Comments on Secondhand Smoke: Your 24/7 Seminar on Bioethics and the Importance of Being Human: Columnist Meets the "Real" Jack Kevorkian

Red herring.

2007-06-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

Red herring.

Well, if all life or existence is 'suffering', the...

2007-06-11T19:55:00.000-07:00

Well, if all life or existence is 'suffering', then heaven cannot exist. If it does exist, then no one could live there, because supposedly, there is no suffering there.

Your command of logic is appalling.You have just c...

2007-06-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

Your command of logic is appalling.

You have just committed the fallacy of "affirming the consequent," in a clumsy attempt to discrediting my position.

That is:

If P, then Q.
Q.
Therefore, P.

In fact, you have said nothing about my position whatsoever, and only disclosed that you have no respect for reason.

If it's not plain to you that these two statements are not identical, then I'm not sure you have any idea how to form a valid argument, or even how to recognize one when you see it:

"Suffering does not make a life meaningless."
"A life without suffering is meaningless."

You don't seem to know what the word "existential" means, either.

And if a lack of suffering makes life meaningless,...

2007-06-11T08:39:00.001-07:00

And if a lack of suffering makes life meaningless, then the Christian heaven would be the most meaningless place possible.

Ah, so existential suffering doesn't deserve to be...

2007-06-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

Ah, so existential suffering doesn't deserve to be relieved. Thank you for your honesty. Make sure you tell carers in your living will that you DON'T want pain relief for such suffering.

With the current situation, those who don't want your brand of 'compassion' will commit suicide prematurely.

Existential suffering? You mean the suffering atte...

2007-06-11T07:09:00.000-07:00

Existential suffering? You mean the suffering attendant on being itself?

Hell, that's just part of the deal of being alive. Any life has some measure of suffering; no measure of suffering makes any life meaningless. The thing about Kevorkian is that he apparently believes life to be meaningless, suffering or no.

But is there compassion in keeping them alive for ...

2007-06-10T22:03:00.000-07:00

But is there compassion in keeping them alive for our own sake? Why must they endure existential suffering? It's inhumane.

Then you just aren't paying attention to the lovin...

2007-06-10T18:33:00.000-07:00

Then you just aren't paying attention to the loving people who care for the very ill and disabled continually, whether in families, as hospice or medical professionals, clergy, friends--sometimes, even strangers. People who relieve another's suffering, and in doing so, sometimes take some of it onto themselves. That is true selflessness and caring. There is a whole world out there of true compassion, Tony. And it has nothing whatsoever to do with killing.

If compassion means to "suffer with", then no one ...

2007-06-10T16:47:00.000-07:00

If compassion means to "suffer with", then no one on this earth is compassionate. I certainly have never seen any masochistic carers who put themselves through what their charges are going through.