# Governor Jerry Brown signs assisted suicide bill. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 6, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669 "2015-10-06T00:29:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669/81 "2015-10-07T00:13:07Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > No, I’m thrilled that it was signed, but I don’t care that you moved it to the pit, I ain’t afraid of that place. 🙂 > > I honestly was not expecting a debate or anything. I was just making the announcement that it had been signed. I thought the arguing part was over. I expected about 5 people to say yeah and that’s about it. > > Boy was I wrong. As far as I can tell, it well would have. Then the village idiot showed up. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669/82 "2015-10-07T00:14:56Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Maybe for you. Do you at least accept the possibility that other humans might feel differently? I accept that lots of people believe lots of things I don’t. That doesn’t mean I accept that their beliefs are valid. So do you and so does everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669/83 "2015-10-07T00:17:09Z")
I feel really sorry for you, **Smapti**. You said earlier that we’re all going to die (true) and that all we have to look forward to before that is pain (not true). Now you are saying that the purpose of government is to tell us how to live. I am awfully glad that I do not live in your world. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669/84 "2015-10-07T00:17:36Z")
In case this is anyone’s first experience with **Smapti** , it’s helpful to understand other things he believes: he [wouldn’t free slaves](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=17719100#post17719100) at little/no risk to himself, he believes that [MLK Jr.'s civil disobedience was wrong](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17715412&postcount=444), and he believes that the _only morally correct actions for a slave in the pre-1860s US was to **[obey their master](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17715425&postcount=447)**_. He might be the worst (or most heavily damaged) human being on the Dope, at least based on his posts. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669/85 "2015-10-07T00:19:08Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > _Life_ is ceaseless pain and misery. No it isn’t. I’m not in the least pain currently, and I’m very happy. > [@](#): > > Why should any person currently alive choose to continue living knowing that all that awaits them is pain, suffering, and death? Why should the entire human race not commit mass suicide right now? Because life allows you to experience positive things like joy. I’m excited to see my daughter grow up. I’m excited to see the Star Wars films. I’m wondering how my business will do next year. I have many exciting things to live for. If I were in end-stage cancer, with tumors straining against my body and burning, unending pain filling my every waking moment, I would take less joy from those things. And if the prospect for healing was impossible, and all I would have was pain, I’d elect to end it sooner, rather than later. Because I’m rational. and not a fucking simple twat like you. > [@](#): > > Suffering is inevitable for _all_ of us. No person now living, who has ever lived, or ever will life, will never experience suffering. So what? Suffering through a case of the flu is one thing. Suffering through a case of the cancer that will never end is another. > [@](#): > > If death is preferable to suffering, then why choose to live at all? It’s genuinely interesting how stupid you are. Death is preferable to ceaseless suffering. You fucking dipshit. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669/86 "2015-10-07T00:19:45Z")
Death may be preferable to death and suffering. That’s the choice here: death in the near future may be inevitable for the person, so maybe it’s up to them to determine if they’d rather skip over the suffering that precedes it. It’s not about pain vs. death but _pain and death_ vs. death. This should be pretty easy to understand. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669/87 "2015-10-07T00:19:50Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Suffering is inevitable for _all_ of us. No person now living, who has ever lived, or ever will life, will never experience suffering. > > If death is preferable to suffering, then why choose to live at all? Say you’re on the 8th floor of a building consumed in fire. Your only two options, leap out the window to a relatively painless death, or suffer the pain of burning to death. Your move is…? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669/88 "2015-10-07T00:20:05Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > You said earlier that we’re all going to die (true) and that all we have to look forward to before that is pain (not true). Is it your belief that you will never experience pain between now and the permanent, irreversible cessation of your existence when you die? I wish I could share that kind of optimism. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669/89 "2015-10-07T00:22:25Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Is it your belief that you will never experience pain between now and the permanent, irreversible cessation of your existence when you die? I wish I could share that kind of optimism. Not everyone experiences ceaseless pain. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669/90 "2015-10-07T00:22:38Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > I’m not in the least pain currently Then I envy you. > [@](#): > > Death is preferable to ceaseless suffering. Existence is preferable to non-existence. > [@Morgenstern](#): > > Say you’re on the 8th floor of a building consumed in fire. Your only two options, leap out the window to a relatively painless death, or suffer the pain of burning to death. > Your move is…? To find a third option. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669/91 "2015-10-07T00:22:50Z")
