Just when the Terri Schiavo case has begun to fade into memory, Joan Didon takes the whole, sordid story on in a piece in the New York Review of Books. Not quite someone who could be described as a theocon or religious fanatic, Didion's piece is largely unsympathetic to the efforts to let Schiavo die:

(Imagine it. You are in your early twenties. You are watching a movie, say on Lifetime, in which someone has a feeding tube. You pick up the empty chip bowl. "No tubes for me," you say as you get up to fill it. What are the chances you have given this even a passing thought?) Most commentators nonetheless seemed inclined to regard Theresa Schiavo's "directive" as a matter of record, even as they undercut their own assumption by reminding us that the "lesson" in the case was "to sit down tonight and write your living will."

It's a lengthy piece, but, like just about anything Didion writes, worth reading.

MORE: From Blincoln Blog: "Didion gets past the talking points and from reading it I am able to look at the case in a whole new light."

Aspazia says, "Didion points out that at the heart of the case over Terry Schiavo were serious moral questions that neither side engaged, particularly because they were overshadowed by previous political maneouverings: the absolute defense of life or the right to die."