ScrappleFace makes a point about Terri

I used to ask, on appropriate occasions, "Where is Jonathan Swift when you need him?" The most common local answers around here being "Jonathan who?" and "He's dead" I've given up saying it. But I think it a lot. There is nothing like intelligent satire to put unintelligent behavior into focus. And, much to my dismay, I can't write it. Like most wannabe satirists, when I try it I almost always wind up short, usually sounding like I am whining or mean or too fond of my own prose or wit. Satire takes both skill and restraint, I think. In any case, most people stink at it.

Enter ScrappleFace. He can be very good. And he makes it look too easy.

On today's site, for instance, he has a couple of stories about Terri Schiavo. Reading them, I wondered where my brain had been that I hadn't thought of these angles. In one mock news story, Mr. Schiavo is selling his guardianship rights on eBay. In the other, the government is announcing that... oh, go read it if you're in the proper frame of mind. Satire is not only hard to write, it is pointless to describe it.

I have only one quibble. In this story, as in nearly everything out there on this case, the writer is talking about 'disconnecting' Terri's feeding tube. How you can disconnect a feeding tube that is only attached at mealtime is beyond me.