Continent Death

National Review Online ^ | 12/23/03 | Wesley J. Smith

[redgolum]

More for comment. Europe is committing sucide.

[ampat]

Euthanasia will win out in Socialist countries to reduce the burden on the state payroll.

[INSENSITIVE GUY]

The entire continent of europe suffers from misplaced arrogance.To think that one can actually believe they have the intelligence or power of the ALMIGHTY to make that kind of decision is ridiculus!Pull the plug and you have committed murder.

[Alberta's Child]

Full-blown euthanasia is a "natural" part of any socialist state, because the only way a socialist state can achieve its utopian goals is by eradicating the natural uncertainties of human life that revolve around birth, sickness, and death. This is why, for example, there is no logical inconsistency in a state allowing (or even mandating) abortion and euthanasia while at the same time providing inoculations, prohibiting smoking, and requiring people to wear seatbelts.

The ultimate goal of a socialist state is not to provide for people's needs through the natural course of their lives -- it's to do so while ensuring that their lives are lived in such a way that economic decisions can be made with minimal uncertainties. The ideal socialist state is one in which everyone lives a life free of all illness, but then drops dead instantly at the age of 80.

[brbethke]

bump

[Question_Assumptions]

Hmmm. And I just recently saw assurances that the Netherlands had fixed their "involuntary euthanasia" problem.

[expatpat]

The ideal socialist state is one in which everyone lives a life free of all illness, but then drops dead instantly at the age of 80.

And what's the problem with that? It sounds like a good ideal to me, and I'm not even a RINO. If my sudden death at 80 is due to too much sex, so much the better. Of course the ideal ain't going to happen.

[Spiff]

Euthanasia has also entered the pediatric wards, where eugenic infanticide has become common even though babies cannot ask to be killed. According to a 1997 study published in the British medical journal The Lancet, approximately 8 percent of all Dutch infant deaths result from lethal injections. The babies deemed killable are often disabled and thus are thought not to have a "livable life." The practice has become so common that 45 percent of neonatologists and 31 percent of pediatricians who responded to Lancet surveys had killed babies.

The obvious result of unfettered abortion-on-demand policies. These are just late-late term abortions. Coming to a hospital near you.

[nickcarraway]

BUMP

[nickcarraway]

ping

[Alberta's Child]

There's nothing wrong with that kind of ideal -- the problem is when a state uses measures like euthanasia and eugenics to get as close to that ideal as possible.

[UCANSEE2]

I remember a situation years ago, where a couple, with child, whom I believe lived in England, had been informed that she was going to produce twins, but they didn't have much chance to live long, one must be sacrificed to save the other, or they both must go to save the mother.

It was a soon-to-be mother's worst decision.

Know what she and her husband did?

They refused to take any action. They thought it best that GOD make the decisions, even if the mother died to have the children.

Pretty tough, huh?

Then, the state and courts and doctors attempted to file suit to force them to allow the abortion.

They refused, choosing jail if necessary, rather than make a decision that they saw only belonged in the hands of GOD.

A nice ending to this story would be...... but unfortunately, I never got to hear how it turned out. I know they fought the courts, doctors, and I believe they won.

The courage, the faith, the strength it took, that this couple had to make those decisions, and fight everyone to keep their beliefs I can only stand in awe of.

When they stand in front of their Creator, I have a feeling I know exactly what they will get.

For in the willingness to give up all, even life, to ensure another life Granted by God, they gained everything.

Hope I get to face GOD before they do.

[expatpat]

No argument there.

[Alberta's Child]

Euthanasia bump.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Despite this carnage, Dutch doctors are very rarely prosecuted for such crimes, and the few that are brought to court are usually exonerated. Moreover, even if a doctor is found guilty, he or she is almost never punished in any meaningful way, nor does the murderer face discipline by the Dutch Medical Society.

I wonder how long it will take for us to face the same situation.

[Alberta's Child]

That's a good question, especially with looming shortfalls in Social Security and Medicare.

[Victoria Delsoul]

That's right. Just a matter of time.

[redgolum]

I posted this article and the one written by Styne in the Telegraph for two reasons. First, is the changes I have seen in the society of the US in my relatively short life (turned 28 today) have been shocking. Where once we had a culture that as a whole valued life, now it is becoming one where you as a person are valued only by what you contribute to society. There are a lot of old sci fi movies that take that theory to its logical extreme.

The second reason is that I am a history nut, and have just started to wade through all six volumes of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (which I think should be required reading for anyone aspiring to public office by the way). The Romans built a comfortable society with their blood and sweat. After a few generations, the people were more concerned about food and circuses than what is best for the country. Children were viewed by the upper class as a burden, and abortion was common.

What killed the Roman empire was that they reached a point were they were no longer "Roman". The Gauls were conquered early, assimilated, and became part of the culture. After a while, the new Roman citizens that came into the empire had no understanding of the customs, laws, or culture. They changed society, and gradually destroyed Rome.

This is a gross oversimplification, there are many more factors in the fall of Rome, but I see the same thing happening to Western Civilization again.

[ChEng]

Euros taking themselves out one way or the other is not really a bad thing, saves the muslims the future trouble (and cleans up our future fields of fire).

[WaterDragon]

Even while Europe faces problems because of decreasing population due to high abortion rates and increasingly euthanasia.

Socialism is a suicidal ideology. It's natural progression is to destroy itself through the slaughter of its adherents.