Posted on 06/12/2005 4:49:20 AM PDT by Cincinnatus
Lucianne Goldberg took a substantial amount of criticism when she shut down the Terri Schiavo threads at Lucianne.com during the height of the coverage. The death last week of her husband Sidney allows a bit more light to be shed on that decision. What follows is an email I received from a member of the L.com staff, in response to a tribute I had written on my blog, Cheer up! Life Isnt Everything which had also been linked from a Free Republic condolence thread:
Sidney's hospitalization began the same week the Terry Schiavo situation hit the national media. Imagine having your spouse in the hospital and you are facing very difficult end-of-life decisions, while at the same time a 24/7 debate is going on across the country. Lucianne spent a good deal of her time shutting off TVs in the hospital to protect the patients, but there was no avoiding it for her. After a day at the hospital, she would return home in the evening to find her entire website had been taken over with the highly charged, extremely emotional, repetitive, and at times down right nasty debate. It was more than she was willing or able to tolerate, and she instructed us (LCom Staff) to shut it down. She took a great deal of abuse from posters for her decision, and many turned on her and left. I'm sure they had no idea what she was facing in her personal life, and I don't blame them for that. But, there is a lesson in this episode for everyone. Maybe when we don't understand a decision, it would be best to recognize that there may be more to the story and trust that it will eventually make sense to us. I hope this brings understanding.
Here's the lesson I get: when you're in the middle of a personal crisis, why the hell are you even looking at your website?
As one who left and only recently returned to offer my condolences, I can understand more clearly now why she did what she did. I have reasons for leaving as well. Doctors tried to not feed my mother. It was only at our insistance that she recieved food her final days. I don't want to see or know of anyone else facing that torture. Lucianne, Rush, Glenn, Dr. Laura,etc. have chosen a life to help this country. I expect them to stand up for what is right. Failure to do so means I will find someone else to listen to.
In general, Lucianne and her staff run that site in a capricious and arbitrary manner. It's their little fiefdom and they control the peons. I could say more, lots more, but I won't.
I completely agree with you.
I understand where you are coming from. We faced some of the same issues with my mother's last illness. And of course, there is a substantial moral difference between actions taken at the end of one's natural life and what they did to an otherwise healthy Terri Schiavo. But, as you know, when a loved one is dying, the last thing you need is a screaming debate going on in the room when your focus is on making the most out of your last precious moments. If Lucianne need a little peace and quiet, who among us should say her nay?
I'm sensitive to the issue because although Mother died unexpectedly of natural causes, she had reached the sixth stage of Alzheimer's and it was beginning to feel like idolatry to try to keep the remaining shell nominally functioning. I had her on DNR orders - and if ever I am diagnosed with that prognosis I want to be put on DNR status that same day.The Schiavo case was notable for the conflict between Mr. Schiavo's fiduciary responsibility to Terri and his personal interest his live-in honey. And for the fact that Terri had people who wanted to nurture her as she was.
I am as exercised over the fact that her parents weren't allowed to care for her as I am over her death. Say whatever you want about the damage to Terri's brain, her parents should at least have been accorded the respect you would give the owner of a sick dog.
Good.
Screaming debate? In the room? Nuh uh. Doesn't wash.
I wonder why anyone would object to the owner of a web site, such as this one, running it as he/she sees fit?
Lucianne.com? Didn't that go the way of pointcast.com and webvan.com?
She went around the hospital turning off TV's? Was that just in the visiting areas, or did she invade people's rooms in order to "protect" them from the news as well?
How about if I say it for you?
Lucianne Who??
There was a phenomenal article concerning Terry Schiavo in this month's Commentary Magazine.
It is entitled 'Annihilating Terry Schiavo', and is EXTREMELY even-handed and well informed. (Written by a Dr., expert in these events)
Nobody says she hasn't a right to do what she wants with her website.
Personally, I'm just glad that someone who was not only shutting down discussion on her website, but actively "running around shutting off TV's" in the hospital while her husband was dying, isn't in charge of the FCC.
I don't visit her site and don't know where she stands on the Terri Schiavo issue. Anybody?
The ownership of property conveys a range of legal and moral rights. However, it's quite possible for behavior to be perfectly legal, morally correct and really annoying all at the same time.
Scientists recently discovered what many of us arrived at intuitively, that some people are genetically indisposed to understand metaphor and irony and even satire, so let me explain. When I said "in the room" I was including not only the room she was physically in, but also the confines of her second home at Lucianne.com.
Also, there's an old phrase I learned from my mother: "If you have nothing good to say, say nothing."
Yes, I've noticed that already this morning.
Come on you all, she just lost her husband, and it IS her site to fief over as she wishes...
Come over and read an incredible article on the issue at hand from Commentary Magazine
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1421335/posts
Best, Sarah
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