Who wants to kill the elderly?

[Nick]

Who wants to kill the elderly, asks the writer of this column. Apparently the Bishop of Durham, Tom Wright, thinks that athiests and secularists want kill the surplus old people. Now where would he get that idea!? I wonder if he was creeping around Genius Forum at a certain point in time when David Quinn made the suggestion that the elderly ought to take a wisdom test, and if they fail then they are put to death. Harsh punishment for failing a test, but if one values enlightenment above all else it might not be a bad idea in certain circumstances. Maybe someone should email the guy who wrote the column and let him know that there are those of us, although athiests may not be the most accurate desription for the members of this forum, that think the idea holds a bit of merit and the Bishop's claim isn't too far off base. :D

I don't understand why a christian would get so upset by killing old people anyways. Christians have justified the killings of people of different religions and beliefs for centuries. Hypocrits!

[maestro]

Why only the elderly, kill everyone who fails the test.

[Relo]

I feel that's a little bit ridiculous. These surplus elderly can't always be looked at through the eyes of people in a negative view, and we shouldn't be the ones to decide the fate of our own race unless the victims have decided so or in that somewhat of a sense.

[Dan Rowden]

Frankly, the elderly die soon enough anyway. Though, they certainly should have the option to go earlier if they so choose, without fear of repercussions.

[Shahrazad]

Frankly, the elderly die soon enough anyway.

Not so soon for some of us. My grandma has already lived over 40 years past the age when DQ would have wanted to kill her.

[Dan Rowden]

Ask her if she knows the difference between logical and empirical causation. Take a gun.

[Shahrazad]

You're in a mean mood today.

[Dan Rowden]

You have no sense of humour today.

[Jason]

I thought it was funny.

[David Quinn]

Needless to say, the remark I made about elderly people was in jest. Apart from anything else, the human race is still far too primitive and mentally-backward to start conducting proper wisdom tests. It will be many thousands of years before it becomes a practical option, and even then I have my doubts that the human race will be ready for it.

Even so, we are soon going to have to confront the issue of what to do with elderly people. They are steadily increasing in number, all of them busily consuming resources, hospital beds, younger people's time, etc, in order to prolong their vegetative existence. It won't be long before the elderly will comprise over 50% of the population. Can we as a species afford to keep supporting half the population as vegetables?

The ever-increasing environmental problems are going to force us to confront this issue, whether we like it or not. Indeed, they are going to force us to confront a whole host of issues that are utterly beyond the scope of humanity's traditional values and beliefs to deal with. It should be interesting to see what happens.

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[Steven]

How much money is spent on makeup, fast food, nice looking motor vehicles, designer clothing etc.?

The question is not and never has been one of being capable or able to afford to face our issues, but whether or not that is where we want to channel our efforts in our mortal little lives.

[brokenhead]

Nobody who doesn't understand that death is merely a transition gets to kill anybody. If that is not clearly understood, then you are making a judgement and should be judged acordingly.

Are the very elderly equipped to judge that for themselves, is the real question. Make massive doses of morphine available to any elderly person who requests it. There reaches an age where your responsibilities to people have been executed, one way or another. Every day I go past an elderly day care center and ask myself the question posed by this thread as I see vacant, very senior citizens being slowly ushered into the center and wonder if they aren't in fact being done a disservice by well-meaning younger family members and/or caretakers.

[DavidHenry]

Instead, just kill the Chinamen and the Indians and we should be right for another 50-100yrs.

[maestro]

Instead, just kill the Chinamen and the Indians and we should be right for another 50-100yrs.

Appalling! is it a forum for enlightenment or a forum for developing potential Hitlers?

[Shahrazad]

David,

Needless to say, the remark I made about elderly people was in jest.

It certainly didn't sound that way. Consider the context.

They are steadily increasing in number, all of them busily consuming resources, hospital beds, younger people's time, etc, in order to prolong their vegetative existence. It won't be long before the elderly will comprise over 50% of the population.

You got carried away with your conclusions here. Yes, there are many more elderly people now than there were a decade ago, and they will continue to increase for a few more years. But this elderly boom of the turn-of-the-century is a consequence of the baby boom of the middle 20th century (more precisely, between 1946 and 1964). After all of us baby boomers die, the population will go back to being young. Old folks will never reach 50% of the population.

Of course, we could have another world war, and another baby boom could follow that, and 60 years later we would again have an elderly boom.

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[DavidHenry]

Instead, just kill the Chinamen and the Indians and we should be right for another 50-100yrs.

Appalling! is it a forum for enlightenment or a forum for developing potential Hitlers?

Are you a Chinaman?
Look I don't mind a bit of fried rice, but there's just too many of them!!

[samadhi]

Jason,

You are an avatar comedic genius!

Dan,

What do you think of Jason's avatar? lol ...

[Dan Rowden]

So far, pretty funny, but he'll struggle with David's.

[Ryan Rudolph]

In my opinion, the population in any city should not exceed one million. When a city grows larger than that, it becomes too ant-like, and the demand for services and goods increases everyone’s workload.

