Discussion Why is it that so many people can't think past "life good death bad"?

[LakatosDiogenesz]

No empathy, no weighing the pros or cons, nothing. It's insane. We can't even have a real discussion publically about the right to die because "life good death bad" is some unquestionable universal dogma preached by both religious and "secular" people 24/7. Like a cult's unconditional worship of a deity and the marking of heretics who do not agree.

 

[NumbItAll]

idk, biological urges to survive that skew everyone's perspective? certainly it's not an objective truth, so it's annoying that it is treated as such.

 

[Sensei]

There are probably a multitude of reasons. I think the main reason is that we're programmed by nature to survive at all cost and the thought of going against this programming is totally alien to most people. I also think that people don't want to be reminded of their own mortality and what may lie beyond death and that they may have a subconscious death drive themselves.

 

[Jean Améry]

Like others my guess would be because nature programmed them that way. If people weren't optimistic by nature our species would probably have died out long ago.

Reason and rationality are not the core of our being which is emotive/irrational. What Schopenhauer called 'the Will to Life': senseless striving for mere existence coupled with an innate desire to copy that existence (reproduction). Why? We don't know although there are many rationalisations (optimism) which indeed amount to the moronic 'life good, death bad' as you so aptly put it. A statement which I do not believe in hence I'm a (philosophical) pessimist.

Quite frankly the only reason why I'm not dead yet is because of a strange and highly obnoxious thing called 'empathy': since I can imagine certain people would suffer emotionally due to my death and this would bring more unnecessary pain in the world it's probably better to remain here. At a fairly high personal cost I might add but of course the adult thing is not to complain about the effects of decisions one has taken for oneself.

I guess I'm doomed to wait for some horrible disease or accident which would make opting for death (more) understandable in the eyes of those I care about.

Strictly speaking death is an unknown so it can't have a value be it positive or negative. What we can surmise is that if death is complete non-existence it would imply no pain whatsoever and no pleasure either (which would be irrelevant because we wouldn't need nor want it). Imo that is indeed a good thing and it was an opinion fairly widely shared in Antiquity at least according to some sources. Chief among them Socrates.

As to life having a net positive or negative value: that's something only the individual can really judge since it can't be ascertained objectively. I assume that if people say their life is worse than death (assuming non-existence) they have (a) good reason(s) for holding this opinion. It's not up to me to decide whether that implies suicide but it's certainly understandable some people really don't want to live anymore.

I certainly agree the value of life and the (right to) death debate are taboo in this society and it's clear those who do not believe society's dogma's are indeed branded heretics ('mentally ill' in the jargon of the cult of psychiatry although there is no objective test to definitively ascertain the presence of mental illness xyz in an individual) and treated accordingly.

History always tends to repeat itself or so it seems.

 

[motel rooms]

Maybe some of their leaders had sex with a corpse, didn't like the experience & concluded that being dead was always a bad thing

 

[UseItOrLoseIt]

Because they don't want to die.

 

[FuneralCry]

Some people just haven't suffered to an great extent so they cannot comprehend what it is like to want to die. They see suicide as purely an selfish act. Many religious people see it as sinful as they are worried about judgement after this life by some higher power. I also think suicide is seen as an act against human nature, we are all programmed to survive. It betrays our purpose which we are placed here on this earth.
I agree, we really need a right to die, it should be an basic human right.

 

[it's_all_a_game]

IMHO, I think it's because the idea that some people suffer so badly they want to die (and are sometimes successful) makes folks reaaaally uncomfortable, so they pretend it doesn't exist by portraying suicide as this evil thing (when anyone who considers it rationally would know it's not horrible at all). It's like how well-off people will ignore homeless people begging for money on the street - out of sight, out of mind.

 

[WornOutLife]

Because normies have been brainwashed with the idea of "living is good and dying is bad" and there's no way to change that.
I was even banned on Facebook for commenting "assisted suicide should be legal everywhere" lol.

It's really sad but well, at least here on SS we can be honest about our feelings and thoughts.

 

[TheHatedOne]

Many reasons: survival instinct, religion, toxic optimism, media that portray life as a fairy tale etc.

 

[Tortured_empath]

Here it seems that a lot of people think "death good life bad" and that's not true either

 

[Pluto]

Here it seems that a lot of people think "death good life bad" and that's not true either

I think it's more a case of 'choice good, bondage bad'. I'll drink to that.

As for the original question, my feeling is that people sometimes take it personally if someone else wants to die. Like it's a rejection of their people, their culture, humanity, nature and everything else. But it's more a product of a lack of education. Not long ago, people would freak out about female doctors, or homosexuals, or any number of other things. There needs to be quality discussion and education in order for us to progress beyond the dark ages.

 

[929er]

i always wonder this when i see people spew anti suicide bs narratives and just say stuff like life is wonderful and you'd have to be insane to want to kill yoruself. imo you'd have to be insane to think the concept of life and life as we live it being middle or lower class is not hell. even life as a rich person would get miserable anyways. the mere way our society works is enough to make me spiral into wanting to end it all. rn I'm looking for my a job and knowing I'll have to slave away from 9-5 every single day for as long as i live just to pay for a laughable living condition is enough to make me want to play in traffic. lol.

idk how non suicidal people believe all they brainwash themselves with when thinking of reasons to remain alive or reasons why life is actually worth it.

 

[WrongPlaceWrongTime]

Nature programs organisms to survive.