21st Century: Human freedom, insanity and consequential repercussion, by Prof. MK Othman
Deep Thoughts with Othman
Mr. Xnopia (not a real name but a true story) was (un)happily accompanied by his wife and younger brother on euthanasia tourism to Switzerland. Mr. Xnopia had decided that nothing matters anymore and the time has finally come to just end it all. Assumingly, a due consultation was done between Xnopia’s family and friends and a painful(?) decision was reached that Mr. Xnopia should finally end it all in a legally permitted and assisted suicide. A designated place for such services was approached. Lethal drugs were given to Mr. Xnopia, he willingly accepted after his last handshake with his younger brother while the wife was massaging his hand and assuring him of taking care of his wishes after his death. The lethal drug administrator, a lady, was professional in this life-ending service as she meticulously helped him to his last breath. In a matter of less than ten minutes, Mr. Xnopia was no more, he peacefully and sadly passed away in the presence of his wife and brother who were in black attire symbolizing their planned and expected grief. This death or suicide mission is not monetarily costless, there is a price tag for it.
First, you need to become a member of Dignitas; anyone can join if they pay an annual fee of 80 Swiss francs (£47). When you are ready to die, you need to send in copies of your medical records, a letter explaining why things have become intolerable, and then pay a pricey sum of £1,860. These files are dispatched to one of Dignitas’s affiliated doctors, who consider, based on the medical history whether or not he would be ready to prescribe the fatal dose. If he agrees in principle, then a “green light” is given to the member, and they can contact staff at the Dignitas headquarters (death-assisted company), who will schedule a date and offer advice. Once they arrive in Zurich, the individual must pay £620 for two appointments with the doctor for further consultation and a further £1,860 to pay for two Dignitas staff members to organize and witness the death.
Assistance in suicide is legally allowed in Switzerland but regulated. Swiss law stipulates that assisting someone to commit suicide is only punishable if this is carried out for selfish reasons. That means, Swiss law only allows providing means to die by suicide to interested persons. This type of law is spreading across European countries and US states such as Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Oregon, Washington, and Montana among others. The apostles of this law are the NGOs like Exit International and Final Exit Network. Exit International is an NGO advocating the legalization of voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide. Last year, 2022, EXIT helped 1,125 people end their lives which was an increase of 15% compared to the previous year, 2021. Women made up about 60% of the cases.
These NGOs are not alone in abetting and suicide promotion, an American renown hotel, the Red Roof Inn has joined the venture. The management of Red Roof Inn has created “luxurious” death apartments for suicidal people. The accommodations have been carefully crafted to flawlessly complement the suicide experience in every way imaginable. The management announced the launch of these specialized suites. Red Roof Inn hospitality director Jeffrey Connelly was quoted saying “If you’re feeling despondent or just down in the dumps and you want to treat yourself to a quick and relatively painless death, this is the place for you. People have been coming to Red Roof Inn to kill themselves for years, and now we’ve made it easier and more convenient than ever. “We guarantee that anyone staying with us will have total, uninterrupted privacy to take his/her own life”. Welcome to the 21st Century!
The century is a mixture of sorts, man has assiduously made progress on all fronts, especially in communication and transport technologies but has extended human freedom beyond the limits of sanity. Freedom of ways and manner of using one’s body, especially sexual orientation, and freedom of ending one’s life are issues going out of hand.
Morally, sexual orientation is a big thorn in the flesh as more countries are legalizing same-sex marriage, incest, and even bestiality in the name of human freedom. How do you go to bed with a dog or similar animals in the name of freedom under the law? This gross insanity is a pure psychiatric case.
Open membership with the legal backing of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and related (LGBT+) in many countries is alarmingly increasing in exponential proportion. In 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed its first resolution recognizing LGBT rights and issued a report documenting violations of the rights of LGBT people, including hate crimes, criminalization of homosexual activity, and discrimination. While the world population is mountingly increasing alongside technological advancement, making the world indeed a global village, the level of human freedom is driving society out of sanity. Why should people be free to end their lives? Can’t the state regulate our human freedom to sustain our sanity? Why should people be free to engage in incest and/or bestiality? What is the consequential repercussion?
Demographically, suicides and LGBT+ practices depopulate society in no time. A society experiencing depopulation inches towards extinction. Thus, these practices are ungodly, bizarre, and unnatural committed only by people with psychological instability and uncontrollable emotion. Place three men and women on an isolated island and after 100 years, you will find a generation of grandfathers, mothers, children, and a few graves. In contrast, place 100 members of LGBT+ on a similar island, after 100 years, you will find skeletons of these people.
Health-wise, the detrimental effects among practitioners of LGBT are higher rates of HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, depression/anxiety, hepatitis, sexually transmitted illnesses, cancers, alcohol abuse, and obesity among other unknown health effects. For example, data presented at the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2010 National STD Prevention Conference showed the rate of new HIV diagnoses among gays was over 44 times that of other men and more than 40 times that of women. The rate of primary and secondary syphilis among gays was over 46 times that of other men and more than 71 times that of women. It was similarly reported that 15%–25% of all new Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections in the United States are among gays. Cancer Facts for Gay and Bisexual Men and women exhibited by the American Cancer Society’s web page specifies that gay men are at increased risk for lung, testicular, colon, and anal cancers while Lesbians and Bisexual Women have an increased risk of breast, lung, colon, ovarian, and endometrial cancers.
Morally, two of the major religions in the world; Islam and Christianity abhor suicide and LGBT+ practices under all circumstances. The destruction of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah cities was well documented in the holy books of the Bible and Quran. God rained sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah and all the Plain and its inhabitants were destroyed. Their destruction was a result of their wickedness and indulgence in gay. This happened in the Bronze Age which lasted approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC.
Fortunately, Africa, particularly Nigeria is “lagging” in these ungodly acts (human freedom) but their promoters and sponsors are not sleeping, they are attempting to capture Nigeria. We, in Nigeria, are religious people and we should do everything possible to stop the incursion of this type of freedom coming to us. We need the solid backing of our legislative and executive arms of government to win this fight. Can we count on them?
Professor Othman is the Executive Director of National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS), ABU Zaria.
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