Monday, June 18, 2018

If We Want To Prevent Suicide, Maybe We Should Stop Celebrating It

Photo by Michel Porro/Getty Images
It seems we can't get our stories straight. In our culture, we say suicide is a tragedy that must be prevented. We speak mournfully of the high suicide rate. We weep over the suicides of famous people. But in the next breath, we extol our "right to die," and describe suicide as a "death with dignity." We celebrate suicide and then react with surprise when people commit suicide.
The celebration and promotion of suicide comes in many forms, of course. There are shows that glorify the act. There are "mental health professionals" who insist on removing all stigma from suicide and all culpability from those who commit it. There are those who speak about the "peace" and "freedom" that Anthony Bourdain, Robin Williams, etc., must now be experiencing. All of these are dangerous and foolish, and they serve only to give incentives and excuses to people who may be contemplating taking their own lives.
But no form of suicide is so openly promoted and celebrated as the "physician-assisted" kind. There is a reason why suicide rates increase in areas where euthanasia is legal. It's not hard to see the connection. A certain philosophy, a positive philosophy, of suicide is necessarily packaged alongside euthanasia. The euthanasia advocate says that death is a sacred "right" we all possess, and those who exercise this right have taken the "dignified" path. And the advocate will usually go well beyond these already glowing descriptions of self-annihilation.
Read the rest from Matt Walsh HERE.

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