I submitted the following article to the Your Thurrock website a couple of times in recent weeks
but it hasn’t been posted so I thought I’d post it here.
When I
was interviewed for the Grays Lives Project I was taken aback when Mr Casey
said that he’d had complaints about my article on the euthanasia and assisted
suicide debate. It was the first I’d
heard about any complaints despite the fact that it was posted on June 27,
2011. Questions jumped into my head like
‘did the people who complained about the article actually read it’ and ‘don’t
they think that important issues like that should be discussed’.
I came
to the only conclusion that a sensible person could come to – the people who
complained about the article really should get over themselves and stop being
such snowflakes.
You
probably think that I’m being unnecessarily harsh but the truth is that,
despite the uncomfortable nature of euthanasia and assisted suicide, it is
merely one of many subjects that are considered taboo and we shouldn’t as a
responsible society ignore such subjects.
In
relation to euthanasia, we already accept it happening in hospitals when people
who would not have a good quality of life but would otherwise stay alive have
their nutrients taken away by medical staff so that they may die. The patients in such situations are usually
not in a position to give their consent so are actually victims of involuntary
euthanasia. Another example of
involuntary euthanasia are the elderly patients who are put on the Liverpool
Care Pathway (LCP) by doctors without their knowledge or consent. The LCP is meant to be for terminally ill
patients but one elderly gentleman was put on the LCP by a doctor after being
admitted to hospital with a chest infection.
After it had been discovered, another doctor actually treated the
patient and he went home all cured. He
would have been dead had the first doctor been left to consign the gentleman to
the LCP and it would have been a case of involuntary euthanasia.
I won’t
dwell on euthanasia but I feel that it’s important for the current discussion a
brief recap of what society accepts without question and, more importantly,
without discussion.
If we don’t
discuss taboo subjects in a constructive way then truly terrible things can
happen and society is complicit in every act, in every persecution, in every
case of wilful ignorance.
Let us
not forget that the #MeToo revolution that is taking place came after
discussion was finally started over the sexual misconduct towards women in the
film industry which was considered a taboo subject. It then blossomed into a larger discussion
about how women are treated in the workplace and elsewhere. Where would the #MeToo revolution be if the
topic had remained in the realm of the taboo?
If it
wasn’t for the veil of secrecy in the corridors of the BBC and the consigning
to the realm of taboo the subject of the actions of Jimmy Saville and others,
it would be quite possibly still be happening now. We need to discuss subjects like paedophilia
so that we can come up with a proper response in prevention, treatment and
punishment but that won’t happen if people take offense at the mere mention of
the subject.
There are
also the subjects like mental health and addiction that need to be openly and
honestly discussed because of the amount of misinformation and ignorance about
the subject. Mental health is being
discussed but the discussion is mostly led by celebrities who have access to
better resources and treatments which gives the general public a very skewed
picture of mental illness, leading to some very nasty comments about more
disabled sufferers by ill-informed people.
Addiction
is also seen in a rather one-sided way in the general population. It is seen as a weakness, a physical
dependence on whatever substance or activity triggers a particular individual
but it also has a psychological aspect that many overlook. Some people believe that, for instance, drug
use and addiction causes mental health issues and that is true in some cases
but people who take drugs or alcohol can actually be suffering from undiagnosed
mental ill-health and are using such substances to self-medicate.
The
areas of addiction and mental health intermingle but it’s not always easy to
say which one came first. Either one can
be the cause or the effect and, until we have a full and frank discussion of
these taboo subjects, mistakes will be made and the crime that can sometimes
accompany addiction issues will continue to rise and the correct treatment will
remain out of reach for those who need it.
There
are many other subjects that are vaguely taboo but I will keep to a single
subject that has been in the news lately – religion. Some parents have apparently taken their
children out of lessons involving the subject of Islam which shows a
small-mindedness that stifles debate and merely stokes distrust and hatred
between Christians and Muslims. We really
need to open up discussion of all the world’s religions so that everyone has a
basic understanding of other religious belief systems which could lessen
tensions between competing religions. No
one would be forced to read the complete holy books or teachings of the
religions they don’t follow but learning the similarities between the different
belief systems might be a good step towards acceptance. Finding common ground might go some way to
bringing peace in religious conflicts and, if people have a reasonable
knowledge of the different religious beliefs, it might stop extremists from
using perverted versions of religions to justify violence because potential
followers will know the truth.
As a
society we need to break down the taboos that stop us discussing important
issues and getting real information and real options on those subjects we
currently keep hidden. We owe it to
ourselves and future generations.
You can view the Grays Lives Project
interview referred to in the article at http://www.yourthurrock.com/2018/12/23/grays-lives-project-myles-cook-depression-im-one-lucky-ones/
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