If I see someone in poverty or homeless, I want them to live the same life I have been lucky to have. So my thoughts are how can I help lift them out of their situation, not put an end to them.
Homelessness is terrible, but allowing people to kill themselves when falling on rough times is a terrible idea. It sweeps the problem under the carpet and tries to allow it to solve itself, in the worst way possible.
The little moral grandstand you describe when passing a homeless person does nothing for them.
You abhorr the idea of someone in abject poverty wanting a way out so you hold up a utopic idea as to how things should be - but no solution to get there.
1. Waiting for a lottery ticket essentially to somehow get them rebooted.
2. Waiting for society to figure out a broader plan to deal with them.
Sure, many solutions come out of think tanks or are proposed, but if they are not implemented, what use are they to these people?
We can have all the great wishes we want for the homeless, but at present, we have nothing concrete to offer many of them.
> It sweeps the problem under the carpet and tries to allow it to solve itself, in the worst way possible.
It is currently at the point of on the carpet and largely ignored.
I don't want people to take their life because society made their future prospects bleak. But I certainly don't want to force them to keep living because it might improve society in the long term.
> And 20 per cent of respondents were fine with MAID being handed out to anybody for any reason. In other words, one fifth of respondents agreed with the sentiment “medical assistance in dying should always be allowed, regardless of who requests it.”
The headline is focusing on homelessness as reason for assisted suicide, but as we can see a lot of people think it should be available to everyone, for any reason. Which makes sense. If someone does not want to stay alive, why should they have to remain living?
As a person who'd have taken the option were it given to me in the past - because it's a cop-out for already negligent healthcare and welfare systems that don't make more than a token effort to genuinely help anyone struggling.
There's already overwhelming pressure on chronically ill people to just shut up, "stop pretending" that something's wrong with them, and just take their psych pills.
I'm sure nobody would say the same things out loud about assisted suicide but you'd just know the expectation that you'll do whatever it takes to not be a burden anymore is there. It's ALREADY one of the top reasons for suicide. Now imagine if society straight up sanctioned it.
Saying that it's ok to allow people commit suicide due to the above issues is incredibly low empathy. It's a social darwinism basically and while adopting such mentality is a valid option, I think that we as a species can do better.
> Saying that it's ok to allow people commit suicide due to the above issues is incredibly low empathy.
No, it’s the other way around. Insisting that someone has to stay alive against their own will, when they are suffering for a long time is the opinion that is lacking empathy.
Indeed. It's quite surprising that someone can be 50 years old, perfectly capable of making their own decisions, and they're free to do whatever they want with their own life (eat until you're medically obese, smoke until your lungs turn black, get into an alcoholic coma and end up in the hospital, it's all legal), but we draw the line at ending it.
> It's quite surprising
It is not surprising that this is controversial, since otherwise normal people can, and will, be coaxed into believing that they should let themselves be killed, just because they pose some inconvenience to their close ones or to society. Supporting such is obviously abhorrent to all who believe they do the right thing when they willingly lend support such "inconvenient people".
https://obesitycanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/OC-2020-...
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications...
https://www.ccsa.ca/reducing-alcohol-related-harm-canada-tow...
I'm not exactly sure where I stand on limiting an individual's choice to end their life. But we should care about why they feel life is not worth living. If there is a problem that could be solved, we should try to solve the problem.
Bleak as hell.
There's some really sick logic going on in Canadian corridors of power. I frankly find it creepy.
The ideal human of the enlightenment era is dead for a while now, but that spectre of a interest rational being refuses to follow. Let's find out if our "new" social implants hold up under pressure.
Homelessness is very often FORCED on people out of shit political policies and outright naked greediness.
I'm astounded that this number is being presented... I hope its not accurate.
