Explaining the Passion for Death: A Friendly Response to Peggy Noonan

 by Brian Melton  

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Terri Schiavo’s death represents a leap forward towards a long established, desperately desired goal: humankind making themselves the measure of all things.

Why does this prospect so unnerve [the pull
the tube people]? Again, if you think
Terri Schiavo is a precious human gift
of God, your passion is explicable. The passion
of the pull-the-tube people is not.
–Peggy Noonan in “In Love With Death”

Peggy Noonan recently made this interesting observation and a number of other conservative commentators have echoed it. I think I can answer her question, though I realize that my scribble will likely never reach Ms. Noonan’s screen. There is logic that undergirds the passion of many (but not all) of the “pull the tube” people. It is the dogmatic belief that human beings are the measure of all things, and the pseudo-religious crusading that results from it.

In their Sauron-like quest to dominate the universe, humans have already laid claim to the prerogative to design and modify life. They thus view life as merely a commodity to be experimented upon by god-like humanity. Human cloning, stem cell research, eugenics, and other attempts to control human destiny all testify to our “triumphs” in this respect.

With life theoretically tucked under our belt, the next logical step is to take control of death. American secular humanism has not neglected this. Abortion on demand is, of course, an important step in this direction. In a very real sense, humans exercise a twisted imitation of ultimate authority when they arbitrarily decide which babies are “worthy” of life, and which are not. For our current purposes, it is important to note that the humanity of the “fetus,” if it is considered at all, is automatically a secondary consideration to the wants, whims, and fears of the mother.

Euthanasia is a similar concept, but, until Terri Schiavo, in America it generally involved only the practical recognition of a death that had already occurred. With a few fringe exceptions, these “pull the plug people” (as distinguished from tube) did not actually advocate, cause, or allow the willful death of another human being still capable of living; they only allowed the rest of a person’s body to catch up with an already dead mind by removing extraordinary means of artificial support from it.

These two facts — humanity’s desire to occupy the throne of God and the relatively undeveloped state of American euthanasia — explain both the passion of the “pull the tube people” and also their callous disregard to calls for further testing for Terri.

First, to kill Terri Schiavo, whether she is in a PVS or not, takes euthanasia in America to the next level. Terri’s case does not involve respirators or heart machines; until her starvation began, she was in no overt pain. This is a new style of “mercy” killing, and it will be used to further a real precedent. As a result, Americans, like their European brethren, will have more fully laid claim to the prerogative of death. I say “more fully” because there is still ground to be taken. If we follow the European example, as we have thus far, infanticide comes next (and is indeed already on its way). Beyond that, there are changing definitions of what the slippery terminology “sufficient quality of life” exactly means.

So, Terri’s death represents a leap forward towards a long established, desperately desired goal: humankind making themselves the measure of all things. For anyone to oppose this holy writ seems to one of the priests or priestesses of the new humanity like questioning the virginity of Mary during the Inquisition.

If we understand this, it shouldn’t be shocking to see why the “pull the tube” people are so desperate that Terri die without delay, and why they aren’t interested in having her re-examined. Her real medical condition is extraneous to their point. They want a new, more powerful, sort of “mercy” killing, and whether or not Terri is aware of what is happening (or even human at all) is not an issue. For the United States’ government and its people to agree to kill her because she allegedly would have wanted it, despite the fact that she suffers from a non-terminal condition, is to implicitly recognize euthanasia on demand. In that goal, they have unquestionably succeeded. They have tacitly made euthanasia the philosophical equal of abortion. This is a battle in the culture wars, and at its heart, it is a question of whether or not America will redefine the meaning of life to allow attacks on “imperfect” adults, as it has on unborn children.

Now, as I noted earlier, there are probably many Americans out there who are in favor of Terri’s death simply because they are unacquainted with the facts, but Ms. Noonan’s article speculated about the passionate ones. And with the help of the courts, these “pull the tube people” are already celebrating a resounding “victory” for humankind. And while the Hemlock Society pours its celebratory drinks and toasts Judge Greer (and makes donations to his campaign), Terri starves.

Feminism, Abortion, Euthanasia

Read more articles by Brian Melton