Political dustups give elites bad name (Joe Scarborough)
msnbc.msn.com
Every year or so, we have a cultural debate that seems to divide Americans into two camps. And as you have learned from this week's shows, it is not always Republicans fighting Democrats.
I know many Republicans who support Michael Schiavo's efforts to end his wife's life, and I know many Democrats who agree with me that starving Terri to death is inhumane and beneath us as a country.
But it is during these kind of dustups in American culture that elites earn their bad name.
Too many sniff and snort at any hayseed or redneck who dares to question their take on Jesus, Janet Jackson, or Terri Schiavo.
And they will, more times than not, go to ridiculous ends to prove you and me wrong.
I could name countless distortions trotted out by the mainstream media, Washington think-tanks or political organizations, but will instead focus on the media's claim that those of us who believe a state sanctioned starvation is immoral are, well, dead wrong.
The New York Times told us in a headline last week that starving to death was a most gentle way to die.
The Associate Press cited a study that showed that on a sliding scale from one to nine, experts believed that dying from a lack of food and water was all in all, a very good death.
Fascinating, isn't it?
If starvation is such a rocking trip, then why did the New York Times report pre-Schiavo that famine victims clutched their stomachs in pain?
And speaking of famines, are we now to believe that Bob Geldof and those meddling kids who put together Live Aid in 1985 were robbing African famine victims of a peaceful slumber, a most pleasurable death?
If so, then why worry about famine relief at all?
Elites have had no problem coming on my show telling me how Terri Schiavo has no quality of life so she would be better off dead.
Certainly the same holds true of starving children in Africa who are abused, raped, infected, and dying. Using elites' logic, feeding these children only prolong their pain.
Maybe Elton John should headline the next Live Aid concert and sing 'Funeral for a friend' and 'Better off dead.'
Or maybe, just maybe, elites should stop telling Americans how to live their lives, how to die, and how stupid we all are when we just don't see eye to eye. |
