Thoughts on Schiavo

First off, I don't mean to diminish the significance of the events surrounding the Terri Schiavo case (nor do I mean to diminish the woman's life). However, what's been most fascinating about the Schiavo case is its function as a case study in the American media crisis -- baised, uninformed, careless, and unaccountable.

Regardless of what was "right" in this terrible situation, I quickly noticed the linguistic bias inherent in the local Tampa stations' reporting of the events -- big haired newspeople labled those individuals who wanted Terri to live as "Terri supporters" or "those who support Terri's life." In our world of binaries, that means that everyone who isn't a Terri supporter must be against Terri. I was a little surprised to see the same sorts of language issues at play in national news media.

Propagated on national news coverage, many neo-con talking-heads used the Schiavo case intensify the language game in order to advance their agendas (or at least attack the "other side"). On March 23, Rush Limbaugh suggested that liberals "want this woman to die because Christian conservatives want her to live." A day later, Joe Scarborough questioned why liberals "are cheering for Terri's death" when they fight to save the lives of whales and spotted owls.

It's most sad, I think, because I really believed that most Americans wanted what was best for Terri Schiavo and her family -- even though there was much debate over what would be best. I believed most Americans' hearts were pure. While commentators allowing bias to slip into their language is careless and irresponsible, the suggestion that liberals were cheering Terri's death is inexcusable.