be afraid. be very afraid.

[burnunit]

we are seriously not thinking ahead here, and I think this woman is very close to correct.

http://counterpunch.com/whitehurst03282005.html

Particularly trenchant passages:

Those who are becoming "numbed out" to the images of Ms. Schiavo's real-time starvation-a gruesome reality-TV event for which none of us were prepared-will either avoid the news, crack jokes, or minimize the significance of her dying ("they say starvation doesn't hurt" or "people die all the time-get over it!"). But the many Americans who are growing increasingly distressed (with accompanying feelings of powerlessness) are likely to undergo a personal transformation wherein their more moderate views are discarded and they begin to identify with angry, extremist persons or groups.

One highly personal event-especially wherein one person/one name captures the public's emotional attention-can function as a "tipping point", shifting public opinion to the far right in societies already infected with quasi-fascist framing of national crises (see George Lakoff's work on framing).
(...)
There's no better time for political positioning than when progressives' defenses are down and all seems well, a state of affairs that the misleading opinion polls of last week made possible. While progressives assume that the legal and democratic system "still works" because conservatives' appeals have been repeatedly rebuffed, the crafty right is aiming to keep the Bush family in power by being the only sympathetic voice. (...)

By siding with her husband, we shoot ourselves in the foot in two ways: (1) we are reinforcing patriarchal nuclear family values (...) (2) we willingly give up all claims to supporting real "family values" (the extended family, not just the Dobson/Falwell nuclear family)

Call it 2008. Call it Bush III: The Search for Jeb. Call it the end of the world as we know it.

Comments

[433.livejournal.com]

What bullshit - We're supporting the patriarchy by siding with the person that knew her intentions best? What if Michael Shaivo was the one in the PVT, and Terri wanted to let him die vs. the decisions of his parents? Would that be okay?