Criminals of the World no.5: Homicidal tendencies in the British establishment

[fpb]

First, remember what I said about parents and children:

http://fpb.livejournal.com/173966.html

Then, but only if you have a very strong stomach, read this:

LONDON, August 15, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – This week, a popular BBC radio announcer told the public that she had entered into a “suicide pact” with friends should she be incapacitated by illness.

Jenni Murray, the presenter of BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour, a feminist and euthanasia advocate, said that she does not want to be “trapped” into caring for her mother who is ill with Parkinson’s disease.

Murray, a member of the Order of the British Empire and a patron of the Family Planning Association, is airing her views tonight on a BBC television program called “Don’t Get Me Started.” Publicity material for the show says that Murray “plans to end her own life when she becomes a burden to those around her.” She discusses methods, including smothering with a pillow or injecting with drugs, with two friends,

The network said: "Jenni is angry that, having fought so hard to become liberated and independent, women are now being trapped into caring for dependent parents."

Murray complains that the law against assisted suicide is supported by a “religious minority” who hold to an outdated moral view that human life is inherently valuable and that children have a legitimate obligation to care for elderly parents.

The program highlights the growth, especially in Britain, of the idea of an “obligation to die.” Most leading thinkers in the bioethics field endorse euthanasia and assisted suicide and often argue that elderly and ill patients have the obligation to end their lives to relieve pressure on families and the health care system.

In 2004, Baroness Mary Warnock, Britain’s leader in bioethics, said unequivocally that the ill and elderly had an obligation to die as soon as possible so as not to burden relatives and the medical system. Baroness Warnock, called Britain's “Philosopher Queen”, said in an interview, “In other contexts sacrificing oneself for one's family would be considered good. I don't see what is so horrible about the motive of not wanting to be an increasing nuisance.”

She said, “I am not ashamed to say some lives are more worth living than others.”

fpb reprises: It is tempting to speculate what an appallingly loveless upbringing these creatures... the world woman seems very distant from anything they are... must have had, to even contemplate the option of murdering their parents for their own convenience. Parricide is, perhaps, a suitable punishment for having brought a Jenni Murray or a Mary Warnock into the world. (Warnock's supposed philosophical eminence, by the way, could never be confirmed to me by genuine philosophers; in the work of the late Karl Popper, for instance, she only appears, and in no complimentary guise, in a single footnote.) Nonetheless, Murray's claim that she'll be ready to go when her time comes is indubitably a lie. The same selfishness that makes it possible for her to contemplate - and contemplate with self-congratulation - murdering her mother, also makes sure that she will never see a time when the world could possibly be deprived of the rich contribution and irreplaceable values granted by her wonderful presence. Jack Kervorkian, according to a recent news story, is dying of cancer in prison right now, and yet he stubbornly refuses the same remedy that, in similar circumstances, he was so doctrinaire about inflicting on others.

Comments

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

So her mother needs care, and she threatens suicide, more or less? What a tool.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Wow, the all-consuming selfishness is breathtaking. She is like a picture of Hell on earth. Do people like her ever care about ANYthing that doesn't relate directly to their own comfort?

I see it around me... people justifying avoiding inconvenience to themselves and congratulating themselves for basically... making themselves happier. Very disconcerting.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

May I borrow your opening two phrases? They are very felicitous. "A picture of Hell on earth" seems to me to encapsulate the morally sane reaction to this filth.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

By all means; I'm flattered!

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

That's really horrible. Are they advocating that all helpless and unproductive members of society be put to death, to avoid being a nuisance??? It's like something out of Nazi Germany

Her poor mother must just feel awful at her daughter publically threatening suicide to avoid caring for her.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

The phrasing is not clear, but I suspect that what Murray is advocating is, first kill her mother because she does not want to have to feed her, and second, be killed herself if she ever becomes "a burden". You and I, knowing England, will both laugh hollow laughs at the thought that a BBC apparatchik like Murray, who has battened for decades on the canon, should regard herself as a monument of rugged, self-made individualism. But as for her mother, bear in mind that she did bear Jenni Murray. The vicious selfishness that shines from every one of the vile broadcasts that she has been allowed to make for decades is something she learned early in life. Her parents probably have something to do with it.

Finally, think of the logical disconnnect. In order for women to be free to achieve in society, women must be murdered when they are no longer able to achieve in society. So, once you have achieved - you get killed. We have a great thinker on our hands, ladies (and gentlemen).

[patchworkmind.livejournal.com]

The astonishing selfishness of some people is simply staggering.

[patchworkmind.livejournal.com]

For some people "Give me convenience or give me death!" is their motto.

(Props to Jello Biafra and The Dead Kennedys for that one. Or to whomever titled that album for them.)

