I don't see how anyone could be a conservative and not value life. To me that is part of the definition of a conservative.
I'm not meaning to single out anyone in particular, but this is a very good example of part of what has been happening for the past few weeks and what is so detrimental for the forum. It seems that the Schiavo tragedy has brought out a lot of polarizing approaches and behaviors in FReepers. And I'm talking about FReepers who are on both sides of this issue. On any given day & at any given moment, people seem to be slipping into a momentary lapse in good judgment, overcome with emotion and displaying a dichotomous "all or nothing" behavior that's contributing to the chaos. And to make it worse, some people are highly sensitive about it. Many of the people posting on the Terri threads are slipping into this 'absolutes' mindset, seemingly unable to understand nor accept any other viewpoint but their own. It doesn't matter who started it; it just is.
FR is not a place where a person is going to be happy if he cannot tolerate other people's points of view and have a rational, intelligent discourse, especially when discussing something as polarizing as end-of-life issues. When speaking about viewpoints and opinions, there are no 'absolutes' at FR (other than "What the owner says, goes."). FReepers come from all sorts of backgrounds and have all different kinds of opinions and viewpoints. Yet we all fall under the big "conservative" tent.
Again, I'm not saying the alleged "kill Terri" crowd is innocent in this thing, by any means. Obviously, they are highly p.o.'d and some really cruel and hurtful comments have been made. I've tried to stay more or less neutral on this thing, hoping I could try to inject a little levity or balance into the conversation whenever I saw an opportunity. But just yesterday, this was the defensive response from someone:
My comments:
I may post a thread later that says I fed my cat tonight. Someone will ask me if my cat is named Terri.
LOL!
I was thinking about this today and I think I figured it all out. There are many people here who have been following Terri for years. Those Shiavo threads have been around for what seems like forever. And all those people are heavily invested emotionally in her, much more so than for those of us who just started paying attention to it in the last 2 weeks. In other words, they're grieving. And don't laugh -- it's real. It's going to take a while for them to work through all the accompanying emotions, that's all.
I really wish everyone could stop expecting so much from the other side. And I mean both sides.
One side needs to stop expecting everyone else at FR to be grieving and boo-hooing like they are, and the other side needs to let the 1st side grieve without laughing at them in public and saying they're maniacal nutcases.
Dang, I should charge for this.
Someone's response:
"Those Shiavo threads have been around for what seems like forever. And all those people are heavily invested emotionally in her, much more so than for those of us who just started paying attention to it in the last 2 weeks."
Wow, you just started paying attention 2 weeks ago? I guess us Freepers that have paid attention to it for years(did you avoid the threads for years?) must be wack-jobs that are overzealous about the idea "right to life"
Here's a suggestion: if you avoided the issue for years, why don't you hold on to that trend and just leave us "heavily invested emotionally in her" Freepers alone? You won't have to insult us with your presumed indifference and hence don't have to wait until we can "stop expecting everyone else at FR to be grieving and boo-hooing like (we) are"
You are now officially, in regards to this issue and by your own declaration, the "other side". You should shudder when you realize the ideoligical company you share.
This person was so defensive, he automatically assumed I was saying something I was not saying. This is happening way too much on both sides.
Just like the Elian matter, it's getting old.
It's time for an amnesty.
(Again, I'm not trying to pick on anyone here. It's just that those 2 comments came within 6 replies of the thread being posted.)
I had that same reaction when reading that post. Liked the rest of your analysis as well. Level-headed thinking is what seperates a web forum from a chat room, and responses like yours are what seperate FR from other forums.