Not saying we’ll never have pain. Saying we have lots (LOTS) of not-pain time. If you don’t then I am so sorry for your constant pain. I don’t have that and never have. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669/92 "2015-10-07T00:24:27Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > Then the village idiot showed up. … taking a position that was, until quite recently, the Difficult Adult Moral Stand on the issue; that is, the position that was difficult to take, the position that required moral fortitude and an adult perspective, and the position that was, therefore, sanctioned by all relevant Morality Dispensers. It was, in short, the correct position, and if you disagreed with it, well, you still have some growing up to do. Now, of course, it’s utter drooling demented insanity completely divorced from the simple realities of life. The parallels to the marriage equality debate are instructive. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669/93 "2015-10-07T00:25:08Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > … > To find a third option. Let’s try this again. > [@](#): > > Say you’re on the 8th floor of a building consumed in fire. **Your only two options,** leap out the window to a relatively painless death, or suffer the pain of burning to death. > Your move is…? Can you answer the question? ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669/94 "2015-10-07T00:25:45Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > It’s not an awfully big leap from “Sick people should be allowed to kill themselves” to “It’s obvious that this person would want to die if they could make the decision for themselves” to “These people are [life unworthy of life](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_unworthy_of_life)”. So assisted suicide is a slippery slope and gun control isn’t? Since this is now in the pit, you’re an idiot. Again. Still. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669/95 "2015-10-07T00:26:36Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Jesus, you’re fucking stupid. > > What are you, a child? Do you think willpower shrinks cancer tumors? \ I’ve been told this with a straight face, by people who claimed to care about me. The fact that I care about them is the only thing that kept me from punching them in said face. \ ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669/96 "2015-10-07T00:27:11Z")
I am shocked -_shocked!_ - that anyone ever had any respect for Smapti. Post 55. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669/97 "2015-10-07T00:29:25Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Then I envy you. I feel like a lucky man. And when it is my time to die if there is ceaseless, unending pain to look forward to, I hope it’s not under the sort of laws small and wretched folk like you might enact. > [@](#): > > Existence is preferable to non-existence. Existence in agony that will never end is not preferable to non-existence. > [@](#): > > To find a third option. There is no third option. What now? ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669/98 "2015-10-07T00:29:46Z")
It’s great that the guy living in a wealthy western democracy gets to lecture others on the Internet about how all life is suffering, as if there are no degrees of suffering. Hint: the Dope going offline for a few hours is not comparable to late stage terminal cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669/99 "2015-10-07T00:30:31Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > \ I’ve been told this with a straight face, by people who claimed to care about me. > > The fact that I care about them is the only thing that kept me from punching them in said face. > > \ I know, I get angry when I hear someone was so tough they beat cancer. No, they were fortunate enough to have a case that responded to treatment. Those that die from it aren’t necessarily pussies. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669/100 "2015-10-07T00:30:51Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > In case this is anyone’s first experience with **Smapti** , it’s helpful to understand other things he believes: he [wouldn’t free slaves](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=17719100#post17719100) at little/no risk to himself, he believes that [MLK Jr.'s civil disobedience was wrong](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17715412&postcount=444), and he believes that the _only morally correct actions for a slave in the pre-1860s US was to **[obey their master](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17715425&postcount=447)**_. He might be the worst (or most heavily damaged) human being on the Dope, at least based on his posts. ♫ Come crawling faster Obey your master Your life burns faster Obey your master Master ♩ Uh, really, it seems that the master that **Smapti** is following is not the good one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-jerry-brown-signs-assisted-suicide-bill/733669.md?page=6)