[sevenorora.livejournal.com]

Um, sorry about that, the deleted post I mean. I reacted on you post while I just wanted to react in general. =)

[fpb.livejournal.com]

The trouble is that this is not "some people". The vile Murray is a BBC apparatchik of long standing, owner of a daily radio program called "Woman's Hour", which she has in the past distinguished by comparing marriage to prostitution. The even viler Warnock is a member of the House of Lords, professor in I can't remember whether London or Oxford or Cambridge, and the ultimate insider. Since the sixties she has been the Intellectual Authority rolled out every time that Government wanted to do something like legalizing abortion. She is practically the founder of the profession of "ethicist" or "bio-ethicist" - you know, the mercenary hired by chemical or pharmaceutical corporations or by the State to tell them that everything they do is really all right. And she still has a tremendous amount of fake prestige. Both women are, as asakiyume said, like manifestations of Hell on Earth, but, what is more, Hell triumphant, Hell in possession, Hell prestigious and in charge.

[rfachir.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised she doesn't consider that asking people to help kill her might be considered something of a burden. "Being smothered by a pillow" is very hard to do by yourself. But she's a brilliant philosopher and has probably reasoned that the world is full of bathtubs and toasters.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

You've got the two people mixed up. Mary Warnock is the "brilliant" philosopher. Jenni Murray is the feminist media person and the one who spoke about letting herself be killed if she ever becomes a burden to anyone. As opposed to being a burden to the tens of millions of British citizens who are forced to pay the BBC for their flood of lies, bad taste and moral nullity, including her inane wafflings.

[rfachir.livejournal.com]

I think I have them now. But I'm having trouble with your use of the word "feminist" - she's right in line with the establishment. When she is "useless" - in other words, no longer desireable, or fecund, or rich - she would rather be destroyed rather than waste the resources taking care of an old, ugly, high-maintenance female husk. That's the epitome of sexist. Having to depend on anyone to take care of her terrifies her, because in her heart she knows she can't. Is this a common view? Isn't NHS there for the elderly? Why then would anyone feel trapped into taking care of them if they didn't want to?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

My dear, I am using her use of the word.

[rfachir.livejournal.com]

OK - you quoted a quote, but you didn't answer the question. Does NHS cover "Long Term Care" for people with Parkinsons? Why is this woman so frightened?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I answer that one in the next two posts on this subject. I am afraid I do go on a bit, but I try to explain why certain conclusions follow on the way that Britain is really governed.

[sevenorora.livejournal.com]

What the hell?!! That's just horrible!

My parents took care of me when I was sick, they protected me, they love me, the did (and still do) the best they can to raise me… the least I can do is if they are one day diagnosed with Parkinson, Alzheimer or a similar disease, the least I can do is take care of them. They did that for me, so why shouldn’t I do that for them? It's called love!!!

[fpb.livejournal.com]

That is exactly what I said in the essay I linked to at the start. But you said it more briefly and movingly. Thank you.

But then, I already know the kind of person you are.

[incitata.livejournal.com]

"Jenni is angry that, having fought so hard to become liberated and independent, women are now being trapped into caring for dependent parents."

I can hardly begin to express the many levels of wrong contained in this quote. Aside from the wider ethical issues surrounding the value of human life which are pithily dismissed in the following sentence I am disturbed by the assumption that there is no obligation toward the care of one's parents, the people, that it must be assumed, loved, cared for and raised these dependant (and unspeakably ungrateful) children.

I think back to the end of 1990 when my Nana had her accident. We had already been looking to buy a bigger house so that she could move in with us because at the age of 90 she was beginning to find it hard to cope alone - it had taken a long time for my father to persuade her to even consider the idea. Toward the end of the summer she fell and broke her wrist and that brought the move forward. There were already five of us in a three bedroomed house, but we shifted and shared so that she was not left alone. Sadly, Nana died in the New Year and before we managed to buy a larger home for all of us, but when she went she knew that her son, and his family were there for her.

I fail to see where the inconvenience is in caring for a sick parent or other relative, we were all better for those few months she spent under the same roof as us.

As to the words of Baroness Mary Warnock; if she is so concerned about removing nuisance from the world, she knows what she needs to do.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Glad we agree. But as for Madame la Baronne, the trouble is that it would be forty years too late. She has been personally responsible for decades of poisoning of the British body politic and discussion space. It would be like hanging Goebbels in 1946: satisfying, but it would not undo the evil she has done.

[ashesofautumn.livejournal.com]

That's really disgusting. What an ingrate! What on earth is the connection between being a "liberated and independent" woman and loving your parents enough to care for them when they can't take care of themselves? I can't even imagine being selfish enough to abandon my father or grandparents like that.

A strong stomach?

[notebuyer.livejournal.com]

As it turns out, I haven't got one. I stopped reading after she became "trapped into caring for dependent parents".

This person appears unable to acknowledge basic debts, and unable to describe herself. What does she think the duties of a daughter are? Of a neighbor? Of a friend?

Astounding ignorance. Disgusting result.