meritocrat

Why?

Is some seventeen year old who breaks up with their boy/girlfriend ENTIRELY JUSTIFIED in killing themselves?? If so, then WHY???

What about an old man who suffers from a terminal illness? Isn't HE more justified in seeking suicide than the teen??

[edited poll - 99Percent]

Pixnaps

biased poll.
please introduce a "no, never" response.
(not for me personally, i'm undecided, but rather in the interests of a genuine & fair poll )

Chicken Girl

I would hazard a guess that any teenager who breaks up with his girlfriend and then kills himself did not do it just because of the breakup. He was already depressed, and the breakup was the last straw.

Suicide is what happens when a person is in so much emotional pain that they are no longer able to cope. Insinuating that a person committed suicide just because they had a bad day is an insult to the memory of the dead.

Fuck "justification", you don't know what was going on in his head. Who are you to decide who is "justified" to commit suicide and who isn't?

Rhaedas

Rather than more justified, the terminally ill man likely has more reason and thought behind his decision than the 17 year old.

As to who is "right", I think an individual's life is theirs to live, or to end. However, I think that decision to end should be one made in a rational way, and many suicides are anything but rationally thought out, but driven by desperation and depression.

The wife says they're all depressed in some sense, so even the terminally ill is being "selfish". I disagree..I think it's selfish for the family to force someone to live through pain to be with them longer.

I can't say for sure without being at that point, but being an atheist, I'd tend to fight for every last bit of breath, even with the pain, because I know that it'll be over anyway eventually, so I should maximize the time I have. But enough pain might change my mind...

meritocrat

And who are YOU to say that the teenager is valid in committing suidice?? Because 'we don't know what's going on in his head'?? BULLSHIT!!!

Loren Pechtel

I don't see "cowardly" as an issue.


I do have a problem with the teenager, though. Suicide is a permanent solution. As such, it almost never should be applied to a non-permanent problem.

BDS

I admit that Hamlet was a blowhard, but when Meritocrat worries about whether suicide is "justified" he sounds like a Catholic Priest. "Justified" to whom or by whom? God? Isn't "to be or not to be" a basic, philosophical question? Why does a suicide need "justification"?

As for, "If so, then, why?" The answer is obvious. Because people control their own lives, and they can do what they want with them.

Also, as far as the comparison between the terminally ill old man and the teenager, I think it's bogus. In fact, that's my objection to the Oregon Assisted Suicide law. Isn't the terminally ill man MORE likely to be clinically depressed than the teenager? Shouldn't doctors treat his pain and his depression, instead of killing him? If assisted suicide should be permitted, it should be permitted for eveyone. (Personally I think it's a cop out for any other than the severely disabled to need 'assistance'.)

However, regarding the original poll question, suicide is surely MORE "cowardly" for the gravely ill person, who is killing himself to avoid physical pain. Isn't the fear of pain cowardly? It isn't cowardly at all for the teenager.

The AntiChris

Define "cowardly".

Chris

Chicken Girl

"Valid in committing suicide"... wtf do you even mean by that? The hypothetical 17 year old has the right to commit suicide. Do I think he should commit suicide? Of course not. Is it a "valid" suicide? ...Well, he's dead, isn't he?

The AntiChris

I might be wrong, but as a rule I don't think meritocrat normally engages in rational discourse.

Chris