Terri Schiavo and the morality of politics

There are many worrying aspects of the Terri Schiavo case – not least the hostility to the separation of powers expressed by people who really should know better. Perhaps the most worrying aspect, however, is the way in which the individual wishes of Mrs Schiavo have become a secondary issue, or almost an irrelevance.

The courts that have looked at this case – extensively – determined as a matter of fact that Mrs Schiavo would not have wished to be kept alive artificially. No factual challenge was ever made to this evidence, for all the fulminations against activist judges and cultures of life. But even though the courts appeared to be ensuring the fulfilment of Mrs Schiavo’s wishes, as the law requires, for some people that just doesn’t seem to matter.

For the protesters outside the hospice, Terri wanted to live, no matter what the evidence. Her parents, even, implied that they would not have respected her wishes even had there been clear, incontrovertible evidence that she wanted to be allowed to die.

How can people know what she wanted? They can’t, for sure, but a determination can be reached through a fair, impartial process, such as the law provides. Beyond that, once a finding of fact has been made, that has to stand unless there is compelling new evidence – evidence which is beyond personal attacks on judges, Mr Schiavo, or anyone else.

Personal belief and morality are essential parts of human life, but this case has seen personal morality imposed on others – which becomes cruelty, and leads to tyranny. Too many of the ‘pro-life’ protesters in this case claimed Mrs Schiavo wanted to live because, well, that’s what she should have wanted – but no matter how strongly that view is held, it just won’t do, against the evidence and the finding that she wanted to die.

The spread of public personal morality – especially when used as a substitute for thought – is dangerous. Democracy has to allow the contention of ideas and views aside, as much as possible, from difficult moral issues. Morality in politics lies in diversity and equal law, not in uniformity and higher authority.

The religious right wouldn’t like the analogy, but this whole moral panic reminds me of the old story of the socialist who tells a friend “Comrade, come the revolution, everyone will have caviare.” “But I don’t like caviare,” replies his friend. “Comrade,” replies the socialist, “come the revolution, everyone will have caviare, and everyone will like caviare.”

What do you mean you don’t agree?

The Brighton Argus reports that road safety campaigners were surprised when people polled by West Sussex County Council rejected a proposed 20mph speed limit outside schools.

The stunned outrage of the campaigners is amusing to read. “I can only assume that they aren’t parents, or have never lost a child”, one democratically-minded campaigner says. Or perhaps they just, you know, disagree with you.

What your font says about you

The BBC’s arts-and-talk channel, Radio 4, had an interesting programme
on today called “From Arial to Wide Latin” – a half-hour documentary
about typefaces and how people use them. The programme’s web site is
here,
and contains a link to a RealAudio version of the programme.

Compromising with the uncompromising

The Government has annnounced its new immigration policy. It’s “responding to people’s very real worries”, apparently. Well, call me a dogmatist, but I don’t think that the Government should be appeasing the poisonous libels of the Mail and its ilk. Today’s Mail headline said it all – “Asylum – You are right to worry”.

For all the undoubtedly clever wording in the Government’s position, the fundamental of it is this: rather than fighting for what’s right, they’ve allowed the Mail to present its petty, vicious racism as in some way approved of by the State. The nuancing and statements in favour of immigration will be lost in the noise and shouting.

The problem with triangulation is that the Mail and their ilk are not open to compromise. It’s like trying to compromise with a Hutu militia by adopting a “let’s just kill some of the Tutsis” policy. Hatred and bigotry cannot be appeased, they can only be fought against, and the Government has clearly bottled it.

OpenDemocracy – the All Bran of political debate

All Bran is very good for you, but sometimes – just sometimes – you want Frosties. This advert (!) from openDemocracy today:

openDemocracy writers bring life to philosophy:

  • “Iraq, philosophy in war” – articles on Immanuel Kant, Dostoevsky, and Leo Strauss
  • “Robert Nozick, anarcho-capitalist” (May 2002)
  • Ramin Jahanbegloo & Richard Rorty, “America’s dreaming” (August 2004)
  • Candida Clark, “Jacques Derrida, a Cambridge epiphany” (October 2004)