Re: Peter Singer & the "Quality of Life" Ethic (was Re: Replying toMarta...)

["Macdonald Stainsby" <mstainsby@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> Has anyone read Marx's thoughts on suicides?
>
> Yoshie

It's been awhile, but if I recall it was around the same dynamic as that of 
alienation
and religion- that it can be used as an escape from the pain inflicted by the
capitalist
system. In the light of what *causes* it, it is the bourgeoisie who effectively 
would
be
the murderers of workers who opt out. This is all sketchy memory here:

The writings on suicide that I have found both the most stimulating and 
inspiring were
easily those of Huey P Newton's  _Revolutionary Suicide_. The idea being that 
the
system
is forcing the most oppressed into a suicidal situation and one has a choice to 
make.
One can commit reactionary suicide- i.e. one takes their own life through the 
use of
different drugs and/or many of the other avenues (like wrist slitting, etc.),or 
one can
accept that as soon as you are a sufficient threat to the current state 
structure you
will be eliminated. Becoming a full-blown revolutionary is a suicidal act in 
that you
will, almost certainly, upon achieving successes in your field, die.

It leaves one with some intersting options. At least it gives some very 
valuable food
for thought to what I would hope to do if diagnosed with a short term terminal 
illness
(aside from capitalism itself).

Macdonald