Selective Darwinism

Reading and thinking about Terri Schiavo's case has brought me a strange thought. Liberals favor a Darwinian bioethics; conservatives favor a Darwinian economics. Each vocally decries the other's Darwinism and insists on the moral imperative to protect the weak -- as defined economically by liberals and biologically by conservatives.

It has also occurred to me (now I'm going to piss everybody off) that the psychology of the extreme wings of Right to Life and Animal Rights is much the same. I am not making any statement here about the comparative value of a human fetus and an animal. That's a whole other subject. I am making an observation that taking on the role of Defender of the Helpless Innocent -- a role that justifies and purifies the expression of considerable rage -- holds much the same surreptitious satisfaction for those at both extremes.

OK, I'm ducking.

- amba

Comments

[Joe]

I believe in helping animals get out of their situation....adoption (hopefully).....death (most often)....but not just existing like someone else I have been reading about.

[AmbivaBro]

The question (to me, anyway) isn't whether Terry Schiavo ought to be in the care of her parents instead of her husband. It isn't even whether or to what extent her 14th Amendment rights have been violated, or the quality and extent of her medical care.

To me, the critical question right now is: Should Congress devote its energies to intruding upon the already adjudicated case of a single individual? To me, this is more troubling than her husband's behavior, more troubling than her questionable diagnosis, and with implications that reach much further into the lives of each of us and those we love.

[amba]

D, you're right, of course. Obviously, the case is that the conservative Christians who dominate the executive and legislative branches of our government right now feel that the judiciary has been corrupted by a secular-humanist worldview and has to be overridden. But this violates the separation of powers and the system of checks and balances.

However, that aside for the moment, not having studied the case closely, I still don't understand why there is no mechanism by which her parents could have gained custody of her.

[achromic]

That is the best way of explaining that I've heard.