Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy floors me. Simply floors me.

There's a lot of people who are condemning the actions taken by Judge Greer in Florida, allowing the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. They're "pro-life," seeking to end "132nd trimester abortions," as one wit put it. They'll claim the Declaration of Independence's assertion that all men are endowed with certain inalienable rights, one of which is the right to life. They say that man does not have the right to decide in matters of life and death, and that the removal of the feeding tube is an affront to God. They're going to the federal government and trying every last-ditch effort they can think of to get this judge's ruling overturned.

These are, in large part, the same people who snarl viscerally at the barest mention of Scott Peterson's name. People who wouldn't mind killing the man with their bare hands. There's no mention of the Declaration with Peterson, and no mention of his execution being an affront to God, as it's carried out by Man.

These are, in large part, people who purport to be against government involvement in personal lives. Yet they're trying to get the US Congress to intervene with something that they don't like. They call themselves pro-life, yet they seem to want to watch another man die, when he's done something they don't like. I guess he wasn't endowed with the inalienable right to life by their Creator, huh?

These are, in large part, people who champion personal rights, but in practice denigrate the right to privacy that the Peterson, Rocha, Schiavo and Schindler families should have enjoyed.

Let's get this straight right now: this Schiavo issue isn't an "important" issue, as far as it affects people directly. It affects the families, and it's not really setting any important judicial precedents. What it is doing is testing the waters for near-future battles of religion and government. The proponents of keeping Schiavo alive are, in large part, believers in the healing power of prayer, and in the intervention of God in their personal lives. They believe that God will intervene in the life of Terri Schiavo. This issue affects only the families directly, but it's sort of like a referendum on where the public stands on their belief in God. I think that we're in for a lot of battles over religion in the coming years; this is just a little taste.

Fargus...