Blogging Revolution May Help Save Terri’s Life

Catholic Exchange ^ | February 24, 2005

[NYer]

CYBERSPACE — During the US presidential election, many heard for the first time about the rise in influence of the “bloggers,” the wave of self-publishing internet journalists whose up-to-the-nanosecond news reporting caused the downfall of CBS’s anchor-Titan Dan Rather.

Now that the bloggers have found themselves powerful enough to depose one of mainstream broadcast media’s most powerful icons, they are realizing their power in other areas. A group of pro-life bloggers has banded together to try to stop the starvation death of Terri Schindler-Schiavo. One of the writers on the group blog, “Tim,” wrote, “Terri's bloggers have a lot of work to do. We need to do what we are doing, which is organizing the largest telephone and email campaign this ole country’s seen in a very long time.”

For some time, concerned pro-lifers and disability-rights activists have followed the story of Terri’s parents’ fight for her life by reading the ‘blogs. One in particular, Fr. Rob Johansen, a friend of Terri and the Schindlers, has posted frequently on Terri’s case. His information has sometimes contradicted or clarified mainstream media’s often imprecise pronouncements.

The term “blog” is short for “weblog” and refers to the type of website that can be updated by the moderator from any internet terminal, carry links to other sites and enable readers to type in their comments. The secret of the power of blogs is the incredibly rapid worldwide exchange of information they make possible when bloggers get connected. In the case of the ProLifeBlogs.com, the specified purpose is to organize into a one-stop blog site where information can be gleaned that is not hampered by mainstream media biases.

Most blogs carry a “blogroll” on a sidebar that connects with other blogs with similar interests. ProLifeBlogs.com has called for bloggers to join their blogroll and will issue a media release when they have reached 100 blogs.

Bloggers talk to each other over the internet and are often able, therefore, to get on-the-spot information — from anywhere in the world and often from eyewitnesses — at a speed that traditional print and broadcast journalists can only envy. Much of the mainstream media information about the war in Iraq, for example, was contradicted by a group of bloggers in Baghdad calling themselves the Iraqi Bloggers.

All journalism, whether print, broadcast, or online, is heavily dependent on the internet, but bloggers are rarely professional journalists and blogging can be done from home with minimal computer skills for little or no cost. One blogger told LifeSiteNews.com “If you have the skills to surf, you have the skills to blog.”

Many bloggers feel that their ‘blogs serve the same purpose as the self-published underground newsletters, called ‘samizdat,’ that helped bring down Eastern European communism in the 1980s. The rapid exchange and dissemination of information at ground level by ordinary people has made it harder for politicians or media or wayward Churchmen to keep their secrets.

True to form, the bloggers have taken up the story of Terri’s blogger-defenders before a press release was officially issued.

See also:

ProLifeBlogs.com

Catholics in the Public Square

Father Johansen’s Blog

[NYer]

Catholic Ping - Come home for Easter and experience God’s merciful love. Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list

[NYer]

Ping!

[Knitting A Conundrum]

One of the best places to stay on top of what happens are:

http://www.blogsforterri.com
and also
http://www.prolifeblogs.com


There are a lot of us out there trying to get the word out and keep the plight of Terri and those in similar situations in the news, in people's minds and consciousnesses.

[floriduh voter]

Terri's Blog Rolls rollin' on.

[Ohioan from Florida]

Terri ping! If anyone would like to be added to or removed from my Terri ping list, please let me know by FReepmail!

[Ohioan from Florida]

We are the pajamahadeen!

[Mrs.Nooseman]

Thanks for the ping.

[windchime]

Thanks!

[jla]

FYI

By the way, your remarks at the I am a Christian who believes Terri should be allowed to die... Am I the only one? thread were nothing short of commendable, inspiring even.

[floriduh voter]

http://www.theempirejournal.com/02230590_schiavo_judge_tv_commer.htm

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT... It busts the Sheriff, the State Attorney and the Public Defender's Office in addition to the judge.

It's worth it to download the commercial at the bottom of the article and EMAIL THE LINK TO TALLAHASSEE and be sure and tell them the link to the illegal commercial is at the bottom of the article.

[shield]

Hopefully...the FLA courts will take a double-take and realize how savage killing Terri by starvation really is. Now that the bloggers are running hot and heavy against killing Terri. ;o)

[floriduh voter]

http://www.theempirejournal.com/02230590_schiavo_judge_tv_commer.htm

This LINK needs to go to all these blogs. IT'S GREER'S TV COMMERCIAL FROM LAST SUMMER. The commercial is viewable at the bottom of this article.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Salvation]

Thanks for the ping!

[TAdams8591]

"Many bloggers feel that their ‘blogs serve the same purpose as the self-published underground newsletters, called ‘samizdat,’ that helped bring down Eastern European communism in the 1980s. The rapid exchange and dissemination of information at ground level by ordinary people has made it harder for politicians or media or wayward Churchmen to keep their secrets."

A most accurate analogy and VERY TRUE!

I always thought FR served that purpose as well.

[spiralsue]

Ha ha. Lauralee or whomever can SAY you are a Christian. You can SAY you believe starving a disabled person is "merciful." You can SAY the "poor woman" would be better off dead. But that does not make it so. Do you believe Jesus would deny Terri food and water until she finally died after 10 or more days of being dehydrated? If you are a Christian, you need to contemplate and pray. If you're not, then you are a liar. Yeah, I took your bait. Mmmmm. It's almost as good as the nourishment flowing through feeding tubes all around the United States, keeping people who can't eat by themselves alive for years and years. Mmmm-good!

[jla]

What are you talking about?

[spiralsue]

To: LauraleeBraswell
FYI
By the way, your remarks at the I am a Christian who believes Terri should be allowed to die... Am I the only one? thread were nothing short of commendable, inspiring even.


10 posted on 02/24/2005 9:35:47 AM CST by jla
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[jla]

I see.
Sue, that is the title of the thread. If you would have read Miss Braswell's posts on that thread then you would be aware the she does not advocate the feeding tube being removed.
As for Miss Braswell being a "Christian", to my knowledge, and her own home page, she's never made this claim.
You'll have to ask Miss B. any further questions you may have because I am not a personal friend of hers. I only know her from her posts here, many of which I find incredibly intelligent and well thought-out for a girl her age.