Should Liberals Be Paranoid Regarding Terri Schiavo?

There is an interesting essay at Smirking Chimp by Dr. Teresa Whitehurst warning progressives of imminent doom regarding the Terry Schiavo case. In her view, the emotional, quasi-fascist framing of the standoff regarding the feeding tube is likely to provoke a Kristallknacht-like response from the Religious Right.

It's a good idea that liberals and progressives be a bit paranoid these days. Even paranoids have enemies, as the old saw goes. Is Whitehurst overreacting, as the people commenting on her essay seem to think, or is she on to something?

Whitehurst writes:

Never underestimate the power of repeated imagery. The videotape of Ms. Schiavo is becoming firmly planted in the American mind, just as the 9/11 bombings became engrained through repeated viewings of the same footage. Functioning somewhat like brainwashing, the repeated exposure to stress-provoking imagery arouses negative feelings such as fear, powerlessness, horror, anxiety, pity or anger. Such "vicarious trauma" burdens viewers, who handle it in one of two ways: numbing/avoidance/minimization or agitation/obsession/exaggeration. Those who are becoming "numbed out" to the images of Ms. Schiavo's real-time starvation-a gruesome reality-TV event for which none of us were prepared-will either avoid the news, crack jokes, or minimize the significance of her dying ("they say starvation doesn't hurt" or "people die all the time-get over it!"). But the many Americans who are growing increasingly distressed (with accompanying feelings of powerlessness) are likely to undergo a personal transformation wherein their more moderate views are discarded and they begin to identify with angry, extremist persons or groups.

In 1995, when Newt Gingrich and the House Republican leadership shut down the federal government, the Radical Right took an aggressive approach. There was one significant overreaction, though - stark damage: Timothy McVeigh and conspirator(s) destroyed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. People recoiled at the violence, however, and the Republicans lost public support. Bill Clinton prevailed over the Gingrich, and by 1999 Gingrich was forced out of the House leadership and Congress altogether.

Whitehurst continues:

Progressives have been conspicuously silent regarding the family's suffering, and most won't even consider her parents' claims that Terri might not want to be starved to death, even in her present condition. The radical right, however, is busy endearing itself to the public-all those millions of average Joes who get all their news from TV, and are watching Terri's withering little body, sad face, desperate parents and the conservative leaders lending them sympathy and support. For the viewing public, I'm afraid it's Michael Schiavo, the man who's forcing his will on Terri and her family, who's speaking for us, and for liberal/progressive values. Come election time, the masses will remember who's who. If we don't speak up and speak up now, here's the equation that millions of voters will remember at the polling booth, just as the Bush administration hopes: Sympathetic to dying woman and her family=Conservatives. Unsympathetic to dying woman and her family=Liberals.

Well, is Whitehurst right? My judgement on this issue may be impaired because I don't watch enough TV, and so I may be missing people's emotional overreaction. I took a little heart in the story on Drudge yesterday that the evangelicals may turn on Jeb Bush instead:

"If Gov. Bush wants to be the man that his brother is, he needs to step up to the plate like President Bush did when the United Nations told him not to go into Iraq," Randall Terry, a protest organizer, said of the governor. "Be a man. Put politics aside."

Michelle Cottle at TNR suggests that Democrats keep their distance from the issue, not only because the politicians are playing with fire, and it's hard to say who is going to be burned, but also because Michael Schiavo may have mixed motives. Fortunately, the national Democratic leadership is unwilling to whip their troops into line. Presenting an amorphous target to the Republicans may be the best policy. My thought is that the Religious Right has alienated a lot of people with their willingness to dispense with the Constitution. Progressives should remain paranoid though - Whitehurst may end up looking like a prophet once this is all through.