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Why do you find euthanasia horrible? It's much more horrible to force someone to endure sever pain against their will.

nsxwolf 13y ago
There's really no point hashing out the argument here. It's a pointless discussion. I was just pointing out one of the possible reasons someone would find this roller coaster to be horrible.
jawns 13y ago
I don't think you realize that euthanasia isn't always voluntary.
davidw 13y ago
I think that someone dying is pretty horrible, even if it is less horrible than dying some other way.
- davidcollantes 13y ago
  Dying is horrible? Why? We all die, it is a known end, why will it be horrible?
  - TausAmmer 13y ago
    Fear.
  - fixermark 13y ago
    Pain.
  - davidw 13y ago
    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7708986 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7708986
- fixermark 13y ago
  I personally hope I get to go the way I want to. ... struck directly in the head, from behind, caught completely unawares by something moving at several times the speed of sound, with enough size and kinetic energy to very quickly dissociate my body's molecules with negligible loss to the impactor's velocity. A rocket would do nicely. I know that there's no sensible way to justify the expense for one person's almost-certainly (based on current understanding of physics and biology) painless death. But a boy can dream. ;)
  - aaronem 13y ago
    What would you say to a surprise .50 BMG in the back of the head from a few hundred yards away? It'd leave a bit more corpse, granted, but there wouldn't be much left of your head, which should satisfy the basic requirement, and it'd be a lot cheaper -- M33 ball goes for something like seven dollars a round, on average. Of course, you'd need to find someone with a suitable rifle to do the shooting, but you'd have even more trouble finding someone to do the same with an RPG or whatever. ...I think this is the most macabre thing I've said all year.
    - brightsize 13y ago
      $7/pull would be more painful than the round hitting. Ouch. A rich man's sport. Still, not a bad plan, but the Angel of Mercy should be closer. I wouldn't want the job to be botched because he's got the shakes a little maybe, or maybe there's a breeze.
      - fixermark 13y ago
        It also violates my desire to not know it's coming if we've had to arrange for me to be still and the shooter to be at a specific distance and frame of mind. So, $7 for the round plus the going rate of a professional hitman. I suddenly have a very macabre desire to crunch the numbers on that vs. a traditional open-casket funeral these days. ;)
JackFr 13y ago
I would say the argument comes down to how you value life. Those most opposed to euthanasia are likely to hold the belief that all human life is equally valuable, and there is no such thing as a life not worth living, and to support euthanasia and assist someone in actively taking his or her life, is to abet them in the mistaken belief that their life is not worth living. The typical response to this is that euthanasia opponents are living in a dreamworld, and lying to themselves. It is obvious at its face that some lives are not worth living, and to think otherwise is foolish. On the other hand, the euthanasia opponent can reasonably ask how can we both support euthanasia and have suicide prevention hotlines? The existence of both seems to indicate that our societal response to an eagerness to die, rather than being about individual choice, is more about encouraging cultural norms about who is to be valued.

There's really no point hashing out the argument here. It's a pointless discussion. I was just pointing out one of the possible reasons someone would find this roller coaster to be horrible.

jawns 13y ago

I don't think you realize that euthanasia isn't always voluntary.

davidw 13y ago

I think that someone dying is pretty horrible, even if it is less horrible than dying some other way.

davidcollantes 13y ago
Dying is horrible? Why? We all die, it is a known end, why will it be horrible?
- TausAmmer 13y ago
  Fear.
- fixermark 13y ago
  Pain.
- davidw 13y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7708986 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7708986
fixermark 13y ago
I personally hope I get to go the way I want to. ... struck directly in the head, from behind, caught completely unawares by something moving at several times the speed of sound, with enough size and kinetic energy to very quickly dissociate my body's molecules with negligible loss to the impactor's velocity. A rocket would do nicely. I know that there's no sensible way to justify the expense for one person's almost-certainly (based on current understanding of physics and biology) painless death. But a boy can dream. ;)
- aaronem 13y ago
  What would you say to a surprise .50 BMG in the back of the head from a few hundred yards away? It'd leave a bit more corpse, granted, but there wouldn't be much left of your head, which should satisfy the basic requirement, and it'd be a lot cheaper -- M33 ball goes for something like seven dollars a round, on average. Of course, you'd need to find someone with a suitable rifle to do the shooting, but you'd have even more trouble finding someone to do the same with an RPG or whatever. ...I think this is the most macabre thing I've said all year.
  - brightsize 13y ago
    $7/pull would be more painful than the round hitting. Ouch. A rich man's sport. Still, not a bad plan, but the Angel of Mercy should be closer. I wouldn't want the job to be botched because he's got the shakes a little maybe, or maybe there's a breeze.
    - fixermark 13y ago
      It also violates my desire to not know it's coming if we've had to arrange for me to be still and the shooter to be at a specific distance and frame of mind. So, $7 for the round plus the going rate of a professional hitman. I suddenly have a very macabre desire to crunch the numbers on that vs. a traditional open-casket funeral these days. ;)

JackFr 13y ago

I would say the argument comes down to how you value life. Those most opposed to euthanasia are likely to hold the belief that all human life is equally valuable, and there is no such thing as a life not worth living, and to support euthanasia and assist someone in actively taking his or her life, is to abet them in the mistaken belief that their life is not worth living. The typical response to this is that euthanasia opponents are living in a dreamworld, and lying to themselves. It is obvious at its face that some lives are not worth living, and to think otherwise is foolish. On the other hand, the euthanasia opponent can reasonably ask how can we both support euthanasia and have suicide prevention hotlines? The existence of both seems to indicate that our societal response to an eagerness to die, rather than being about individual choice, is more about encouraging cultural norms about who is to be valued.