72% believe suicide to be morally unacceptable, do you agree?

P_1 · 17-08-2014 06:41PM #1

So browsing the ST today I noticed an interesting article on a survey based on what people view as being morally acceptable today (sadly I cannot link as the ST is behind a paywall but its on Page 8 for anyone who's interested). One answer that caught my eye was that 72% of people believe that suicide is morally unacceptable.

I honestly thought that we were gone past the days of people considering victims of suicide to be 'selfish' but that result would lead one to think otherwise. My own view is that suicide is, in some cases, the unfortunate result of unmanaged depression and in other cases people, on learning of a diagnosis of an incurable disease people electing to end things on their own terms. In neither case do I consider the individual concerned to be 'selfish' in any way.

So AH what do you think of this? Is suicide morally unacceptable or is it the consequence of unmanaged depression? Is it ever justified?

Gummy Panda · 17-08-2014 06:45PM

Suicide was culturally acceptable until Christian church. Greeks and Romans had relaxed views on it

SeaDaily · 17-08-2014 06:46PM

72% of people must not understand depression.

AlanS181824 · 17-08-2014 06:47PM

Suicide is an awful thing that seems to affect so many of us nowadays.

There should be proper mental health care organisations in palace to help prevent it.

oppenheimer1 · 17-08-2014 06:48PM

P_1 wrote: »

So browsing the ST today I noticed an interesting article on a survey based on what people view as being morally acceptable today (sadly I cannot link as the ST is behind a paywall but its on Page 8 for anyone who's interested). One answer that caught my eye was that 72% of people believe that suicide is morally unacceptable.

I honestly thought that we were gone past the days of people considering victims of suicide to be 'selfish' but that result would lead one to think otherwise. My own view is that suicide is, in some cases, the unfortunate result of unmanaged depression and in other cases people, on learning of a diagnosis of an incurable disease people electing to end things on their own terms. In neither case do I consider the individual concerned to be 'selfish' in any way.

So AH what do you think of this? Is suicide morally unacceptable or is it the consequence of unmanaged depression? Is it ever justified?

There is a jump there that you're making. People can view suicide as morally unacceptable without thinking it is selfish.

Most people would want to see people getting treatment for depression instead of taking their own life.

L.Jenkins · 17-08-2014 06:49PM

We can debate the morality of Suicide until we are blue in the face, but that doesn't address the problem or how it could be solved. It has touched the family of my Fiancée and a few friends, so I have some tiny minuscule idea of how distraught it leaves those who are left behind. It needs to be addressed and the hard questions asked, what drives someone to such a permanent solution to a short term problem?

Roger_007 · 17-08-2014 06:50PM

Whether we like it or not it is the absolute right of every adult person to end their own life at a time and manner of their choosing.

beks101 · 17-08-2014 06:51PM

Personally I don't think it's my place to judge or to decide whether suicide is "morally acceptable" or not. Surely someone who is suicidal has enough problems to deal with without society weighing in to tell them how bad, selfish or wrong they are for not wanting to be here anymore.

nc19 · 17-08-2014 06:52PM

Their life their choice. Simple.

yes they may leave people or problems behind but the people will move on and the problems will pass

suicide is selfish, we know but it doesnt change the fact that its the persons choice.

I think the people who dont agree with it are the real selfish ones. You generally hear them say things like 'what about me' ; 'how could they do this to me' ; 'how will I cope'

P_1 · 17-08-2014 06:53PM

Itzy wrote: »

We can debate the morality of Suicide until we are blue in the face, but that doesn't address the problem or how it could be solved. It has touched the family of my Fiancée and a few friends, so I have some tiny minuscule idea of how distraught it leaves those who are left behind. It needs to be addressed and the hard questions asked, what drives someone to such a permanent solution to a short term problem?

That is quite true, these days we know so much about people's physical health and are able to cure or manage so many conditions that, up to quite recently, were effectively death sentences but sadly we're still very much in "here there be dragons" territory when it comes to people's mental health.

kowloon · 17-08-2014 06:53PM

If I was terminally ill I would go out on my own terms, not go slowly.

Sound of Silence · 17-08-2014 06:54PM

For those suffering with depression, suicide is often considered a way of unburdening others. They believe that by ending their lives, the lives of others will improve.

There is simply no room for selfishness for a person who lacks any self-worth. As such, suicide, whilst an incredibly unfortunate reality, is often made with the best intentions in the minds of those who suffer from the illness, no matter how twisted and destructive the decision might be for those around them.

This pretty much sums it up.

Guy:Incognito · 17-08-2014 06:56PM

Roger_007 wrote: »

Whether we like it or not it is the absolute right of every adult person to end their own life at a time and manner of their choosing.

It shouldn't be normalised and made seem like a solution to short term problems though . I'd imagine quite a few people that commit suicide wouldn't if they were given a second chance.

It should definitely be an option to end suffering for terminal illness etc.

NewYork1979 · 17-08-2014 06:57PM

I don't think it's morally unacceptable. I wonder how many of that 72% have ever been around someone who is extremely depressed.

I'd imagine if they changed that poll to 50:50 those who have been around someone and those who have not that the % would be a lot lower.

