AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER? (via Mike Daley):

Other view: Confronting the 'suicide ideology' (Alan Nakanishi, March 3, 2005, The Sacramento Bee)

A man encouraging dozens of vulnerable women in an Internet chat room to commit suicide reminds us again of the devastating consequences of depression and hopelessness to which many suicide victims succumb. But depression usually is treatable. Why then has AB 654, the California Compassionate Choice Act, been introduced into the Legislature?

The alleged perpetrator of the Internet death scheme is a 26-year-old man from Sacramento who had moved to Klamath Falls to take care of his ailing father, according to press reports. Since Oregon is also the only state that has legalized "assisted suicide," one shudders to think what that may mean.

The person arrested recruited his potential victims through an Internet chat room with "suicide ideology" in the title. The plot was uncovered after one of the potential participants went to police when another woman indicated she intended to kill her two children along with herself. That, of course, is one of the problems with people who "have no problem" with suicide: It very often crosses the line from self-murder to the murder of others.

Those who propose to kill themselves almost always are depressed. But the growing indifference to suicide, the "people should be able to do what they want" attitude, causes many to look the other way when our friend, co-worker or family member needs us most.

The degenerates in Hollywood celebrate this ideology and then wonder why Americans hold them in such contempt.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 3, 2005 12:34 PM