141–150 of 216 posts
Please HN don't disappoint me with "slippery slope" and "it's too complicated" arguments. I want to continue to believe the level of discourse here is better than that. Its not just do-able ... doctor-assisted suicide is right.
Physician assisted suicide is a super slippery slope. I'm stunned when thinking people advocate.
That said, it should be weighed the morality of keeping a thousand people alive to die slowly and painfully so that one person might not get put down before their time.
Since this concerns the U.S. government, I'll say that the vendetta against euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide by the Christian right is puzzling. The Bible has a very ambivalent view on suicide (as with any other topic), the tale of Samson being a prime example. The main argument against suicide comes from Corinthians, but it is starkly contradicted by other passages. A person who is slowly succumbing, immobile,…
I realize it's our own doing, but there is nothing 'right' (or 'left') about Christianity. That being said... your post is completely accurate (in my experience), and speaking as a Christian, that infuriates me (likely even more than it does you...)
I don't wish to minimise his situation but it seems like he considers his father's suffering not quite as bad as his own suffering were he just to do the killing himself and take the jail sentence.
What kind of man would want his own son to risk life in prison in order to end their own suffering?
Since this concerns the U.S. government, I'll say that the vendetta against euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide by the Christian right is puzzling. The Bible has a very ambivalent view on suicide (as with any other topic), the tale of Samson being a prime example. The main argument against suicide comes from Corinthians, but it is starkly contradicted by other passages. A person who is slowly succumbing, immobile,…
You talk a lot about the "christian right", and I would agree with you on this particular case, but the "socialist left" is far more intrusive in our lives than the "christian right" is. Get the government out our lives and stop pretending that we need the government to be our nanny.
You’re giving the movement way too much credit if you believe the “socialist left” has any clout in the US. I also hope you don’t think the Obama administration is socialist or leftist, as in reality it doesn’t even pass for social-democrat.
In the US, the most circulated newspaper by far is the Wall Street Journal and the most watched news channel is FOX News. Both are owned by News Corporation (the Murdoch family) and they are far from socialist.
The Singularity is about 30 years out, or so we're led to believe. It takes about 10 years and billions of dollars to create a new drug, and that time and cost is not decreasing. Stories like this are a grim reminder of how much work we really must do. "Fixing" the human body is a really hard problem.
Sorry, but I am getting really tired of this form of discourse. A million interests prevent you from doing a million things every day, but apparently it's only objectionable and worth remarking about when it's the government. And it's not even like I disagree with him -- yes we should allow assisted suicide. But boy oh boy is it hard not to notice that he wastes no time thinking about why things are this way, or whic…
If there wasn't a law against doctor assisted suicide, he'd be able to let his father die as he chooses. The only entity that can make and enforce laws is government. This makes government distinct from all other entities . Therefore, the government deserves the blame.
So maybe "government" isn't the problem. The people are.
But of course it is way scarier to imagine that it's not the government that is making your father suffer, but your friends, family, neighbors and coworkers.
Because that would really be too uncomfortable.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're oversimplifying. There were a lot of people on both sides who had reasons other than religion.
I'm folding "crass political appeal to the religious rubes" under religion for that particular case. EDIT: Her parents obviously had different motivations than religion. The 10,000,000 politicians and talking heads? Either religion or political exploitation related to religion.
Sorry, but I am getting really tired of this form of discourse. A million interests prevent you from doing a million things every day, but apparently it's only objectionable and worth remarking about when it's the government. And it's not even like I disagree with him -- yes we should allow assisted suicide. But boy oh boy is it hard not to notice that he wastes no time thinking about why things are this way, or whic…
If there wasn't a law against doctor assisted suicide, he'd be able to let his father die as he chooses. The only entity that can make and enforce laws is government. This makes government distinct from all other entities . Therefore, the government deserves the blame.