I just read an article, and I'm pissed. So bear with me.
So the "Terri Supporters" outside the hospice have gotten more attention in 10 minutes than the entire anti-war protests have received over the last two years.
So the "activists" there are
encouraging their 10 yr old kids to break the law and engage in a crime they can't even understand, while others drive around with
sandwich-boarded trucks and speakers crying out about judicial murder and
God's wrath.
So they hold up misspelled signs, and quote passages from the Bible that they don't even follow.
So they fall prostrate on the ground, or walk around with Homeland Security's #1 brand of duct tape on their mouths.
So they put Jesus on a hatchback, or prop him up against a tree, and hey, doesn't your crucifix need just a little more blood?
So they hold up Nazi symbols, and compare carrying out Mrs. Schiavo's wishes to gassing Jews in Auschwitz.
But when they did this, that was the last straw for me.
PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - Jennifer Johnson, barefoot and in her pajamas, ran to her grandfather's bedside once a hospice worker said his death was moments away. She got there -- one minute too late. Johnson said the chaos outside the hospice where Terri Schiavo is dying kept her from saying goodbye.
<snip>
"It's a terrible, extra obstacle to put in front of a family. ... Everything is about Schiavo," Johnson said. "It's all about her and in my family's case, it cost us dearly."
This poor woman, by her grandfather's bedside for so long, and now...she misses the final goodbye because some fucking nutjobs are making a scene outside?
Family members visiting patients must pass through a police checkpoint to park, then show identification outside the door before another security screening inside. They also must walk by scores of signs decrying Schiavo's "crucifixion," "torture," and "starvation," plus navigate around hordes of media who have been camped outside.
"To have to maneuver through all of this and have a hostile environment outside when all they want is peace and quiet and to enjoy those few days they have left with a loved one is a horror," said Dr. Morton Getz, executive director of Douglas Gardens Hospice in Miami.
<snip>
"It's causing a lot of grief and questions in their own mind on whether they did the right thing," he said. "It's unconscionable to have a family member to be near the end stages of life and to get there, you have to walk through signs that say, 'Murderer.'"
It's not that they are religious. It's that they are fucking hypocrites and if Jesus himself were to come down tonight on the night of his resurrection he's slap them all silly for embarassing him and for going against everything he taught them.
Treat others as you want to be treated. If it was you there, holding your father's hand, feeling the warmth slip out of it, would you want to hear chants of "Feed Terri! Feed Terri!" outside or would you want your father's spirit to be given to Lord in serene silence?
Thou shalt not steal, remember? Well, those selfish cowards are stealing the precious last moments of so many at that hospice.
God, what fucking hypocrites. You think anyone here is praying for the dozens of other patients there? You think anyone there really cares about family and community and life? No. They're praying for Jeb Bush to pull a George Wallace and storm the hospice and "Free Terri", whatever the fuck that means.
They think they've made the hospice a little piece of heaven when all they've done is turn it into a living hell for so many heartbroken families who have to endure through their grandstanding.
And yes, it is grandstanding. You think they're doing it because they think Mrs. Schiavo would have wanted a couple hundred complete strangers spitting vitriole outside her bedside? Please, gag me with a huge goddamn spoon. They're doing it for the cameras.. Everything is perfectly choreographed and staged and fake.
The Passion of Terri is not about Mrs. Schiavo. You know that when you see the signs demanding that Michael "give Terri back to her parents" like she's some fucking piece of property that can be auctioned on Ebay. You know it's not about her when you see assholes walking around in shirts saying choose life, because if it really were about choice, Mrs. Schiavo's choice would be honored.
No, it's not about that tortured woman. It's not about the patients at the hospice who are breathing their last breaths over the drumbeat of religious fantacism, it's not about human dignity, even in the last days, and it sure as hell isn't about compassionate conservativism.
It's about their bizarre need to prove themselves to God. It's about latching on to a stranger's suffering and lifting their arms up to the Lord to prove that yes! See! I read your words! I am acting as your agent here on earth, and I will save this woman in your name All Mighty and Righteous Father!
In short, it's trying to score points with the man upstairs.
We talk about politicians politicizing this issue. But what they are doing is so much worse. They are using her, her frail frame and her vulnerable state, to pretend that they care for the weak and powerless. They cry tears for her because they haven't cried tears for the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis. They carry around Jesus' face because they have forgotten it and have been led astray.
And who pays the price for their stunts? We do. The woman who missed her grandfather's last words paid for it. Michael pays the price, as he hears their accusations of "murderer" ringing endlessly in his ears. We pay for it, because when these religious fanatics wrap themselves in the American flag, they get one step closer to their ultimate goal.
A Christian, theocratic state.
God save us all from these zealots.
Update [2005-3-26 23:11:1 by georgia10]:: Unlike the media, I'm willing to give you guys both sides of the story. Here is an account from a "citizen journalist", a Michael Schiavo supporter, who describes the activists as generally welcoming and peaceful. Although, I have a feeling their mood would naturally be subdued given recent events.
Also, the Schindlers have asked them to go home and spend Easter with their familes.
Update [2005-3-27 13:57:18 by georgia10]:: I know the thread is long, but I would encourage all to read the insightful comments below, they truly provide an excellent framework for this diary. Additionally, I would like to stress the point that no one here is saying that they do not have the right to protest; rather, their extreme tactics are having a negative impact on the area.
Some more distrubing anecdotes:
Near one end of 102nd Avenue is Triple O Auto, where Scotty Jackson, a single father raising two sons, has grown used to being cussed at and ridiculed by people clutching Bibles and waving signs. [...]
Since March 18 when Schiavo's feeding tube was removed under court order, Jackson, 44, a good-natured South Dakotan, has run out of patience with protesters who think nothing of blocking his garage-bay doors with their cars, jeopardizing his livelihood.
When Jackson asked one man to move his car, the visitor screamed an obscenity at the garage owner, and "then he walked off with a Bible in his hand."
Triple O stands for On Our Own, and there are times when Jackson struggles to pay his bills and is forced to work on a Sunday -- upsetting one protester, who heckled him about working on the day of rest.
[...]
[The father in the neighborhood is concerned about the children], Like the students at Cross Bayou Elementary, on the west side of the hospice, who needed a police escort as they arrived at school. On the day Schiavo's feeding tube was pulled, 200 of the students stayed home.
Or the 10-year-old who was arrested trying to take a cup of water to Schiavo, with his father standing proudly nearby. Or the 7- or 8-year-olds he has seen wearing T-shirts bearing fetuses and the words "Abortion kills."
The activists held their own makeshift Easter ceremony today. Ah, Glorious Easter! A day when you say
"Heil Hitler" and
condemn police officers to Hell! When a pastor is arrested for trying to take "Communion" (fruit juice) to Mrs. Schiavo (wearing a shirt that says
"America! Prepare to Meet Thy God!).
Update [2005-3-27 15:31:27 by georgia10]:: You know things have
gotten out of control when the Schindler family itself has to come out to the crowd and say
"You are not speaking for our family."
Update [2005-3-27 20:56:35 by georgia10]:: Despite being asked by the family to leave, despite the harassment of the hospice and its employees, we now have a report that 600 students,
an entire school will be relocating tomorrow indefinitely because of their threats of violence.