The Politically Incorrect Show - 30/11/2000

[Music - Die Fledermaus]

Good afternoon, Kaya Oraaa & welcome to the Politically Incorrect Show on the free speech network, Radio Pacific, for Thursday November 30, proudly sponsored by Neanderton Nicotine Ltd., the show that says bugger the politicians & bureaucrats & all the other bossyboot busybodies who try to run our lives with our money; that stands tall for free enterprise, achievement, profit, & excellence, against the state-worshippers in our midst; that stands above all for the most sacred thing in the universe, the liberty of the human individual.

[Music up, music down!]

Yesterday's discussion on voluntary euthanasia brought forth two of the most moving calls I have ever fielded on talkback. It was prompted by news from the Netherlands that the lower house of the parliament there has passed a bill that would legalise assisted suicide. Our parliament last debated the matter in 1995, & opted, by a large majority on a conscience vote, NOT to legalise, public opinion to the contrary notwithstanding - MPs were anxious to give us the message that THEY, not we, are the owners of our lives. Earlier this year, NZ First MP Peter Brown prepared a new private member's bill that, if passed, would require ratification by a binding referendum at the next general election. This bill currently awaits its fate in the lottery that decides WHICH private member's bills will go forward.

Caller Barbara yesterday spoke of the gunshot suicide of her 82-year-old father three years ago - he had been increasingly incapacitated by very painful arthritis & didn't want to endure either the pain any longer or the thought of being a burden on his family. Barbara didn't think she would have assisted her father to end his life had he asked her, & wasn't sure she could support the legalisation of voluntary euthanasia because of the trauma her father's suicide had caused the family, who were especially hurt by taunts that his action had been cowardly.

Caller Tom, also elderly, said he is going blind & has every intention of ending his life before he loses his sight completely. Had he access to a legally-assisted exit, he said, he would certainly avail himself of it; as it is he intends to swim out to sea one day & not return.

In Barbara's case, I told her I would have done what her father did; in Tom's case, I told him I would do what he intends to do, albeit perhaps by a different method in BOTH cases. I have no intention of lingering on through some crippling, painful, incurable disease or infirmity. In such circumstances I shall choose my time of departure, & if unable to get assistance legally, shall take matters into my own hands. This is not the stance of a coward, nor of one who doesn't regard life as precious. Life IS precious, which is precisely why it should be distinguished from a living death. I don't believe we have a duty to suffer intractable, untreatable pain & frustration, or that a willingness to do so is the measure of our courage. Quite the contrary - when I personally contemplate such a course, I realise I would need to summon up all my courage to go through with it. As for the hurt my action might cause others: I would expect them to understand - & rejoice, rather than lament, that I had chosen my own moment of release.

Disagree with me if you will - but remember, I am not forcing such a course on you, just asking that you respect my right to follow it myself. It is, after all, my life - & my death.

---

If you enjoyed this, why not subscribe?