On Sun, 20 Jan 2002 10:49:10 +1300 David McNab <david at rebirthing.co.nz> writes: > > TB> Do *any* businesses, or industries for that matter, have a > "right" to > TB> exist? > > To answer this question one would first have to ask, does any > *person* > have a right to exist?
I don't think that question needs to be asked, but now that it has, the answer is YES. Every person has a right to exist, to live, until they choose to give up that right by either commiting suicide or murder, or by threatening the lives of others. Others may take away that person's life in the defense of either their own lives or the lives of others which are being threatened. But they may not do so in such a way as to further threaten other lives. For instance, if someone is threatening to jump off a tall building, something which may kill someone on the street bellow, it would not be appropriate to shoot and kill the suicidal jumper, thus causing them to fall to the pavement and kill someone else anyway. It is illogical to make suicide illegal, however, it would probably be a good idea to try to find out if the person is suicidal because they are slowly dieing and want to end it more quickly, or because they are depressed or poor or their lives are being threatened by someone. If a person has a terminal illness and is dieing very slowly and very painfully, and almost nothing helps to improve their quality of life other than extremely powerfull and harmfull drugs, and they just want to end it more quickly, then I think there needs to be some kind of official recognition of that person's right to die. Suicide doctors need to be under intense scrutiny, and they have to be licensed physicians. If one of them starts killing people who either don't really want to die or are suffering from depression, then they need to be stoped, probably by imprisoning them. Because depression, although a real illness of the mind, is not fatal, and can be treated so that the person can enjoy a higher quality of life, and even become a functional contributor to society. I suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts, believe me, I know how hard it can get. But that doesn't give anyone the right to kill me. A "Right" is that which is always right for all circumstances and all beings, except when a person takes away the rights of others and must be punished as a result of that infringement. Right? I am an animal rights person. I believe that if a human being with an IQ of 2 is concidered a person and is treated as such, then why can't animals with much higher IQs and Proven self awareness be given the same level of respect and treatment? I knew a person once who had been working on learning the ABCs for nearly 20 years. She was about 30 years old and in that horrible Special Education/Behavior Modification school called S.H.A.R.P. Her comprehension was so incredibly low that she had to learn the first three or four letters of the alphabet EVERY DAY!!! She just couldn't function, at all. And yet she was treated like a sentient, intelligent being, a person. She had rights. My three cats and four dogs are more inteligent than she is. My freaking AI dogz on my computer are more intelligent. Anyway, thats how I feel about that. Aaron. ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/. _______________________________________________ Chat mailing list Chat at freenetproject.org http://lists.freenetproject.org/mailman/listinfo/chat
