Death Wish 7

capitalist societies offer us the “right to die” or the “right to die with dignity” as a warm fuzzy little send off as they hurry us to the door

too many people think that’s a great deal because they’ve seen enough real life to understand that just letting nature take its course is often not very dignified. and the fact is that we tend to take on bourgeois attitudes without asking ourselves who really benefits from this idea that human life should be disposed of once it becomes more trouble than it’s worth. caring for others is a burden by default. so an elder or terminally ill loved one will be seen a thankless chore and nobody wants to be that, so we think this right to die is sooo neat. we can’t wait to die with dignity.

i wonder why we never demand dignity for when we’re alive. wouldn’t that be nice? we are Marxists but we don’t think we can demand the best quality palliative care so we can live out the end of our lives in comfort, spending time with our loved ones? as long as we are alive we can continue to connect - that is why we live and it’s why we want to live.

we are expected to believe we’ve got 2 choices - suffering or death. there is another choice - what is the point of being a Marxist if you can’t imagine a society where life doesn’t suck so hard that we just want to get it over with? what if we wanted to stick around as long as we can because we like it here?

we can ask for that. we should all get that.

we’re killing people with this. and just like killing the earth - it’s not US doing it, but the ruling class.

that’s what i’m talking about - the willingness of ordinary Americans to report on their neighbors, their own families and friends.