Oh man

[ebonlock]

This story is just heartbreaking. Anyone who's been a caregiver for a sick or disabled loved one or friend, be prepared to be disgusted. How could anyone with a soul deny this poor girl care? I just don't get it.

Comments

Re: You tell me if I get it.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

I'm generally not inclined to kick anyone in the ass for expressing a considered opinion coherently, calmly, and politely. If more of us could respond to differences in opinion with such consideration this world would be a much more pleasant place to live.

I don't entirely disagree with your argument, and I do understand the points you're trying to make. In the grand scheme of things I believe that there are only so many resources available and that triage-style thinking is not an evil in and of itself. However, what I came away with regarding this piece was less a grand discussion of the value of human life than a rather narrow minded beaurocrat who seems disinclined to reconsider what might have been a poor judgement call.

Perhaps I was reading it with my own personal biases in place and missed something in Ms. McIntyre's words, it's certainly possible. Having dealt with similar types of people in the past within the medical profession, I've encountered the mindset far too often. Is she "just doing her job"? Certainly. I wonder, though, if she were forced to justify her decision while looking in that little girl's eyes, if she would be quite so certain she was doing the right thing.

Re: You tell me if I get it.

[ebongreen.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to be heard, and I do my best to listen. There are "fundie liberal pro-lifers" who would rip me up one side and down the other for those sentiments, and I appreciate that you're not.

Ms. McIntyre may be acting in a less-than-enlightened fashion - for all I know, which is nothing, she might be a moral coward - but I'd say that bias is inherent in the telling of the story: the degree that it's her actions and the degree that it's the presentation is hard to untangle. When was the last time you saw a story outside of the Onion with a headline like "Official Saves Lives by Withholding Expensive Medical Care from A Few"? That's not a resonant story - heck, that story's never even written. "Government Official Threatens Life of Child" is a story to which we're conditioned to react, an attention-grabber, a button-pusher.

In my own spiritual life and practice, that kind of story is a crisis story - a story with both danger and opportunity. The danger to me is that I'll berate that evil woman for threatening the life of that innocent child, which buys into about forty different layers and levels on this planet and is going to keep me reincarnating until I learn to keep my spiritual judgementalism in check. The opportunity is, "How have I felt like that woman or that child in the past? Has anyone ever done that to me, and have I reached a point where I can forgive them for that?" As I understand it, practicing forgiveness is one of the requirements for a ticket out of Here, and I try to practice towards that goal.

Think about how the story would be (told) different(ly) if the perceived race of the participants were different, or if their genders were different, or their age were different. Those stories are probably happening somewhere right now - why aren't those stories seeing the light of day? The point was raised by various communities here in the Midwest in the wake of the Dru Sjodin killing that the only reasons that story made regional and then national news is because she was pretty, young, and white. Black and Hispanice and Native women disappear regularly and it doesn't make the news. Why is Lauren's story making news, rather than (say) that of a dying HIV-positive adult gay black man?

And on another mythic level, should Justice be required to look its victims in the eye, or should Justice be blind? There's a large set of cultural constructs there too, waiting for examination. It certainly does seem that Ms. McIntyre wishes to avoid scrutiny for her decision, but how much scrutiny does her decision deserve? If we want blind Justice, then she's absolutely right to not seek out those who her decisions will affect; if we give up the idea of blind Justice, then we as a society need to deal with the idea that everyone has biases that affect how they decide and act, and the idea of an unbiased society a different cherished myth/goal which many would fight fiercely to preserve as sacred.

Ain't watching culture fun? /B-, All kinds of opportunities for introspection.

Re: You tell me if I get it.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

Again, I do see your points and I spend a good deal of time trying to avoid falling into "fundamentalist" mindsets myself. I do wonder, though, when introspection of this kind leads to a path of rationalization and from there, a lovely excuse to exempt oneself from taking action. While in some ways I love the concept of a Zen outlook to life, at the same time I tend to turn away from it as it negates the more visceral experience of life. This may be, in great part, why I was drawn to Wicca rather than Buddhism :)

Yes it may be true that in helping this girl the state would not have sufficient funds to aid someone else. If that is the case then I feel very sorry for Ms. McIntyre being placed in a position to make those kinds of decisions. On the other hand, she could have expressed sympathy and concern for the girl and her family, tried to work with them to find a way to maintain her necessary level of care, but it seems pretty clear that she hasn't done so.

And while, yes, I do see that the reporter in this case was playing up sympathies in order to make a better story. But I think you'll admit that a parent put into this position by a state organization has precious little recourse but to get their story out and hope that public response will aid them. Were I the girl's mother I'd sure as hell be doing the same thing.

I try very hard not to judge the individuals in this situation, rather the instituions and laws in place that have created it in the first place.