Smapti’s a stupid asshole. You’re not gonna unstupid unasshole him by making intelligent arguments. It will require Nazi brain surgery. [Camera pulls a closeup of Lobohan bringing a large, archaic syringe near his face and squirting some of its contents out]
“Strap him to ze bed!”
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.
Clearly, Smapti is not at home to Mister Logic or Mister Reason.
Since he’s so gung-ho for extending every human life as long as humanly possible, I presume he is also anti-death penalty, of the opinion that cigarette companies ought to be forcibly disbanded by the government, and certain that everyone who enjoys them some bacon ought to be locked up until they can be depended upon to stop that nonsense.
Also, we probably ought to outlaw ice cream, and Skittles are just RIGHT OUT. When ought I to expect my mandatory exercise monitor to appear in the mail? Cars definitely have to go also - they’re so very dangerous!
Adults make literally thousands decisions over their lives that may lead to them having a shorter life. Diet choices, exercise choices, decisions about what (if any) controlled substances to abuse, decisions to pursue high-stress occupations (Quick! Outlaw practicing medicine and police and fire departments!), decisions to serve in the military. Deciding to skip the last few months of a life to be lived in horrifying, uncontrollable pain is no dafter than deciding that I’d rather eat french fries than live whatever negligible portion of my life they deprive me of (I’m sure a nutrition scientist somewhere has done this math - or possibly an insurance company actuary). Frankly, such a decision has a whole lot more justification behind it than, for example, my decision to skip my workout yesterday because I wanted to go play cards with my husband instead.
This is about the only part of your entire post that represents an accurate description of my beliefs.
But that’s a total strawman of Gov. Brown’s bill. The bill doesn’t give the government any right to decide when our lives are no longer worth living. It gives that right strictly to each individual! The states where assisted suicide is illegal are the ones where the government has a say. A person dying of a terminal illness might want to check out early under circumstances of his or her choosing, but the almighty government still has the power to say “No. You’re going to stay alive and suffer 'til the bitter end whether you like it or not.”
Besides, I wasn’t asking a binary question. I was asking, if the government has the right to say how you die (which, to an extent, they do in states where assisted suicide is illegal), then it follows that they should also have the right to tell you how to live. The reasoning behind both is the same: Longevity simply must be extended, no matter what. Given that, you should support any hypothetical government initiative to force people to live healthily without comparing it to any assisted suicide bills. Do you?
Umm…how do you figure that?
And if neither of those things is possible?
Given that you’re stupidly irrational, not being able to guess your shitty opinions is hardly a reason to chastise someone. It’s a good thing to not be able to think like you, you’re defective.
well, they’ve had this similar law in Oregon for some time, and so far I don’t see dogs lying down with cats, or anything. According to Smapti, I should have felt diminished in some way, immediately, I guess?
Hi Maggie, hope you’re doing well.
It establishes the precedent that a life lived in pain is not worth living, which, when coupled with the fact that a person can use their power of attorney to order the death of another, opens the door to the state deciding on a person’s behalf when their life is no longer worth living.
Which they do. That’s sort of the entire purpose of government.
I would need to see the legislation to know if I agreed with its specifics or not, but in general, yes.
If the people have the power to make law, then they have the power to make laws determining the worth of other human lives. The option we are presented is whether we want to decide that life is valuable and should be preserved whenever possible, or whether life is cheap and isn’t worth living if it’s less than ideal.
Then you’re not trying hard enough.
Apparently you’ve never watched someone suffer and die. I sincerely hope you never have to.
Are you kidding? Smapti LOVES the death penalty, and is 100% convinced that it has never been carried out on an innocent person. Well, not in the last forty years, anyway.
Jesus, you’re fucking stupid.
What are you, a child? Do you think willpower shrinks cancer tumors?
Do you think suicide will cure cancer?
I, on the other hand, sincerely hope he never gets to.
Nobody should ever have to.
I think suicide will end the ceaseless pain and misery someone might be suffering due to cancer.
Drivel. People suffer and die. It’s a fact. We need to deal with that fact, and not live in a comfortable delusion of absolutes like you’ve walled off your brain behind.
No one will force you to do this. Others feel differently.
Is that even relevant to the discussion? This is about a human choosing to avoid further suffering when suffering is inevitable.
Life is ceaseless pain and misery.
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?
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?
Maybe for you. Do you at least accept the possibility that other humans might feel differently?