Discussion Despite the liberalistic and open-mindedness of society, it still rejects the right-to-die

[TAW122]

I found this good thread on the TTG subreddit about how that despite a liberal society in terms of human rights, ethics, morals, and more, they are still staunchly against the right to die. The poster, u/ApprehensivePanic9 made a good post while comparing how conservative advocates of the death penalty turn around and spew how life is great (almost hypocritical, if not ironic), showing that even the liberals who support ethics and morals (not necessarily religious people) are silent on various issues or even encourage such barbaric practices (involuntary hospitalization and what not).

I learned a new word the other day -- "dysthanasia". It refers to when an individual who is dying has their life extended artificially without any regard to their quality of life. Think Terri Schiavo if you want an example. But the word means more than that -- it can be stretched to cover the taboo of right-to-die advocacy as a whole; the dogmatic view that no matter how outright torturous one's life is or is destined to be, it is invariably superior to death. Dogmatists who never stop to think critically about what gives one's life value argue that the peaceful relief of pain via death or suicide infringes upon that abstract concept of "valuable life".

They will also bend over backwards against their political ideology's most strongly held beliefs to do so. Conservative hawks who staunchly support the death penalty do a 180 to suddenly care about the value of human life. Libertarians who advocate for minimal governmental intervention will drop all of these tenets to support the modern psychiatric system and the overreaching abuses it conveys upon those who believe it is their Time To Go. Liberals who would typically decry abuses such as these as inhumane... are silent. If not outright opposed. Even progressives refuse to accept the ethical value of the argument, being just as tied to the status quo as any of the other ideologies I've listed.

If I told my therapist I was going to kill myself, she would put me under a 5150 hold and the chain of events from there would be that I would likely be lucky to get out of the psychiatric hospital within a year's time. I've been before. They don't know how to treat me and the only thing my last stay served was to keep the bottle of sleeping pills out of my hand. I walked out of the hospital no better than I had been before.

Society is beginning to wake up to many kinds of abuses; ethical issues it had long neglected to think critically about. But for all of this progress, the psychiatric system, the sometimes-incurable nature of mental illness, the oft-abusive interventionism of suicide prevention... all of it remains enthusiastically supported.

Oh, there are the artists, whose subversive discussions on pro-choice suicide and the meaning of "quality of life" attract praise from critics and stir public discourse for all of five minutes. They critically examine healthcare decisions such as "one month fulfilled vs. a lifetime suffered" and even, directly, the right to die when no terminal illness is present. Amazing, right?

But they're cowards. They will walk back their support under pressure and affirm the "need" for us to be drugged down so much that we can't tell the fog from the rain. They are an integral part of the modern psychiatric system; the spineless opposition. and thanks to their help, the system prevails. People are robbed of their dignity, their individuality, and their humanity, because of the current culture's infatuation with and romanticization of vital signs and EEG readouts. People who wish for a death with dignity are not allowed dignity in doing so. The methods we are forced to use are unreliable, painful, and sometimes violent, when this society has been capable for a century of simply allowing people to fall asleep peacefully and with their dignity fully intact.

Forgive the long rant. I suffered a failed attempt a few weeks ago and I'm still bitter about it; how one has to deal underneath the nose of the government to be able to acquire one of those wonderful little sleeping potions we call "barbiturates", which aren't painful, or violent, and leave the body in a serene, dignified state. My own mental health has deteriorated severely over the past three months, and I am disheveled, disabled, and in a lot of pain. I am a dead woman walking, I have no dignity, no humanity, and no life force. But I'm kept alive against my will, because society has deemed that death is beyond all suffering one could possibly experience. Involuntary hospitalization? A grave insult to a grave injury. I'm just so tired of all of it. I want to leave, and I can't without taking the risk that I'll fail again, and severely this time.

I like this post mainly because it highlights and exposes the irony of those that support the death penalty yet purport that life is valuable, the ones who decry human rights abuse support such a barbaric practice (ironic and hypocritical), then the ones who agreed about quality of life being more important than quantity of life turned their backs. Then the OP mentions how that because of these barbaric practices, the truly suicidal have to resort to secrecy, hiding, using violent (and oftenly undignified) ways of exiting. Sure, while there are people who managed to acquire SN, N, or other more peaceful means, not everyone's circumstances are the same and some people (myself included) don't always have access to such methods, thus resort to other reliable, but violent methods (gunshot, jumping, hanging, etc. - mainly firearms). She ends her post by decrying involuntary hospitalization and I agree with her 100%+.

 

[rhiino]

the irony of those that support the death penalty yet purport that life is valuable

That is why it is a penalty for them. They take something valuable.
I agree with everything else.

 

[Sleepdrifter]

I too am disappointed by my time, surely now it should be futurama level complete with flying cars and suicide boothes

 

[Hhhhhh]

its because people don't want their own lives as being something that can be taken willingly. people love hope and it fuels so much of our lives. before i got really bad i had lots of hope and even though i was kind of pro choice i also felt comforted by pro life stuff like there were good people watching out for me. people need to believe that suicide isnt an option or else they lose hope. i do agree society should be pro choice though i think fearing death is rly unhealthy and some people genuinely do deserve to have the choice. i also think society could be changed greatly to prevent the alienation that causes suicidality though just not in my lifetime lol

 

[Theresa Riot]

OMG I was just wishing that we had suicide booths like in Futurama!

And I think people want to tell us how precious life is because they want to feel like they're helping without actually having to do any real work. Like the "it gets better" people. Great. Thanks. Suddenly I want to live. Bunch of jackasses.