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I feel this is an unfair characterization; there are a lot of very good reasons to argue against assisted suicide and to avoid normalizing suicide in general:
by myrmidon 2y ago
I feel this is an unfair characterization; there are a lot of very good reasons to argue against assisted suicide and to avoid normalizing suicide in general:
There is always the potential for those mechanisms to be abused, making it taboo instead is the best prevention you can have for this.
There is also the problem that suicide is a very final decision; people regret their choices (often years later) all the time, opening the suicide-door would lead invariably to cases where people throw away the rest of their life even though it would've had immeasurable value to them later had they lived on.
Normalizing suicide in general could also lead to societal changes where death is the expected/desired outcome, and people are basically compelled by group dynamics, even in situations where we would absolutely not see this as justified or desirable currently (i.e. people suiciding because they killed their child in an accident).
- hilux 2y ago> making it taboo instead is the best prevention I can see that you have never worked in suicide prevention.
- svieira 2y agoSome act that is recognized as bad by society does not stop happening - it simply ensures that members of that society are aware of the badness of the act. This has a deterrent effect because people do not choose a bad act for its own sake while people will choose neutral or good acts for the sake of the act. Recognizing something as so bad as to be "out of the pale" does not mean that people will not talk about their desire to do it. That depends on a different societal measure - how willing are people to be open about who they really are and what they are experiencing in the moment.
- eth0up 2y agoIt's probably already extent, but this gives me the idea of an open source suicide prevention platform, where struggling people can reach out to a network of non governmental real humans that, differing from ther perceived rest of the world, have the time, genuine concern and willingness to try to help. There's an enormous deficit of kindness out there, else we're brilliant at making it appear so. And I think I agree with your comment. Making it taboo might among other unintended things, increase the allure through rebellion or breaking the rules of those who inspired the will to die.
- hilux 2y agoI used to volunteer on the suicide hotline: 988, in the US. I also previously used to live near the Caltrain station in Menlo Park - suicide central for Silicon Valley. This much is well known: making ANY topic "taboo" for discussion is bad for mental health generally, and prevents people (specifically suicidal people) from seeking the help they need. It's not a big mystery why: attaching guilt and shame (or legal penalties) to some thought or speech or act will make people much less likely to discuss it. Even when it's burning up their mind from the inside.
- eth0up 2y ago>I used to volunteer... Admirable. And difficult I presume.
- myrmidon 2y agoI'm not talking about suicide prevention, I'm talking about preventing abuse of the legal framework for euthanasia for nefarious purposes (like what ended up happening in WW2-Germany).
- cogman10 2y agoWhat I've seen in places where this is commonly implemented is a large amount of council before death by suicide is allowed. It isn't the case that people on a bad day can just walk in to die. It takes months or years of therapy. I think that's the right approach. Dying is final, but there are also good reasons why someone might want to die early.