Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally taking one’s own life. Because this definition does not specify the outcome of such acts, it is customary to distinguish between fatal suicide and attempted, or nonfatal, suicide. Bridget Ulrich writes:

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With suicide rates soaring, is it any wonder that Liberty is seeing a resurrection within America? These rates indicate an underlying necrosis within our society which we must strive to locate, lacerate and extract. . . . . Activism yields rewards that affect both our communities as well as us personally. It is a medium on which we can add sustenance to our spirits in this age of increasing spiritual vexing/draining. . . . . If we as a society wish to address these rigid statistics, we have to address the hard facts that something is toxic within our society. We absolutely must work to help empower people by showing them how empowering it is to be your own person, own your own life, and be your own advocate. By delegating these roles to the government, we've gotten a lax return on our investment and forgotten how to care and advocate for ourselves. The big government wants us to feel meager and insufficient so that we feel we need an omnipotent force to micromanage our daily lives. Help your neighbors remember their intrinsic divinity. Get out and advocate for the Libertarian ideology. It is the basic fuel for a satiated soul.

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Views on suicide

Timo Virkkala argued that suicide is (or can be) a tort against others because it constitutes littering with one's body, by abandoning it, if one does it carelessly. Thomas Szasz's book Fatal Freedom defends every individual's right to choose a voluntary death. Peter McWilliams writes, "Our culture's taboo against suicide often keeps people who are thinking about suicide from talking about it. By talking about it, people can often get the emotional and psychological support they need to see them through a rough time. When people are afraid to talk about it, the pressures can increase to the point that they actually do something about it. If suicide itself were not forced to be—by law—such a lonely activity, we might have fewer suicides. Even if we did not, however, there is no reason for laws that make one's last moments painful and lonely."

Links

• Comment on Hospers by David Gordon, 1980
• Suicide at Wikipedia