Temporary moritorium on Schiavo posts?

March 26, 2005 10:55 PM

SchiavoFilter. Could we impose a temporary moritorium on Schiavo posts until all of the currrent Schiavo FPPs have scrolled off the front page?
posted by thedevildancedlightly to Etiquette/Policy at 10:55 PM (31 comments total)

To quote the sidebar: "If you're looking for info on the Schiavo case, try the Schiavo tag. It's been talked about quite a bit, so please direct comments there instead of new posts."
posted by thedevildancedlightly at 10:55 PM on March 26, 2005

And also, forever?
posted by nicwolff at 10:57 PM on March 26, 2005

I think there will probably be one more post on this topic (She's dead, can we get on with reality now?), but yeah, this is getting pretty ridiculous.
posted by Ryvar at 11:01 PM on March 26, 2005

I'm I the only one who just doesn't care about the Schaivo case? I'm sure it's a personal tragedy for all involved, but that happens every day.
posted by cell divide at 11:13 PM on March 26, 2005

I just called that post a poopstain and flagged it. poopstainzzz.
posted by puke & cry at 11:16 PM on March 26, 2005

cell divide: I guess it's a question of your definition of 'care.' Do I care about Terri Schiavo the person? Fuck no. Do I find the whole story aggravating and somewhat insipid? Hell yes.

But do I find stuff like that Herald article (which I linked in the offending post) that painted Jeb Bush in a bad light and somehow the mainstream media curiously failed to pick up on interesting? Yep. For other reasons, of course. Do I appreciate the sudden interest that people have in either creating a living will or at the very least telling all their friends/family exactly how they want similar situations involving themselves to be handled? Yes. Greatly, in fact.

There's other positive aspects to the whole debacle - exposing George Bush as a complete hypocrite (again) with the Texas state law bit, getting people to think about the whole right-to-die aspect (I found out that BOTH my parents - who are strident anti-abortionists - agreed that her feeding tube should have been removed long ago).

So I guess I could say that I don't care about the story, but I'm glad the whole issue got such attention lately - there's a few silver linings to this gigantic cloud. I wish it hadn't covered up the T. Rex soft-tissue story so completely, but I'm sure given the state of our media something else insipid would've anyway. There could be worse things. A lot worse things.
posted by Ryvar at 11:34 PM on March 26, 2005

I care about the story and find it interesting, but it's a sign of what's wrong with mefi that Schiavo posts keep flooding the front page.

Hell, I find it more than interesting, I find it outrageous. I am giddy with joy at the GOP's misstep. I'm hoping this helps to completely overturn the rock that Tom DeLay hides under and, in the end, in his embarrassment at his utter depravity, he'll kill himself. Even so, this story should not appear on MetaFilter and certainly not eight bazillion times.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 11:45 PM on March 26, 2005

EB: I know you're the anti-Newsfilter champion around here, but seriously - this is ALL that's been on the front page of every American newspaper for over a week. Wouldn't at least one initial Schiavo post + one "She's dead" post have been called for? It seems that, given that the blue is equal parts current-events chat, technology-chat, and ephemera, this would be a sane response to the issue.
posted by Ryvar at 11:57 PM on March 26, 2005

Yeah, but I am the anti-Newsfilter champion, after all. I hate that stuff. Also, people often defend Newsfilter on the basis of the discussions that follow. But I don't think that, in general, they're usually very good.

Anyway, Matt makes an exception for "really big news stories". I can live with that, so yeah, one or possibly two posts would have been acceptable.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 12:03 AM on March 27, 2005

Yeah, but if this whole Schiavo thing hadn't had happened, stavrosthewonderchicken would have never said this.
posted by loquacious at 12:10 AM on March 27, 2005

EB: Cool. Because, speaking for myself - two posts would've sufficed. Once at the beginning so that everybody can vent their position on the issue, and once at the end so that everybody can relate all the links/informational tidbits/etc. that they had accumulated over the course of the story in a place where people would actually read them (as opposed to the long gone initial post). Credits roll, curtain closes.

loq: I missed that one. Thanks! I won't link Jerkcity's take on the issue because I have a feeling I'd get lynched, but it was damn funny.
posted by Ryvar at 12:16 AM on March 27, 2005

of every American newspaper

Never mind Newsfilter, what about Parochialfilter?

Anyway, surely we've all had enough?
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 12:18 AM on March 27, 2005

I hate seeing a new lawsuit as the top story of the day everytime I click to MyYahoo! All the same, the spitting at an independent judiciary, the contempt shown for the Constitution - and its very foundations, including the separation of powers (You're ignoring the will of Congress, judges!) - and an attempted violent "showdown" all makes for Big Big Big Historic News, no matter that this governmental nervous breakdown is tied to Baby Jessica Done Fell Down In the Well crap. Did you expect something more epic in scope, and not a soap opera? Have you ever spent much time in the U.S.? Do you get out, if you live here?

