You're Entitled To Your Own Opinion, But Not To Your Own Facts

The Terry Schiavo case gives us so many things to be depressed about. One that I haven't seen explicitly mentioned is the way the coverage fuels the long-standing tendency of some Americans to feel that their opinions on any subject are valid and important regardless of whether they are based on fact.

In the Schiavo case, I am baffled by the readiness of Americans to offer a judgment as to whether or not the poor woman's feeding tube should be replaced . . . whether or not she wanted to be kept alive through such means . . . whether or not she is in a persistent vegetative state . . . and whether or not there is any hope she can be revived--all in the total absence of personal knowledge of the case or the people involved, much less any medical training or experience.

If I were approached by a reporter asking my opinion about any of the above questions, the only honest answer I could give would be, "How the hell should I know?" And that's the only honest answer 98% of the population is in a position to give. Unfortunately, most people fail to recognize this fact. They consider themselves qualified to offer a medical diagnosis and ethical pronouncements based on five seconds of selectively edited videotape accompanied by emotional commentary from the patient's mother and father.

I suppose this "arrogance of the common folk" is the natural result of decades of pandering by politicians and the media to the "inherent goodness and wisdom" of the "most generous people on earth," etc. etc. The only thing that's more revolting is the readiness of Bill Frist, who as a physician obviously knows better, to play along with the game by pretending that he, too, can better interpret Ms. Schiavo's condition on the basis on those five seconds of videotape than all the doctors who've treated her in the past fifteen years.

And then there's this sad observation: that for the religious right, Terry Schiavo's inevitable death, whenever it comes, will be a political windfall. She'll enter their pantheon of martyrs to the "activist courts," the "liberal media," and the "decadent elite," her image to be trotted out whenever they want to fuel their followers' sense of anger, alienation, and resentment.