, to her, those trying to save her life are foul beasts and tormenters? I mean, if you were one hundred percent trapped inside your own brain for 12 years, don't you think that would be YOUR state of mind? But don't get me started."
Sometimes humor is light and funny. Sometimes we need it just to survive in an irrational world that we can't comprehend. Maybe sometimes its not even funny.
"Gene Weingarten: My initial reader poll for today was going to be this: A. The actions of congress, the president, and the governor of Florida in the case of Terri Schiavo are:
1. Admirable acts of conscience that are vital to a respect for the sanctity of life.
2. Severely misguided acts, but ones done with the best of intentions.
3. Grotesuely hypocritical, politically motivated, wildly demagogic acts by individuals who will happily kill thousands in an immoral war, who will pooh-pooh torture, reward the architects of both the war and the torture with medals and promotions, and who will enthusiastically condone the death penalty. Their actions in this case may well result in their roasting in in Hell, if there is a Hell, which there may or may not be. We are not sure because we are not complete religious fanatics but normal, moral, confused, decent people trying to make sense of a difficult world, noble and honest in our uncertainty. I decided not to do that, because it would seem too extreme. We must be more restrained.
"Gene Weingarten: Has anyone raised the possibility that -- in the wildly unlikely case that this poor woman does in fact have some consciousness -- that what she is most likely thinking is KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME, and that, to her, those trying to save her life are foul beasts and tormenters? I mean, if you were one hundred percent trapped inside your own brain for 12 years, don't you think that would be YOUR state of mind? But don't get me started."
Sometimes humor is light and funny. Sometimes we need it just to survive in an irrational world that we can't comprehend. Maybe sometimes its not even funny.
posted by Fletch at
12:43 PM
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