It'd be cool to see links intelligently relating the political implications of all this, then. Right now, all I'm seeing is "fascist takeover alert" and "oh, theocracy shemocracy, settle down" on blogs, with exceptions here and there. Link that help steer people away from parroting talking points would also be nice, but that's true of all non-Schavio political links.
posted by raysmj at 12:23 AM on March 27, 2005

This post was deleted for the following reason: too many schiavo posts

Isn't it nice that we can all be friends?
posted by Ryvar at 12:36 AM on March 27, 2005

the hysteria over this case has been amazing and rather tiresome ... after the cry of outrage is over once she dies, almost everyone's going to forget about it

i blame the press ... they're fanning the flames constantly

unless there's an angle that hasn't been looked at ... i think one more fpp when she dies is enough
posted by pyramid termite at 4:28 AM on March 27, 2005

pyramid termite writes "unless there's an angle that hasn't been looked at ... i think one more fpp when she dies is enough"

And one when she rises up in Glory three days later. Happy Easter!
posted by orthogonality at 4:54 AM on March 27, 2005

But the post is a troll anyway. I see no evidence of Delay being a hypocrite since the article never seems to say what Delay's view was on "pulling the plug" of his father. Am I missing something? It would have been nice if there was a link to Delay's comments on the event, either at the time or now.
posted by sexymofo at 6:42 AM on March 27, 2005

sexymofo writes " I see no evidence of Delay being a hypocrite since the article never seems to say what Delay's view was on 'pulling the plug' of his father. Am I missing something?"

Well, only that if Delay was opposed, he wasn't opposed enough to, say, sponsor a private relief Bill -- as he did in the case of Schiavo.
posted by orthogonality at 7:17 AM on March 27, 2005

...and Postroad goes and reposts the deleted post the next day. Maybe this is like the fall election filter, a shit storm we just have to endure for a while.
posted by LarryC at 7:22 AM on March 27, 2005

DeLay didn't oppose pulling his father's plug at all--he agreed. Thus the hypocrisy and/or double-standard. Whether DeLay would have stooped so low as to use his own father the way he's shamelessly and visibly used Terri to deflect from his own ethical and legal problems (problems that haven't gone away) is a valid question too.
posted by amberglow at 7:35 AM on March 27, 2005

Dunno if there's a Schaivo thread that hasn't been closed, but I'd just like to note that Rotten.com tells us that some guy was arrested for hiring to murder the husband and a judge.

The USA is insane these days.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:03 AM on March 27, 2005

that's old news already, fff--the latest is that both DeLay and that Franciscan Monk advising the family both have pulled plugs in the past. And on CNN now, some disabled activists are blocking an entrance to the hospice. I still think there'll be violence today.
posted by amberglow at 9:17 AM on March 27, 2005

It's nice to be able to find updates on the blue because the mainstream media is totally ignoring this story here in the US.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 9:21 AM on March 27, 2005

Slack-a-gogo writes "It's nice to be able to find updates on the blue because the mainstream media is totally ignoring this story here in the US."

As is "Jeebus" Bush:

He flew halfway across the country in a vain effort to save her life, but in the week since, President Bush has retreated back to his ranch and remained largely out of sight as the nation wrestled with the great moral issues surrounding the fate of Terri Schiavo.

Hmm, retreated to the ranch? Was there another memo about Osama's determination to attack the US?
posted by orthogonality at 9:47 AM on March 27, 2005

Could we impose a temporary moritorium...

...that when a post doesn't strike your fancy you just, umm, ya know, don't fucking read it? sigh.
posted by LouReedsSon at 6:43 AM on March 28, 2005

LouReedsSon: "Could we impose a temporary moritorium ... that when a post doesn't strike your fancy you just, umm, ya know, don't fucking read it? sigh."

Could we impose a permanent moritorium on "don't read it" responses to every damn MeTa thread? That said, moritoria never do anything. Just flag the threads in question as a double, or noise, or other. The admins will hope you.
posted by Plutor at 7:48 AM on March 28, 2005

It's hard to deny that the story is interesting now that so much of the government has jumped in with brass knuckles. It's the fact that it ever got to that point that disgusts me.
posted by scarabic at 8:46 AM on March 28, 2005

..."don't fucking read it?"

That point is so tiresomely facile.

In other Schiavo news, there's this new AP headline: Schiavo's Parents 'Dealing With Reality'. How American to "deal with reality" once litigation is no longer an option.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 8:51 AM on March 28, 2005

seconded!
posted by mcsweetie at 10:08 AM on March 28, 2005

Could we impose a permanent moritorium on "don't read it" responses to every damn MeTa thread? That said, moritoria never do anything. Just flag the threads in question as a double, or noise, or other. The admins will hope you.

Hmmm, I guess the same could have been done to all the threads in question. Should MeTa constantly be flooded with this kind of bitching?

That point is so tiresomely facile.

As are these MeTa call outs.
posted by LouReedsSon at 8:17 AM on March 29, 2005

This callout really worked well. Congrats all around.
posted by graventy at 2:21 PM on March 29, 2005