Wesley J. Smith: Lady Warnock is the Future of Our Culture If We Are Not Careful

Secondhand Smoke ^ | 12/6/08 | Wesley J. Smith

[wagglebee]

 The UK's Independent has published an excellent feature story on the beliefs and theories of Lady Warnock, one of Britain's most influential moral philosophers. (We've discussed her views previously here at SHS.) Warnock is an enthusiastic purveyor of the culture of death, supporting not only euthanasia but a duty to die. From the story, byline Paul Vallely:

Surprisingly, perhaps, she is quite happy with the notion of the "duty to die", which most people find a good deal more controversial. A couple of months ago, in an interview with the Church of Scotland's magazine Life and Work, she said: "If you're demented, you're wasting people's lives--your family's lives--and you're wasting the resources of the National Health Service. I'm fully in agreement with the argument that if pain is insufferable, then someone should be given help to die, but I feel there's a wider argument that if somebody absolutely, desperately wants to die because they're a burden to their family, or the state, then I think they too should be allowed to die."

The journey from the right to die to the duty to die is a significant one, especially since there are many people in society who are uncomfortable even with the notion that individuals who want to end their lives have the right to ask others to help them kill themselves, or even do it on their behalf.

Warnock at least has the virtue of being honest. For example, I have argued frequently that once society accepts the philosophical premises behind assisted suicide--radical individualism and the propriety of killing as an answer to human suffering--there is no way to limit mercy killing to the terminally ill. Warnock so acknowledges:

Her philosopher's logic takes her further out along the limb where she perches perilously distant from public common sense. "Once that principle is accepted it is irrational to confine it to those who are terminally ill." Anyone who wants to die should be helped to do so--the old, the miserable, the mentally ill.

Regular readers of SHS know that this isn't just talk. The Netherlands is there already and the Swiss Supreme Court has issued a decree creating a constitutional right to assisted suicide for the mentally ill.

And of course, she opposes human exceptionalism, the concept of "rights," and thinks the "slippery slope" is nonsense--despite it being clearly evident in her own statements.

The article is too long and detailed to go into further, so I urge you all to read it for yourselves. And, unlike many such profiles published today, the reporter generously includes many rebuttals from fine spokespersons.

And that is what gets me: Those who support the sanctity/equality of human life have now been reduced to mere reactors to people with Warnock's views, when any attention is paid to them at all. At the same time she and others of her general ilk such have become voices of influence, respected by government leaders, media members hanging on their every word, their photographs appear in the world's most respected news magazines, published in venerable journals, honors bestowed, huge speaking fees given, the subject of sometimes fawning documentaries, and tenured chairs provided by the world's most prestigious universities.

But people who believe in the intrinsic value of all human life, who accept Jefferson's declaration of the inalienable right to life, who believe that one of our most important human duties is to care lovingly for those who can't care for themselves, are rarely accorded the same respectful treatment--no matter their credentials or eloquence--and indeed, are more often disparaged as basing their views in religion instead of reason (as Warnock does), besides being castigated as intolerant, moralistic, and judgmental. (As if only religious people believe in universal human equality and oppose euthanasia and the duty to die.)

The problem with all of this is that we are creating a society less able to love.

[wagglebee]

Surprisingly, perhaps, she is quite happy with the notion of the "duty to die", which most people find a good deal more controversial.

At least the culture of death is finally being honest about their agenda.

[wagglebee]

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[wagglebee]

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[Tax-chick]

Always a duty for other people to die, not their wonderful selves. There’s still time for conversion, Baroness, before you get what’s coming to you.

[freedumb2003]

Sounds like this:

[wagglebee]

Pinged from Terri Dailies

[Soothesayer]

These people are despicable. I recently lost a dearly beloved Uncle to Alzheimer disease. I’d like to see her say it to my family.

[Maelstorm]

Duty to die? The key problem with these misanthropic ideas is that they direct man’s progress downward to a kind of death spiral for mankind. Instead of fighting against death working to solve problems it instead replaces hope and faith with a cynic fatalism. These are dangerous ideas, much like radical environmentalism which is its fellow traveler.

[wagglebee]

Always a duty for other people to die, not their wonderful selves.

Well, it's to "save the state's money."

The baroness should realize that her views are nothing new:

“This person suffering from hereditary defects

costs the people 60,000 Reichmarks during his lifetime.

People, that is your money. Read ‘New People’.”

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

"Lady Warnock, one of Britain's most influential moral immoral philosophers"

There, I fixed it.

[abclily]

“If you’re demented, ... So, why is she still here wasting resources?

[bigheadfred]

If it is the duty of the miserable to die, why doesn't she lead the way?

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

There is one final step-the politically incorrect must die!

[Malesherbes]

Lady Mary Warnock, age 84, says people old people suffering from dementia should check out. Okay, Lady Mary, we’re waiting.

[little jeremiah]

The “right” to die, which is really a mask for the “duty” to die, is gaining traction. It is a very ominous sign, so parallel to the Nazi’s so-called final solution.

And the reason such hateful immoral people like Warnock do not admit the dangers of the slippery slope is because they LIKE the abyss into which the slippery slope falls. They just can’t quite say that (yet).

[wagglebee]

And the reason such hateful immoral people like Warnock do not admit the dangers of the slippery slope is because they LIKE the abyss into which the slippery slope falls.

Excellent point!

[Sun]

It used to be the right to die, and now it’s the duty to die.

[floriduh voter]

Obama’s going to balance the budget by exterminating Americans. The future is here.

[floriduh voter]

http://www.lifenews.com/bio2657.html Those who are doomed but don’t know it yet, pray for them.

[floriduh voter]

barack obama is a killer. excerpt:

"On Michael’s legal team, Perrelli worked with infamous pro-euthanasia attorney George Felos as well as lawyers from the Florida chapter of the ACLU.

Obama’s selection of Perrelli to participate on his Justice Department transition team is no surprise given his comments on Terri’s painful 13-day starvation and dehydration death during the presidential campaign.

During his debate with Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary, Obama said his biggest mistake was voting with a unanimous Senate to help save Terri.

In March 2005, just weeks before Terri died, Congress approved legislation allowing her family to take its case from state courts to federal courts in an effort to stop the euthanasia from proceeding.

Terri was not on any artificial breathing apparatus and only required a feeding tube to eat and drink. Her family had filed a lawsuit against her former husband to allow them to care for her and give her proper medical and rehabilitative care.

The Senate unanimously approved a compromise bill, which the House eventually supported on a lopsided bipartisan vote and President Bush signed, to help the disabled woman.

Obama said he should have stood up against the life-saving legislation.

“It wasn't something I was comfortable with, but it was not something that I stood on the floor and stopped,” Obama said.

“And I think that was a mistake, and I think the American people understood that that was a mistake. And as a constitutional law professor, I knew better,” he added.

MURDER GOOD. LIFE IS A MISTAKE. FV paraphrases.