Anyone want to start a right to die campaign in the UK?

[aGoodDayToDie]

I couldn't sleep last night. I'm plagued by the fact that unless things change, if you die in the UK, chances are that its going to be a slow and painful death.

I'm disturbed that in the UK there's an organisation campaigning to prevent euthanasia. What the UK needs is a stronger voice campaigning for euthanasia.

Would anyone here be up for working together on campaigning?

My thoughts go like this:
- survey people to find out their views on euthanasia, death, rights and and suffering. Partly to help direct campaign slogans etc to something that addresses people's fears, and changes their minds in whatever way is needed. Also do this to establish how much support it would have
- survey GPs. Find out their views on euthanasia. Their views and approach to the double effect principle, the closest thing we have to euthanasia.
- start a goFundMe to raise money for advertising, to advertise the following:
- petition to the government to change the laws on euthanasia and make it easier for doctors to help patients end their lives.

I don't know how much we could achieve. We'd need 100k petition signatures to get the house of commons to review it. To pay for that, we might need to raise like, £50k for advertising, a rough guess. And of course there's no guarantee our cold, stubborn, useless politicians will do a god damned thing. But maybe it's worth a go, anyway? Maybe we could establish some facts about people's attitudes towards it that might move politicians just one step closer?

I've probably got another 46 years on this planet. And I want to make sure that I have a nice way out when the time comes. At the moment, the only remotely feasible option seems to be Pegasus in Switzerland. But that's like, £13k+ and a whole load of hassle. It would be better if I could be euthanised in the UK.

For some reason, the double effect principle falls grossly short. It's supposed to be that a doctor can prescribe you a lethal dose of say morphine if it is also necessary to reduce the pain. But the fact is many people suffer horrendously with illnesses such as cancer, screaming in pain, with doctors unwilling to give them enough morphine to kill them. Or people struggling to breathe, choking slowly on their own fluids. I don't want to die like that. Do you?

It might be a long way from now but I'll be damned if I'm just gonna sit back until that happens.

Would anyone like to join a WhatsApp group or something to talk about how we could make this happen? Goals, strategies and seeing if we can actually do this?

Someone has to. I'm ashamed of the people in this country for accepting such an awful state of affairs. Ashamed of the doctors, the politicians, the people. Why does everyone have their god damned heads in the sand? Pretending like it won't happen to them or something?

 

[Pluto]

It would be generally better to support an organisation that already exists. Here is one that I found after a quick search.

Dignity in Dying - Join the campaign

Dying people are taking their own lives here and abroad. The current law offers them no protection or support. Join us and help change the law.

www.dignityindying.org.uk

 

[aGoodDayToDie]

It would be generally better to support an organisation that already exists. Here is one that I found after a quick search.

Dignity in Dying - Join the campaign

Dying people are taking their own lives here and abroad. The current law offers them no protection or support. Join us and help change the law.

www.dignityindying.org.uk

Thanks! It's a shame they don't have more prominence. The damned pro-lifers seem to always win.

 

[Pluto]

Thanks! It's a shame they don't have more prominence. The damned pro-lifers seem to always win.

Yes, but they have one key weakness. The majority of people have rational or balanced views on euthanasia; for example, being open to it in cases of chronic pain, old age, illness, etc. The pro-life movements (in both a euthanasia and an abortion context) rely on armies of brainwashed religious people acting in unison to give them disproportionate political power.

Religious authorities push their flock to partake in the pro-life virtue-signaling as directed by their churches, but their views do not actually represent the people. A case in point is the Catholic Church having a monopoly on the US Supreme Court even though by no means are the majority of Americans practising Catholics. They know how to push the majority out of the way for their own special interests.

The moral of the story is that it's necessary to put up a fight, since it is apathy that lets corrupt interest groups overpower the desires of the majority. And it's not all bleak; progress is being made all over the world on this and many other issues. A lot has happened even over the past decade.

 

[Captive_Mind515]

We also lose so many great people in the pro-choice side, who often have great wisdom and empathy towards others… because they themselves are often suffering and need to leave.

The pro-lifers obviously don't really have this problem, and so they are much stronger in numbers even if most of their best advocates are not particularly impressive.

 

[aGoodDayToDie]

I have real trouble understanding pro-lifers. Are they all religious? Do the religious ones not use common sense? What drives them to live by some god awful code written by narcissists/lunatics? And as for the non religious ones, what the actual fuck?

Then there's the politicians. Do they really have no moral centre?

 

[TheDog_]

I have real trouble understanding pro-lifers. Are they all religious? Do the religious ones not use common sense? What drives them to live by some god awful code written by narcissists/lunatics? And as for the non religious ones, what the actual fuck?

Then there's the politicians. Do they really have no moral centre?

no, not all people who are against euthanasia are religious. Some are disabled and feel that euthanasia is a literal attack to their personal worth bc if someone wants to die from whatever condition then suddenly it becomes a personal attack. I wouldn't expect anybody to wanna struggle with the shit I struggle with like why would would anybody wanna have a tougher life. ANYWAYS In the usa where the right to die is only available in some states and only to the terminally ill the healthcare system and the general public still doesn't give a fuck about accessibility or providing people with disabilities (including me LOL) the proper healthcare and resources to thrive so idk their fucking deal. Taking away MAID isn't gonna spark some healthcare revolution, it just keeps people trapped. Not all disabled people are against euthanasia but the ones that are are super fucking loud about it. The argument is that disability is only disabling because of society so euthanasia is genocide bc it's society who makes disability suck, as if all disabilities are the same and not progressive or more disabling than others. Many disabled people have sought euthanasia in Europe bc everyone deserves to call it quits whenever the fuck they want!! Including me. Being in support groups I've seen people do the most insane shit to not die only to die miserably anyways because death happens to all of us. I despise these advocates because they only advocate to take away a service that does truly benefit the terminally ill and those with chronic conditions instead of advocating for better resources that would allow for disabled people to live better lives while also having the ability to choose. Sorry for the rant but man I hate those people.