I agree with David, unconscious old people that leach off the system are definitely a burden, but no one seems to care much as he suggests. Old people often behave worse in old age as they did in their younger days because they have more free time on their hands… typically, they spent most much of the nation’s tax dollars on things like lavish vacations, material accumulation, gambling binges and constant indulges on food and drink – In my small city alone, hundreds of tour buses pour into the Casino every year so that the elderly can get all excited by wasting the wealth of the younger generations….

It is unfortunate that most humans are born as children and die as children…

Not to mention that the elderly end their excessive lives by requiring continuous care by either family members or hospital workers, as I know most Canadian nurses are put in a predicament where they are pressured to work 60-70 hours a week feeding, drugging, and cleaning up the urine and feces of these unconscious souls… So eliminating the unconscious elderly is actually quite compassionate if done the right way, I wouldn’t advocate anything too barbaric or crude, but lethal injections while they’re sleeping wouldn’t be too harsh, as they’d wouldn’t react frightfully or put up much of a struggle.

An idea like that would never fly though - most people are far too asleep, emotional, sentimental over family, and frightened of death to even consider an idea like that. People who get overly sentimental about dying family members miss the point entirely…. Their brains are still hardwired for the “Family identification, protection, and preservation drive”

[brokenhead]

Old people often behave worse in old age as they did in their younger days because they have more free time on their hands… typically, they spent most much of the nation’s tax dollars on things like lavish vacations, material accumulation, gambling binges and constant indulges on food and drink – In my small city alone, hundreds of tour buses pour into the Casino every year so that the elderly can get all excited by wasting the wealth of the younger generations….

In other words, the elderly bring money to your small city and create jobs.

[samadhi]

I agree with David, unconscious old people that leach off the system are definitely a burden ... . Old people often behave worse in old age ... they spend much of the nation’s tax dollars on things like lavish vacations, material accumulation, gambling binges and constant indulges on food and drink ...

It is unfortunate that most humans are born as children and die as children…

Not to mention that the elderly end their excessive lives by requiring continuous care ... . So eliminating the unconscious elderly is actually quite compassionate if done the right way, I wouldn’t advocate anything too barbaric or crude, but lethal injections while they’re sleeping wouldn’t be too harsh, as they’d wouldn’t react frightfully or put up much of a struggle.

...

I notice when discussions like these occur, it's always "those people stealing my resources, being a general nuisance, and pissing me off even though I don't know any, don't care for any and don't want to help those who do." Include yourself in the unconscious, Ryan. You appear brain-dead to me.

[David Quinn]

David,

Needless to say, the remark I made about elderly people was in jest.

It certainly didn't sound that way. Consider the context.

My point about the madness of keeping vegetative elderly people alive at all costs was serious. But the wisdom test thing was in jest.

I dare say that anyone who has ever visited a nursing home would know what I mean.

They are steadily increasing in number, all of them busily consuming resources, hospital beds, younger people's time, etc, in order to prolong their vegetative existence. It won't be long before the elderly will comprise over 50% of the population.

You got carried away with your conclusions here. Yes, there are many more elderly people now than there were a decade ago, and they will continue to increase for a few more years. But this elderly boom of the turn-of-the-century is a consequence of the baby boom of the middle 20th century (more precisely, between 1946 and 1964). After all of us baby boomers die, the population will go back to being young. Old folks will never reach 50% of the population.

I'm not so sure about that. With advances in medical technology - disease prevention, drug therapy, organ regeneration, etc - elderly people are going to be living far longer than they used to be and their vegetative phase is going to be longer.

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[Shahrazad]

David,

You haven't convinced me that the increase in old people is caused by anything else than the coming-of-age of the boomers.

With advances in medical technology - disease prevention, drug therapy, organ regeneration, etc - elderly people are going to be living far longer than they used to be and their vegetative phase is going to be longer.

If only you were right. It cannot happen fast enough for me.

And I just noticed you contradicted yourself. The medical technology you describe (disease prevention, etc.) will help people live longer lives and increase their quality and health; the longer vegetative phase does not follow.

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[Tomas]

David,

You haven't convinced me that the increase in old people is caused by anything else than the coming-of-age of the boomers.

With advances in medical technology - disease prevention, drug therapy, organ regeneration, etc - elderly people are going to be living far longer than they used to be and their vegetative phase is going to be longer.

If only you were right. It cannot happen fast enough for me.

And I just noticed you contradicted yourself. The medical technology you describe (disease prevention, etc.) will help people live longer lives and increase their quality and health; the longer vegetative phase does not follow.

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He said it right.

What David said, is that something like (for instance) "stents" are being implanted in these elderly who don't really have a life outside of a nursing home .. that putter (with their walker, wheelchair) up and down the hallways 5-6 times more now. Thus living longer but no more useful to humanity other than more pills, insulin, nursing home "food" (yuck!). The taxpayer is billed and the politician keeps raising the benefit levels (social security checks) of all concerned. The benefactors being the pharmaceuticals, hospitals, clinics where procedures (stents) are performed.


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[Jason]

Dan,

What do you think of Jason's avatar? lol ...

Dan's avatar mysteriously disappeared about three hours after my version arrived....