See, that is one of those distinction things. Terri COULD MOVE. She could turn her head and look at people, she even closed her eyes for prayer and opened them again after the prayer ended. Sounds like more than 'reflex'.
And I'd hope we wouldn't end up on TV, being dissected and passed around as grist for the mill.
There's another distinction. Had it not been for tv, we would not have been able to see Terri move her head, or follow the balloon with her eyes. We got to see something with our own eyes.
The content of those tapes is far from conclusive... But IF all the videos showed what they claimed to show, that is still not a life I would want to prolong if it were me. Years of laying there unable to move my body, hoping someone comes in today and stimulates me with a balloon moving back and forth is just not enough reason for me to want to wake up in the morning.
If it were me, I'd hope I was NEVER the topic of discussion and dissection for the country to muse over. This needs to remain the very private decision of families that it usually is. Terri's case was rare, and it's publicity even more rare.
Are you not using hearsay as indisputable proof?
"There's another distinction. Had it not been for tv, we would not have been able to see Terri move her head, or follow the balloon with her eyes. We got to see something with our own eyes."
Her state of being is undeniably debatable. But, 2 minutes of highly edited video out of 4 hours is hardly enough to make a resonable decision about her abilities.
It's like you smash your finger and there's a reaction. I can't tell what you feel only you can. If the uppper part of your brain is gone, as the evidences suggest in Terri's case, it's purely a reflexive reaction and there is no way to tell if she actally "felt" it without other information.
It comes down to was there a cause and effect or was the response merely associative...a coincidence...or the body reacting without any cognition?
What to do when opinions vary?