suicide- a right for everybody

[larima]

I fully agree with Mr. Minelli that suicide should be a right for everybody, even young people, regardless of illness. Only that the desire to die should be very persisteny.

This should not be viewed as an extremist version of Euthanasia (as some idiots say), but rather as appeasing the fear of the anti-Euthanasia advocates.

The real problem is not Euthanasia, but Suicide.

Indeed, some opponents of Euthanasia say "legalizing Euthanasia is dangerous, because it will create some categories of people whose lives value less than that of other people, so they must justify themselves for living". Look at the website of an anti-Euthanasia organization of disabled people: http://www.notdeadyet.org/. They say "What we oppose is a public policy that singles out individuals for legalized killing based on their health status...legalized medical killing is really about a deadly double standard for people with severe disabilities" (I quoted from their website)

These disabled people are afraid and angry for being isolated as being more suitable to die than healthy people. Indeed, it is absurd that society prevents suicide at any cost for healthy people (and considers them "abnormal", incarcerating them in psychiatric wards for "crying for help" if they think of suicide), but tolerates suicide for unhealthy people and considers their desire to die "normal" in such cases.
If suicide were recognized as a right for everybody who PERSISTENTLY asks for it - regardless of poor or bad health - the fear of the anti-Euthanasia advocates would miss its point.

So recognizing the right to suicide as a universal right should in fact make the right to die more acceptable.

The pro-lifers who were shocked by Mr. Minelli's declaring that a 20 years depressed has the right to commit suicide would not have been shocked if the same 20-years old chose to enlist as a mercenary....

I hope that my arguments are convincing, although I am afraid that people are irrational so they won't be.

Again I congratulate Mr. Minelli,
larima

[beatrice]

Wenn schon ein Grundgesetz, dann gehört auch das Recht auf Selbsttötung hinein. Punkt!