Posted on 06/05/2005 11:45:26 AM PDT by 8mmMauser
"Too Late To Die Young: Nearly True Tales From a Life," by Harriet McBryde Johnson.
About two years ago, Harriet Johnson appeared on the cover of The New York Times Magazine. If you saw her portrait, you probably haven't forgotten it.
A thin woman in a wheelchair leans forward, a purple shawl draping one shoulder. Johnson describes it this way in her new memoir: "The portrait has been described as beautifully disturbing, and most nondisabled people seem to see it that way. I'd prefer to call it disturbingly beautiful, but I'll take it the other way around if I must."
Johnson has an unnamed muscle-wasting disease, but don't dare say she "suffers" from it. She insists on being her own complicated person, a Southern lady, for instance, as well as a socialist, an atheist, a lawyer and a born storyteller with a wicked sense of humor.
She eschews pity and sentimentality. She supports the work of Not Dead Yet, a group of anti-euthanasia activists who demonstrated outside Terri Schiavo's Pinellas Park hospice earlier this year, dramatically sliding out of their wheelchairs and lying on the ground.
And though Johnson hates the hackneyed trope of triumph in the face of disability, she nevertheless has a string of interesting adventures. She runs for elected office. She travels to Cuba to discuss disability rights. She protests the Jerry Lewis telethon annually in her hometown of Charleston, S.C., and she bribes her friends to join her with promises of free food.
Her gripe with the telethon is its grim prognostications. When she was 30, her mother became ill, and Johnson had to accept for the first time that, contrary to all expectations, she might indeed outlive her parents. "While anyone may die young, it's not something you can count on," she writes. "You have to be prepared to survive." It's that angry, proud but utterly normal brand of survival that is at the heart of Johnson's memoir.
The most fascinating chapter is her encounter with the philosopher and animal rights activist Peter Singer. (It was this encounter that rated The New York Times Magazine cover.) Singer believes that in some cases it is morally acceptable for parents to kill severely disabled infants. Johnson disagrees, so much so that she fears even debating him would dignify his ideas as socially acceptable. Nevertheless, she meets him, travels to Princeton University to debate him and ends up with a great story about it.
The best memoirs don't necessarily tell every event in a person's life, but they do capture the voice and the emotional feel of the author. Yes, it's impossible for a nondisabled person to fully know what Johnson's life is like. But her writing is so vibrant, so interesting and so funny that you can't help but feel as if you're in her world, sitting beside her and hearing her story for yourself.
It was surprising to me as well. There was a great diversity of backgrounds/lifestyles of the supporters at the hospice.
All the while the Terri supporters on a well known conservative forum were berated for their position and some wished to ostracize them as RIGHT WING WACKOS. . . when the true picture in real life was that there were wackos from all walks of life who realized that a disabled person was being starved to death.
I still can't get over how many people were brainwashed by the stream of muck coming over the airwaves and would say "She's not being starved, she's being allowed to die".
If I don't feed my dog will I be allowing it to die?
Thanks for posting this, 8mmMauser.
Are you ----1. Offering advice?
or
2. Issuing a command?
Among those speaking out for Terri and blasting the arrogance and errors of the judiciary were: Ralph Nader, the hard left presidential candidate in the last two elections; Jesse Jackson (lukewarm, at least); liberal Senators Joe Lieberman and Tom Harkin (that one surprised me); Harriet McBryde Johnson, reported above, who wrote an eloquent essay supporting Terri (I think it was in SLATE); and most forcibly of all, Nat Hentoff, the left's premier spokesman for civil rights. Hentoff, like the FR troops, had followed the case for years and knew about details like the bone scan that the liberal media covered up. Gloria Allred and Alan Dershowitz, two top lawyers for leftist causes, expressed deep misgivings about the killing and Dershowitz added that he certainly opposed it if Terri could feel pain, as of course she could.
Justice will come when MS and Greer are indicted for conspiracy to commit Murder, and Murder
I would love to see that happen in my lifetime or theirs. But if not, when they bring their case before the Pearly Gates, I don't want to be anywhere nearby. I hate lightning.
Good morning, freepers. This is the TERRI DAILIES RUNNING THREAD FOR JUNE 2005.
Please bump, ping and crosslink related threads here because this topic and Terri's wrongful death does not end our grassroots efforts to end death being litigated by judicial despots.
If Americans were given the opportunity to vote on euthanasia, it would be voted down.
The end run around our right to vote: The death lobby plans on litigating state by state after careful judge shopping until the vulnerable and weak have their financial resources and their very lives stolen from them.
Find out what kind of judges you have in your community. If they are despots like Judge George Greer and Judge James Whittemore (Fed. Crt. Tampa), keep an eye on them. (other judges are involved but Terri's death is clearly as a result of Judge Greer and Judge Whittemore's gross negligence in stealing Terri's civil rights from her and by thwarting the U.S. Congress, the President and Gov. Bush (I'm not a Bush fan now).
As we have seen, some people hear only what they want to hear and seek out any frail evidence that supports it, even if patently phoney.
Where just about everyone from every point of view was there in union in their thoughts, the only divergence was that small handful of detractors and performers, maybe even actors, whom I am convinced were paid to be there. Not too many real dissidents, just the few hired ones. And they felt really out of place and uncomfortable.