 

[aGoodDayToDie]

no, not all people who are against euthanasia are religious. Some are disabled and feel that euthanasia is a literal attack to their personal worth bc if someone wants to die from whatever condition then suddenly it becomes a personal attack. I wouldn't expect anybody to wanna struggle with the shit I struggle with like why would would anybody wanna have a tougher life. ANYWAYS In the usa where the right to die is only available in some states and only to the terminally ill the healthcare system and the general public still doesn't give a fuck about accessibility or providing people with disabilities (including me LOL) the proper healthcare and resources to thrive so idk their fucking deal. Taking away MAID isn't gonna spark some healthcare revolution, it just keeps people trapped. Not all disabled people are against euthanasia but the ones that are are super fucking loud about it. The argument is that disability is only disabling because of society so euthanasia is genocide bc it's society who makes disability suck, as if all disabilities are the same and not progressive or more disabling than others. Many disabled people have sought euthanasia in Europe bc everyone deserves to call it quits whenever the fuck they want!! Including me. Being in support groups I've seen people do the most insane shit to not die only to die miserably anyways because death happens to all of us. I despise these advocates because they only advocate to take away a service that does truly benefit the terminally ill and those with chronic conditions instead of advocating for better resources that would allow for disabled people to live better lives while also having the ability to choose. Sorry for the rant but man I hate those people.

You and me both. Fuck the cunts I hope they suffer long and hard

 

[Pluto]

We also lose so many great people in the pro-choice side, who often have great wisdom and empathy towards others… because they themselves are often suffering and need to leave.

That's a very good point. Only people with direct experience will be passionate about this issue, and they are often the most likely to be too incapacitated to contribute. A true tragedy of circumstance. That's why the handful of mature movements deserve all the support they can get.

I have real trouble understanding pro-lifers. Are they all religious? Do the religious ones not use common sense?

That's a complicated question to answer thoroughly, since religions tend to have a legitimate core that quickly gets corrupted and turned into an exercise in manipulating and controlling the masses.

My personal take is that the fundamentalist Christian fixation on abortion/euthanasia manipulates people by taking an inherently emotionally-charged issue, replaces the messy reality with a simple good-vs.-evil narrative, then encourages people to battle with one another. The motivation of the Church seems to be to a) distract people from the Church's dubious track record, b) stimulate existential anger/fear and then channel it towards the lightning rod of political opponents, and c) encourage procreation and evangelisation to increase its revenue and its global political power.

The human brain is always attracted to simple dualisms (good/bad, right/wrong, us/them, etc.). Reality, meanwhile, is infinitely complicated. But as a construct, the religious narrative is a very powerful way to let simple people indulge in a lifestyle of wishful dualistic thinking. They believe that there is a 'them' (rather than a universal humanity), that they are 'right' and everyone else's beliefs are 'evil'. Hence they behave like an obedient army of predictable, robotic drones, who happen to campaign and vote en masse.

A combination of childhood brainwashing and difficult life experiences that break people down to become 'born again' often leads to this dearth of critical thinking on complex issues.

 

[aGoodDayToDie]

That's a very good point. Only people with direct experience will be passionate about this issue, and they are often the most likely to be too incapacitated to contribute. A true tragedy of circumstance. That's why the handful of mature movements deserve all the support they can get.


That's a complicated question to answer thoroughly, since religions tend to have a legitimate core that quickly gets corrupted and turned into an exercise in manipulating and controlling the masses.

My personal take is that the fundamentalist Christian fixation on abortion/euthanasia manipulates people by taking an inherently emotionally-charged issue, replaces the messy reality with a simple good-vs.-evil narrative, then encourages people to battle with one another. The motivation of the Church seems to be to a) distract people from the Church's dubious track record, b) stimulate existential anger/fear and then channel it towards the lightning rod of political opponents, and c) encourage procreation and evangelisation to increase its revenue and its global political power.

The human brain is always attracted to simple dualisms (good/bad, right/wrong, us/them, etc.). Reality, meanwhile, is infinitely complicated. But as a construct, the religious narrative is a very powerful way to let simple people indulge in a lifestyle of wishful dualistic thinking. They believe that there is a 'them' (rather than a universal humanity), that they are 'right' and everyone else's beliefs are 'evil'. Hence they behave like an obedient army of predictable, robotic drones, who happen to campaign and vote en masse.

A combination of childhood brainwashing and difficult life experiences that break people down to become 'born again' often leads to this dearth of critical thinking on complex issues.

Bloody hell. Religious people infuriate me. Their blindness to facts astounds me. Religion has so much crap to answer for. I hope it dies out as humanity moves forward. But will it? Will improving technology result in better living conditions, better education, less ignorance and less religion? Or is it virtually built in our DNA for many of us to be drawn to religion?

 

[blackccat]

Home - My Death, My Decision

My Death, My Decision is a grassroots movement for assisted dying reform. We want a compassionate law on assisted dying that permits a medically assisted death to adults of sound mind who are terminally ill or intolerably suffering. We believe reform is necessary to reduce the suffering of individua

www.mydeath-mydecision.org.uk

But "dignity in dying" do not support mental illness as a criteria- as yet anyway for assisted dying.

Canada are so far ahead, U.K. soooo backward: