Replies

[Geez, I spent 40 minutes writing this and lost the whole post, I'm trying again from
scratch but it may be disjointed, please forgive!]

I'm in Tallahassee, drove from TX and was at the vigil at the Governor's Mansion tonight. If anyone is
thinking about coming to Tallahassee, COME, we need all the people we can get.
Beginning first thing in the morning, at the State Capitol, 9am. (State Capitol, not Gov
Mansion)

A nice reporter did a live feed with us, and supposedly footage went out to all the
networks. I have pics and video, but no time to post anything.

I have to mention something I am noticing with people who aren't as informed as we all
are about the case--what is blindingly obvious to us isn't necessarilty getting through to
people who hear all the fuzzy logic emanating from the media. I was talking to someone
tonight who obviously wasn't sure how to sort out all the stuff he was hearing and
therefore took the "I feel terrible for everyone" line right down the middle. (Hey, the
media keeps talking like this is reasonable, discussing it as though it were okay!) I was
explaining that what's different from terminal patients at the end of their lives is that Terris
is NOT dying except for not being fed, and the phrase that really got to him is when I said
"Terri is not being ALLOWED to die, she's being _FORCED_ to die." He looked
somewhat shocked, and you could see the light bulb go on. It really reached him, and I
think it was because it was less emotionally charged than saying "she's being murdered,"
people tune that out as hyperbole IMHO.

There really is a lot of muddled, magical thinking still out in the public zeitgeist on this,
there's a real disconnect with some people. "Will she live or die," there's almost this
attitude that gee, maybe she might just beat this own her own, the plucky gal. There's a
big denial/obliviousness to the brutal, predictable reality of dehydration and its predictable
effects and inevitable outcome
If I hear another interviewer on TV asking with SO much concern "how is Terri's
condition tonight?" as if it might somehow be better -- there is a lot of denial, they don't
REALLY grok what is happening. People will go through all sorts of mental gymnastics
to deny the hardcore ugliness of this.

I have to log off and won't be able to reply, gotta get at least a couple of hours of sleep
before heading to Capitol in morning. But sometimes signs/slogans/soundbites just pop
into my head, and I wanted to get these out here for your consideration, if you think any
are useful feel free to refine, revise and extend them and ping the other FReepers on the
ground out here, I don't know who to ping.

TERRI IS NOT BEING "ALLOWED" TO DIE, SHE'S BEING _FORCED_ TO DIE

KILL TERRORISTS, NOT TERRI (who doesn't want to kill terrorists?, this gives
people mental contrast emphasizing her innocence)

THE COURTS ARE IN CONTEMPT OF THE PEOPLE

USE THE LAW TO SAVE TERRI'S LIFE, NOT TO TAKE IT

DIVORCE? NAHHH.... MICHAEL'S PROMISE TO KILL TERRI MEANS _MORE_
TO HIM THAN HIS MARRIAGE VOWS

DID "TERRI'S WISHES" MENTION MICHAEL'S FIANCEE?

COURTS DECREE: "ARTIFICIAL LIFE SUPPORT" = BREAKFAST, LUNCH &
DINNER

"ARTIFICIAL LIFE SUPPORT" = xxxMACHINESxzz (crossed out, I don't have time
to HTML this whole post) (new definition=) BREAKFAST, LUNCH & DINNER
(this is visual, sorry if I didn't explain it well, too tired)

STARVE SCOTT PETERSON, NOT TERRI
or
STARVE COUHEY (spell, lunsford killer), NOT TERRI
(mental contrast again)

GREER IS NOT GOD, TERRI IS NOT A CRIMINAL

GOV'T IS TO PROTECT ITS CITIZENS, NOT KILL THEM

WHAT'S HAPPENING TO TERRI IS WRONG _AND YOU KNOW IT_

---
One of the problems with Terri's plight is it's all so huge and complicated, with so many
details, nobody can follow it all with today's 30-second attention spans. We need
soundbites that get the point across without being ignorable hyperbole, IMHO. Please use
these as a launching-off point to come up with more and better ones. Forgive the
sloppiness and lack of html, and if this is duplicating stuff y'all have already discussed--haven't been able to follow last few days of discussion due to traveling. I won't be back online til late Thursday at earliest, sorry to post and run.

Pray for Terri, and for Jeb.