I find it fascinating that those who want this issue to go quietly away will search out those paid thugs as proof.
8mm
"There was a great diversity of backgrounds/lifestyles of the supporters at the hospice."
To me, that was one of the few candles of hope shining in those dark, dark weeks. As I've said to several people since, both liberal and conservative: When George W. Bush, Ralph Nader and Jesse Jackson are all saying the same thing, it just might be time to listen.
" Anybody here know anything about the Derzon memo that was leaked during the Carter administration? "
I hadn't heard of the Derzon Memo until you mentioned it. I wasn't surprised to find out it had to do with *Living Wills*. Those jerks and their double/backwards talk, are just full of little surprises.
It seems I've read where Carter created a government study which used the services of the hateful Dr Ron Cranford. He's the Doctor of Death who voted against Terri. The culture of death has been busy as bees over the past many years, figuring out ways to kill off people by using dirty tricks.
Felos and the MSM went out of their way to portray those who were against killing Terri as Extremist Religious Nuts. Felos took every opportunity to fuel the fire by saying the Schindler's got their support from Pro-Life groups, like that was something horrible.
Felos and the Media failed to mention all the Disability Groups who were Against killing Terri. They even used the same BS words as were used to justify abortion - Rights and Privacy. How many times have we heard this was just a family dispute that people like Delay and other politicans, were trying to stick their noses into. I'm so disgusted with the LYING Media and their distortion of words.
Also, I'm sure everyone noticed how the Media pushed the Living Will agenda almost every time Terri was mentioned. An article I read this morning stated - In Britain the *Voluntary Euthanasia Society* is the main distributor of Living Wills/Directives. I wondered how many innocents would die because they ran out and signed a Living Will, after being told by the media that Living Wills would prevent family disputes. Grrrrrrrrr
This campaign to eliminate people has apparently been going on a lot longer than most of us thought. Margaret Sanger would be proud to see that abortion has evolved into euthanasia, just like she planned. We almost need a new dictionary to figure out what old words now mean. Living and Rights sure don't mean what they used too.
Starving and dehydration is evil. Let there be no mistake about it. Why don't pro death freepers get it?
Thanks for the article about Harriet Johnson. It's a crying shame that people in this country have to fear for their literal lives, due to the Culture of Forced Death.
I'd love to hear more of your personal experiences at Pinellas Park. I regret that I was not there too. There's times when I wonder if there was anything more we could have done to have stopped what they did. Guess I have guilt that I didn't do enough. Didn't make enough phone calls, send enough emails/faxes, didn't pray enough and etc.
I'm sure that sounds crazy, but I just don't want it to be true. I so wish it was just a nightmare and that Terri wasn't tortured by the country I love so much. But it did happen. So horrible and sad beyond words.
"Starving and dehydration is evil. Let there be no mistake about it. Why don't pro death freepers get it?"
Good Morning FV~
It sure is EVIL!! I'm still so mad that the Media and even Fox News, put on those stinking bio-ethics ghouls to say it was painless and etc. Terri was Forced to Die. She was NOT terminal until they took away her food and water. I just can't believe it happened.
I'm so glad we have these threads here on FreeRepublic. Thank God for FreeRepublic!
Interesting points.
I have been looking at the laws in Texas and from what I can see (not an easy task to read and interpret all that info), looks good.
Someone needs to post the reasons Living Wills are not so good an idea. I am not clear on that.
And, in Texas, the Living Will asks that you specifically list procedures you do wish continued - such as hydration, nutrition. (Of course this is ridiculous because how does the normal person know what to specify).
And, we need to speak up in our states that we are looking into the laws and intend that laws not be initiated without the legislature and the public being aware of the changes.
As a Texan, what do you think of the Texas laws on end-of-life issues?
Do we have a poster in Texas with a law background that can advise us of the pros and cons of Texas laws?
" And, in Texas, the Living Will asks that you specifically list procedures you do wish continued - such as hydration, nutrition. (Of course this is ridiculous because how does the normal person know what to specify).""
That's definately ridiculous! There are many reasons why a person could require Food and hydration. It's insane to expect people to know ahead of time what they'd want. Does hydration even mean a simple IV?? Floriduh Voter mentioned Loving Wills on a previous post. Maybe those are something people should look into.
Some say the best thing to do, is get someone who you totally trust, to be in charge of your health care. I know there's a word for it, but haven't had coffee yet.. lol
You mentioned Texas. As I understand it, they have a law that allows hospitals to deny treatment, regardless of what the person has requested or wants. Remember the baby in Texas, that was taken off a respirator in March, inspite of the fact the Mom wanted the baby treated. I think it was due to a new law in Texas from the late 90's.
Exactly!
Yes, I read about the law allowing physicians to deny care if they felt inappropriate. It had to be in agreement with the ethical staff of the hospital.
And, they are to advise the family and the family has 10 days to find another facility that will provide the care. The hospital will also help them find other facilities.
Vote No To Euthanasia In 2008?
I want to get started early.
I can see where we are headed clearly now.
"Aids, Abortion, Euthanasia... Don't liberals just kill ya?"
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