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PaperclipPerfector  6d ago (text post)   19653 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 10, 2026

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I have a creeping fear of euthanasia becoming a popular fervor of the sort we've seen examples of of late, where affirmation is the only legitimate response and all skepticism is hate speech that must be suppressed, right around the time that automation of the economy leaves the bulk of humanity economically obsolete. Will not the new rulers find that it would be much cheaper than eternal welfare, and much cleaner than massacres, if much of the population can be guided into walking into their own deaths just due to subtle guiding of the popular understanding of what it means to be a Good Person?

Will not the new rulers find that it would be much cheaper than eternal welfare, and much cleaner than massacres, if much of the population can be guided into walking into their own deaths just due to subtle guiding of the popular understanding of what it means to be a Good Person?

Given how wildly successful over-replacement-level immigration has been I think you already know the answer to this.

Will not the new rulers find that it would be much cheaper than eternal welfare, and much cleaner than massacres

It's a "fun" rabbit hole to get into. Though your "cheaper than welfare theory" suffers a bit if you look into who euthanasia is targeted at in marketing materials.

Though your "cheaper than welfare theory" suffers a bit

Not if we believe some of the claims around MAID; "sorry, we can't get you a wheelchair, but here's a pamphlet on assisted dying!"

I think the concerns are that there are two tracks:

person whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable (Track 1)
a person whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable taking into account all of their medical circumstances (Track 2)

The fears are around Track 2 and that this is getting expanded/misused. Even the "it's all disinformation, here are the facts" website can only say "nah, you can't get MAID for mental problems right now, you have to wait till next March till that's legal!"

Is MAiD available for mental health disorders right now? No. Health Canada's most recent annual report confirms that MAiD for mental disorders remains excluded until at least March 2027.

That's not a solid "this will never happen" guarantee there. "You have to be over 18"? There's a push for mature minors to be able to avail of MAID. And what exactly is a "mature minor"? Well that depends on content and context, you see:

The term mature minor is a legal construct referring to persons under the age of 18 who are sufficiently mature to “understand information relevant to a treatment decision and to appreciate the reasonably foreseeable consequences of a decision or lack of decision.” The mature minor status can either be formally conferred through a legal process or can be informally granted by a healthcare practitioner, and the specific process and definitions depend on the provincial/territorial statute. For instance, in Ontario, essentially no consideration is given to age, with the ability to consent to medical treatment based entirely on capacity and competence. In Quebec, on the other hand, minors may generally consent to medical treatment at the age of 14, though exceptions will be made depending on the risk associated with care or the length of a hospital stay. Practically speaking, this means that minors under 14 cannot provide their own consent in Quebec. Moreover, the designation of “mature minor” can vary from one time point to another and from one decision to another—meaning it is context and content dependent.

"Vulnerable populations are protected by stringent safeguards"? How stringent, and how long will they continue to be safeguards, given the "well not yet just wait another year" that we see with the mental disorders requirement?

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