My best mate was severely depressed and it certainly helped me to understand suicide. Thank god she was caught in time but we had to watch her all the same. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

laugh · 17-08-2014 06:58PM

What do morals have to do with it, really?

syklops · 17-08-2014 06:59PM

72% of who? No-body asked me.

72% of people who were at home during the day to take the call from MRBI or whoever? Thats a different demographic.

Personally I think it is morally acceptable in some situations. We put down animals to save them from suffering, but we don't allow humans the same courtesy.

In cases like terminal illness, or even worse, non-terminal but debilitating illness. Its one thing to be told, you will be dead in 3 years, its another to be told you will live for 20 more, but you will be in agony for the last 10.

Amirani · 17-08-2014 07:01PM

The whole survey was full of craziness: https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/t1.0-9/14208_10202563137827480_8336608705895426438_n.jpg

1. Suicide is less acceptable than doctor assisted suicide?
2. Extramarital sex is less acceptable than extramarital parentage?
3. Pornography?

folamh · 17-08-2014 07:03PM

Who am I to judge someone who feels so extremely depressed that they end their own life? I simply can't imagine.

NewYork1979 · 17-08-2014 07:05PM

Sound of Silence wrote: »

For those suffering with depression, suicide is often considered a way of unburdening others. They believe that by ending their lives, the lives of others will improve.

There is simply no room for selfishness for a person who lacks any self-worth. As such, suicide, whilst an incredibly unfortunate reality, is often made with the best intentions in the minds of those who suffer from the illness, no matter how twisted and destructive the decision might be for those around them.

This was exactly the thought process of my severely depressed friend.

syklops · 17-08-2014 07:06PM

Diego Simeone wrote: »

The whole survey was full of craziness: https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/t1.0-9/14208_10202563137827480_8336608705895426438_n.jpg

1. Suicide is less acceptable than doctor assisted suicide?
2. Extramarital sex is less acceptable than extramarital parentage?
3. Pornography?

Well that adds more context. 61% of the same demographic think pornography is wrong. Well they definitely didn't ask me that either.

P_1 · 17-08-2014 07:09PM

Yeah it certainly strikes me as an unreliable sample size, I guess that's the problem when surveys ask such black and white questions.

Sadly shades of grey don't tend to make for presentable graphics...

mal1 · 17-08-2014 07:09PM

But in general, are we not all wired to think that it is morally wrong? have we not all evolved in that way?

Tail Docker · 17-08-2014 07:10PM

I have a mate who is one of the people RedC ask to do surveys. He's a Death-Metal head who drinks too much and I agree with him on basically nothing. "We surveyed 1000 people and 72% think..." Feck off. People who do surveys are 60% more likely to be loopers, I read a survey on that somewhere.

NewYork1979 · 17-08-2014 07:11PM

mal1 wrote: »

But in general, are we not all wired to think that it is morally wrong? have we not all evolved in that way?

Morally, no way. I don't see how it is our business to morally judge someone who takes their own life. If someone is terminally ill and in pain, I would have no issue with them deciding they wanted to end it.

Sad, upsetting for those left, a shame it came to suicide, yes.

P_1 · 17-08-2014 07:13PM

mal1 wrote: »

But in general, are we not all wired to think that it is morally wrong? have we not all evolved in that way?

Perhaps but in an awful lot of cases suicide is the result of untreated or mismanaged depression.

Let's look at it from another angle, would you think that somebody dying of cancer was morally wrong? Why would you think that somebody dying of depression was morally wrong?

Lou.m · 17-08-2014 07:14PM

There is no right or wrong answer.

folamh · 17-08-2014 07:16PM

mal1 wrote: »

But in general, are we not all wired to think that it is morally wrong? have we not all evolved in that way?

Not necessarily. If someone is burdening the tribe, their suicide might be regarded a moral act.

dueaug · 17-08-2014 07:16PM

My mother ended her own life in 2006. She believed (wrongly) she had let someone down. She left 5 kids and 3 grandkids behind. She wasn't selfish, she believed we would be better off without her. All total bs. We didn't know she was going through this til afterwards though so we couldn't make a difference to her attitude towards herself or her life. She was a total lady and I remember being a teen and talking about suicide to her and she said "she could never take her own life as she couldn't hurt herself like that"!!

drkpower · 17-08-2014 07:17PM

Simply asking the question whether it is 'morally acceptable' misses the point? Is the mutation of breast tissue into malignant cells morally acceptable?

Call Me Jimmy · 17-08-2014 07:19PM

Not everyone's life will work out okay. Not everyone feels life is worth living, sometimes the bad far outweighs the good and often this doesn't change over time. People don't like to hear that. Thinking suicide is morally unacceptable is a refusal to accept this.

mal1 · 17-08-2014 07:20PM

NewYork1979 wrote: »

Morally, no way. I don't see how it is our business to morally judge someone who takes their own life. If someone is terminally ill and in pain, I would have no issue with them deciding they wanted to end it.

Sad, upsetting for those left, a shame it came to suicide, yes.

It may depend on how you view morals and ethics and how they are derived. From a religious standpoint or a purely scientific and biological origin.

Are we talking about an individuals morals or morally judging someone? Sets off two very different discussions. If we talk about morally judging, then the discussion can get very emotional.

72% believe suicide to be morally unacceptable, do you agree?

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