Thoughts About Terri, Mainstream Media,
and the American Apathy Epidemic.
(And by the way, who’s really running this country?)
By Edward K. Baumgartner
An ABC News poll asked the following question:
As you may know, a woman in Florida named Terri Schiavo suffered brain damage and has been on
life support for 15 years. Doctors say she has no consciousness and her condition is irreversible.
Her parents and her husband disagree on whether or not she should be kept on life support.
In cases like this, who do you think should have the final say, the parents or the spouse?
Not surprisingly, the results of that poll question indicated strong support for the right of her husband to "pull the plug". Did such strong support for the husband’s right result from the respondents eagerness to end someone’s suffering, or were they duped by the wording of the question into giving an answer that the "culture of death" advocates wanted them to give? Duped because the medical condition that Terri Schiavo was actually in, had been misrepresented by the poll question. What if the question had been, as Laura Ingraham suggests, the following:
Do you think it is appropriate to deprive a patient in a badly brain damaged state, food and water until
he or she dies when there is an intra-family dispute about their wishes?
Do you think the poll results might have been different?
Mainstream media (MSM) networks have consistently proven themselves to be incapable of reporting fairly, especially in matters of Pro-Life or Pro-Religion issues. Most news reporters ask questions and report the news as they think you should here it. It’s been done that way for a long time now. But have you ever stopped to think who asks questions of the news reporters? So, is it the MSM that is responsible for the duping of the American public?
I think not.
Twenty years ago, I might not have felt that way. It would have been very easy to blame the MSM for the lack of well informed (with the truth) American citizens. Alternative media was, by today’s standard, relatively scarce. Those who paid any attention to it were commonly viewed as crackpots or paranoid. But this is now, an age of readily available information just a few mouse clicks away. So why is it that only about 30% (a generous guess) of the American public seems to be well informed about news and events that affect our freedom, financial security, and yes, our very right to live.
Apathy, perhaps? As angry as I am about the fate of Terri Schiavo, I am equally angry about the epidemic of apathy that has plagued our nation. Apathy about seeking the truth beyond what the MSM says is the truth. I am not so naive to believe that everything I read on the Internet is true. That would be foolish. But there are reliable, valid, alternative views to just about everything reported by the MSM. In my opinion, if just 3 out of 5 Americans would spend just 10 hours conducting their own independent research on each matter that affects them on local and national levels, before formulating a position on such matters; things in this country would look quite different. (Provided, of course, they voted for political candidates that supported their position.) I believe crime levels would plummet, public school education would improve, abortion would be rare, and economic woes would be greatly reduced.
I have a lot of questions about just about everything that affects me, my future, and the future of generations that haven’t even been born yet. I want facts, opinions, historical records, and a bunch of other stuff before I make a decision about anything of such importance. It seems pretty basic to me. So why do I feel that I am part of such an exclusive group in my pursuit of the truth? Am I so incapable of doing my own independent research (there it is again) on matters of such critical importance, that I have to rely on MSM reporters to do it for me? I think not. But what about you? Does the MSM get the job done for you to your satisfaction, thereby giving you plenty of time to pursue other important matters, such as watching people eat worms, deciding who should be the next Survivor, or who shall be crowned the next American Idol?
Now back to Terri. I still have a lot of questions that I want the MSM to address. Did Michael Schiavo play a role in causing Terri’s condition? Did he strangle his wife or not? Or would Dr. Michael Baden, famed forensic pathologist, put his reputation on the line with such a finding that Terri’s neck injury was only consistent with that caused by strangulation? And what about the bone fractures that prompted Dr. William Campbell Walker to write in his report, "This patient has a history of trauma." ? Let me be perfectly clear that I am making absolutely no accusations of anyone. But if Mr. Schiavo didn’t do it, then who did?
And why hasn’t the investigation into suspected spousal abuse been completed? Is it solely because Mr. Schiavo, the subject of such investigation, refuses to allow a medical exam of Terri for this investigation? Please correct me if I am wrong, but I just want to know the truth.
Why has Judge George Greer, ignored new, modern medical evidence regarding Terri’s condition? Why has Judge Greer continued to allow Mr. Schiavo to be Terri’s guardian, in spite of his numerous violations of Florida law pertaining to his guardianship? Why has Judge Greer made a determination about Terri’s wishes, based solely on very weak hearsay testimony, while reasonable doubt about her wishes remain? 
Why has Dr. William Hammesfahr’s opinion regarding Terri’s condition been disregarded by the courts? Or does the Nobel prize nominating committee make it a practice of nominating "quacks" for their award recipients? (If your old enough to remember, Dr. Christian Bernard, pioneer heart surgeon, was also regarded by many as a "quack".)
Why has Michael Schiavo refused any rehabilitative therapy for Terri, even though he was awarded $700,000 in a malpractice suit that was supposed to be used for that purpose? And why did Judge Greer approve payments from that fund to pay for attorneys who wanted to end Terri’s life?
And why, if death by starvation and thirst is "euphoric" and "painless", why was Terri administered Morphine? So will lethal injection for death row criminals be done away with in favor of this new and more humane method?
Will these questions ever be answered to my or your satisfaction? Will the truth find a way of getting out, or will the MSM keep it under wraps, as they have done so well for so long?
Now just a few questions for you. If the President of the United States has veto power over the Congress, and Congress has voting power to override the wishes of the President, thereby providing a "check and balance" in the Constitution; then who has power to override the decisions of Courts? Do the Judges reign supreme over the will of the people as made known through their elected representatives? And if so, then why vote? Is America going the way of the Netherlands, where the decision to allow the weak or infirm to live is left to the government, and not the family? I haven’t read Mark Levin’s new book "Men in Black" yet. I understand it addresses what many believe to be an out of control Judicial system. Believe me, the book is at the top of my immediate shopping list.
Just a couple of quotes for you to ponder:
"We can’t expect the American people to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but
we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism,
until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism." Nikita Khrushchev
"Whoever is not physically or mentally fit must not pass on his defects to his children.
The State must take care that only the fit produce children." Adolf Hitler