I, for one, do not give a fuck about Terry Schiavo

The BBQ Pit
1

I had to say it.

I don’t fucking care if this woman spends the rest of eternity hooked to a feeding tube, or if she is run over by a fleet of steamrollers 5 minutes from now.

I DON’T KNOW HER.

I don’t know ANY of the people in the parade that the media continues to march in front of the nation. The Peterson fuck, Michael Jackson, on and on and motherfucking on until God knows when.

Who was the guy that was all over the news for … shit, I don’t even remember now. It was a big fucking deal though, some congressman who fucked some teenager, every day at 8, 5, and 10 you’d get the latest update.

And then 9/11 happened, and he completely fucking disappeared.

To me, the media is the troll of the 20th/21st century, and the internet has finally come along to kick the troll out of the forum of humanity.

Discussions about Terry are simply ‘feeding the troll’ (no pun intended), as far as I’m concerned.

Call me heartless, uncaring, whatever the fuck you want. Throw arguments of ‘well, what if this was your daughter/sister/wife/whatever’ at me.

Doesn’t matter.

It’s not possible to really ‘care’ about any of these people, any more than you would have if you had never heard of them. Face it… there are thousands of people, all over the globe, who your heart isn’t bleeding for today - because the media didn’t pick them, for whatever reason - to parade in front of you.

I’ll go have another beer now.

2

By all means, dearie.

yawn

You think we’ve never heard this one before? This is the Pit.

3

Why couldn’t you tell us this in the other two threads already open in the Pit?

4

Generally, the dope frowns upon people coming into threads and saying “this thread is fucking pointless/this show sucks/etc.” Starting your own pitting is more appropriate in this case.

I actually think there is some truth here. The media is, in many ways, a troll trying to get people to bite so that they’ll consume more media products and pay more attention to it.

5

He/She may only have lurked before and not enrolled as a guest.

6

ya know what? I don’t know Terri, her husband, her parents or any of their supporters. BUt I care quite a fuck of a lot that for some goddam reason the State of FLorida, the US Congress has gone apeshit in their attempts to deny the fucking rights of the next of kin to determine health care decisions.

As I’d posted in (one) of the other threads, I was a next of kin in Florida, they wisely chose not to fuck with me about my decision.

that issue (the idea that the state can attempt to thwart the rights of next of kin) is something that is worth all of the attention.

7

What wring sed.

I want to know if my wishes will be respected, should anything happen to me, and I want to know that my wife will be allowed to make decisions for me as she sees fit.

This is an issue with fairly far-reaching societal, legal, and states-rights-related ramifications.

8

I am with wring as well. I don’t care for hype of any kind, news hype included, but I make a differentiation between an annoying news outlet and the human beings behind the story.

I’d want someone to care if Jebco was making politcal hay out of keeping me alive well past my time.

9

Florida . . . where established principles of family law go to die. See, e.g. Gonzalez, Elian; Schiavo, Terri.

10

Another “word” for wring.

I also care because I help people make decisions like this professionally, both in terms of living wills and withdrawing care. The more bullshit that gets thrown out there about cases like this, the harder that is for me, and this case is like the Niagra Falls of bullshit.

Incidentally, it’s about time for the annual “basketball is so stupid. How can anyone get excited about it?” thread. People have a hard time just ignoring the things that don’t interest them.

11

Chiming in with, “what wring said.”

Number 1: If I ever become, Og forbig, a rutabaga, for Og’s sake, pull all the damn tubes and wires. There. Now it’s in writing with 30,000+ Dopers to read this as my witnesses. I live alone. Don’t believe a word of what my LDS father says… I would NOT want my body to be kept alive like that if my brain will never return to it. Ever. (I’ll make this legal shortly, so at least all this nauseating footage has had some positive effect in motivating people like me to nail down their advance directives.)

Number 2: If you ever air footage of me as a rutabaga, with a horrible haircut, drooling with a blank, eerily Republican-like vacant stare, when I finally do die… I will hunt you down and haunt you for the rest of your fucking days.

Today I saw pictures of Terri before her brain died. She was beautiful. If she had any mental capabilities at all, she would never stand for video of herself in that condition to be aired worldwide, especially in those clothes her nursing home puts her in. ::shudder::

12

I’d volunteer to start it, but I’m not one of those who has a hard time ignoring things that don’t interest me, so I’d never post to it (beyond my OP), and people might think I was trolling. Let somebody else do it.

Anyway, mattmorgan64, have you tried reading Thoreau? You sound like you could use a small dose.

13

Unlike the Peterson trial, the Jackson trial, and other media circuses, this case actually has implications for all of us. Putting aside the important matters of whether the U.S. Congress has jurisdiction over what is obviously a state court matter, this case should be a strong motivator of people who don’t want to wind up like her to get some sort of living will or advanced medical directive which spells out just what you want in this situation.

14

You gotta wonder what a living will is worth when it can become a political football in a State Judiciary vs. National Legislative branch battle.

15

OK, so I’m even more beers in by now.

And I’ve read the comments, and I apologize if I’ve broken forum decorum by not posting in existing threads.

But I did it on purpose, as the threads that were out there were discussions of wether she should continue in her current ‘state’, or not.

My thread was started with the specific intent of simply saying: I DON’T GIVE A FLYING FUCK.

And another question, to those of you who have posted in this thread saying you are worried about stae/federal vs. human rights:

Posting in an internet forum about something you have no say over, about people you don’t know, about a subject you can’t possibly know anything about UNTIL you live it -

Is protecting your rights or letting your representatives know how you feel exactly… how?

16

Don’t change the subject. We explained why we care about the subject. You don’t. Five by five.

17

How did I change the subject?

Answer the question.

18

No. And wipe that foam off your lip.

19

you say you read the comments. then you apparently ignored mine, wherin I stated, quite clearly, that I had fucking lived this subject, and in the fucking state of FLorida as well. So, yes, I think I’m quite qualified to state “how I’d fee about it” thanks for asking.

I have signed statements about what specifically I want in various scenarios, thank you, copy in my Doctor’s file, original at home, have discussed w/all my relatives etc.

but none of that means jackshit, 'cause, as we see by this case, the State of Fucking FLorida, US Congress et all and a buncha other folks can apparently override the rights of my next of kin to carry out my wishes.

posting on it on an internet board is only one of the things I’m doing about it. But it also answers your challenge of “I don’t care about Terri” by pointing out that caring about the specifics of this case doesn’t matter, since it has the potential to effect each and every person. IOW, go ahead and ‘don’t care’ about Terri herself, but I’d really suggest that if you don’t wish your next of kin be ignored, that you get w/your fucking representatives to express your outrage over their butting in where the fuck they don’t belong. I’ll care about it when it’s you in the hospital bed being bandied about like political hay, too. Of course, you won’t notice then.

20

That would be Gary Condit/Chava Levy. Just showing off the fact that my attention span is more than 15 minutes. :smiley:

Seriously though, this case has made both my wife (who is extremely reluctant about such talks) and myself to sit down and draw up liviing wills. Until this case I was conviced I would have to get a DNR tatooed on my chest. I hope the fucktards in Congress pulling this shit get there asses handed to them at the next election.