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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   15793 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 10, 2026

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I've already decided to take that route for a long list of possible future diagnosis, as have many of my family members.

I don't think I know a single person who would choose losing their memories and identity and becoming a drooling vegetable instead of a dignified death should they start to suffer from significant dementia etc.

It's a weird vision of dignity that considers MAID death dignified. If you went to garage and shot yourself, whatever your thoughts about the morality of suicide, at least you went out on your own terms. But with MAID (at least in Canada) you have to ask a grown-up for permission, and then they come and kill you and collect their fee. It's not messy, it's not as hard to watch as slow death from dementia, but it's not dignified in Nietzschean heroic Master morality sense. It might be dignified in some conceptions of slave-morality ("I asked permission and the authorities granted my request, but I didn't do it myself. I was a Good Boy") but all that slave morality is the stuff telling you not to do it in the first place.

It's a weird vision of dignity that suggests prioritizing what Nietzscheans will think is "going out on your own terms" while hiring a professional isn't. Suppose I value not having my family clean up my headless corpse more than I value the opinions of tough guys.

"You ask a grown-up for permission" - as if you don't do that every time you exchange money for goods and services.

I have no children, loved ones or friends who would take care of me when I can no longer look after myself, so I want a quick painless death when my health starts to irreversibly decline. Preferably by barbiturate overdose. Will an American doctor sell me that? Not likely.

Just kill yourself like a man. Don't get them to send you over the Rainbow Bridge like a pet.

If I could legally buy Veronal or other heavy downers I'd do that. But I won't do anything painful or messy, or that might hurt other people like jumping from a high place.

No children, loved ones or friends? Sounds like the exact demographic that gets euthanized because of depression long before their health starts to irreversibly decline.

Well, I might do it before that if the DSA gets in power and fucks up the economy, Salvador Allende-style. Or if the university library closes permanently.

You don’t even need to be a pro-life religious type to prefer being a drooling vegetable. The rationalists do things like measure the happiness of shrimp. To me it’s a simple question would I rather exists or disappear. The worst existence seems better than not being me.

Quite an intense assertion. Most people fold under torture, the suicide rate for people with (ex) chronic, splitting migraines is high enough that you can get FDA waivers for drug development. I've felt pain before that is, to me, obviously worth killing myself over if I have to feel it for the foreseeable future.

I don't think I know a single person who would choose losing their memories and identity and becoming a drooling vegetable instead of a dignified death should they start to suffer from significant dementia etc.

Hi, would you like to get to know me? This is a ridiculous claim, along the lines of "I don't know anyone who voted for Nixon" or Scott Alexander's example of how he doesn't know any creationists. It's a very strong sign that you live in a filter bubble. I (and billions of others) believe human life inherently has value, and should not be intentionally ended outside of some very specific circumstances (i.e. self defense, capital punishment, etc.). Would a part of me prefer to die if I started declining into dementia? Of course, I saw my own grandpa suffer from Alzheimer's and become a shell of who he used to be, it's horrifying. But I will not take intentional steps to cause my own death there, let alone be such a massive mewling pussy that I make someone else kill me.

As a side note, I've always found statements like "dignified death" and "dying with dignity" concerning, because to me dignity has very little to do with what happens to me and far more to do with how I handle it. Once again, for billions of people, this is one of the most dignified moments in all of human history: https://www.artatberlin.com/wp-content/uploads/cache/images/ARTatBerlin-Die-Kreuzigung-Christi-Hans-Baldung-Grien/ARTatBerlin-Die-Kreuzigung-Christi-Hans-Baldung-Grien-1869810459.jpg

I can tell your blood is up, but this claim isn't ridiculous. The majority of Americans support euthanasia.

I appreciate your bravery in potentially experiencing a drawn out, painful death that is "natural". But a few points:

  • This is an easier claim to make the younger you are
  • More people than you are affected (as you pointed out with your anecdote). I understand that you believe God is more important than your family, but not everyone subscribes to that.
  • Prolonging your life with expensive technology that other people pay for isn't natural either. We can't say pumping blood into a corpse is gross on one hand and then declare that being on a ventilator for 5 years is definitely the right way to die.

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