Yale professor suggesting ‘mass suicide’ of elderly 'inappropriate' but understandable: Japanese commentator

[GON]

Found this article, about a course of action suggested by a Yale Professor, that elderly people commit "mass suicide".

The article uses Japan as an example. A high proportion of elderly residents in compared to the entire population, and the elderly residents are a financial burden on younger adults.

From the article:

" Japan has the second-highest proportion of people aged 65 or over in the world, according to the United Nations. And the country’s worker pool — which supports a federal pension program — is shrinking amid a plunging birth rate.

"There is criticism that older people are receiving too much pension money and the young people are supporting all the old people, even those who are wealthy," Shun Otokita, a member of Japan’s upper house of parliament, recently said according to The New York Times."

Eye opening article.

Yale professor suggesting ‘mass suicide’ of elderly 'inappropriate' but understandable: Japanese commentator

Japanese commentator Yoko Ishii weighed in on a Yale professor's suggestion that Japan's elderly commit mass suicide to alleviate its aging population burdens.

www.foxnews.com

 

[4WD]

Found this article, about a course of action suggested by a Yale Professor, that elderly people commit "mass suicide".

The article uses Japan as an example. A high proportion of elderly residents in compared to the entire population, and the elderly residents are a financial burden on younger adults.

Eye opening article.

Yale professor suggesting ‘mass suicide’ of elderly 'inappropriate' but understandable: Japanese commentator

Japanese commentator Yoko Ishii weighed in on a Yale professor's suggestion that Japan's elderly commit mass suicide to alleviate its aging population burdens.

www.foxnews.com

Professor - please demonstrate

 

[PimTac]

There are crazy people everywhere with crazy ideas but you will never find one that practices what they preach.

 

[Tman220]

Ah yes, the same basic logic many prolific dictators/murderers have used throughout history.

Pick out a group of "undesirables" and figure out the most socially acceptable way to get rid of them.... Nothing can go wrong.... we're more evolved...

 

[PWMDMD]

I fully support the idea of physician-assisted suicide. My body, my life, my decision. If I get a diagnosis of Lou Gahrig's disease or Parkinsons' disease or rapidly progressing dementia you can bet before I'm trapped in my body or completely lost my mind I'm going out the way I want to because let's face it, no one gets out of this life alive, and it's just a matter of when and how.

To be clear, this is a decision I'd make for myself and not others and I'd certainly never want it imposed on anyone. Anyone can commit suicide anytime they choose and the method is usually gruesome. I'm advocating allowing people of sound mind to die with their dignity intact.

 

[GON]

I fully support the idea of physician-assisted suicide. My body, my life, my decision. If I get a diagnosis of Lou Gahrig's disease or Parkinsons' disease or rapidly progressing dementia you can bet before I'm trapped in my body or completely lost my mind I'm going out the way I want to because let's face it, no one gets out of this life alive, and it's just a matter of when and how.

To be clear, this is a decision I'd make for myself and not others and I'd certainly never want it imposed on anyone.

The article's premise is not about suicide to die in peace. Completely different subject.

The article premise is for elderly to commit suicide in mass, so younger people don't have the financial liability of the older generation- and it is implied the younger people can then have immediate access to the older people's property/assets.

 

[PWMDMD]

The article's premise is not about suicide to die in peace. Completely different subject.

The article premise is for elderly to commit suicide in mass, so younger people don't have the financial liability of the older generation- and it is implied the younger people can then have immediate access to the older people's property/assets.

Well, that is messed up! Don't get me wrong I want to stay around as long as I can while gettins good or at least decent or at least not horrible.

My other thought is opinions are like anal sphincters, everyone has them and most of them stink. People write and say controversial things all the time and the author would probably be gitty we're discussing his controversial idea.

P.S. dnewton3 do I get a prize for not using the vulgar term? Had to go back and correct that sentence.

 

[Owen Lucas]

plunging birth rate.

The government should incentivize reproduction in situations like these. Free IVF, tax breaks, discounted healthcare, and financial support should be on the table. The Japanese are known to be very hard working and dedicated to their employers but this comes at a cost.

 

[atikovi]

This all could be solved if we made a greater effort to find a cause of, and then develop a cure for aging.

 

[PandaBear]

Japanese culture about abandoning aging population is called Ubasute

Ubasute - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It stopped in the last couple hundred years but you bet it is something people knew from historical texts and folklore. I wouldn't be surprised it came out of Japan.

Back then in Greece they "sacrifice" slaves who aged pass their useful lives. Honestly for Japanese population the best they can do is actually to send them to rural area and build affordable nursing homes for them, and hire 3rd world workers to help them with the lowest cost available.

 

[GON]

People write and say controversial things all the time and the author would probably be gitty we're discussing his controversial idea.

This is not some person. This is a professor from Yale University.

Four of the nine US supreme court justices on the bench today are graduates of Yale.

Maybe a way to reduce the costs of housing in the US to his have mass suicide in the US of all people 55 and older. That would surely lower housing costs overnight. It is never ever right to take someone else property or life to make your life easier or better.

What a horrible thing for the professor to have thought of as a course of action in his mind. There is always a way to address anything except poor health. The fix more often than not requires sacrifice and putting off some easy pleasure. Mass suicide is never ever a course of action.

I am quite sure this Yale Professor will have a very healthy mid six figure pension and lots of healthcare benefits to boost.

 

[PWMDMD]

This all could be solved if we made a greater effort to find a cause of, and then develop a cure for aging.

Aging is not a pathological condition that needs to be cured. From an economics POV we will really be up the creek without a paddle is life expectancy gets any longer. Just 100 years ago life expectancy for a white male was 47 years and for a black male 41 years. In 100 years we've almost doubled it. The earth won't support a population that lives to +100 years on average.

 

[PWMDMD]

This is not some person. This is a professor from Yale University.

Four of the nine US supreme court justices on the bench today are graduates of Yale.

One of 5100 academic staff at Yale and one of hundreds of thousands of academic staff in the world. So what? If an art historian from Yale wrote they thought Monet was a hack would the world stop and notice? Had you not posted this article this professor's idea would live in total obscurity to me and most people on this planet will never read that article.

 

[PandaBear]

Aging is not a pathological condition that needs to be cured. From an economics POV we will really be up the creek without a paddle is life expectancy gets any longer. Just 100 years ago life expectancy for a white male was 47 years and for a black male 41 years. In 100 years we've almost doubled it. The earth won't support a population that lives to +100 years on average.

The solution seems to be retiring at a much later age than 65. I think these days unless you have illness, you can work till 75 easily if not 85.

 

[oggb]

News headlines really bother impressionable people.

 

[PWMDMD]

The solution seems to be retiring at a much later age than 65. I think these days unless you have illness, you can work till 75 easily if not 85.

I think it is a necessity if life expectancy increases significantly more.

 

[Vercingetorix]

Saw a show about how in Japan they spare no expense to keep elderly people alive no matter what. They could be suffering unknown horrors, yet the system keeps them alive just to keep them alive.

 

[PimTac]

Sounds like some people are in favor of going to a end of life center where you will be taken to a room, listen to music and watch videos of flowers and nature landscapes.

Then comes green crackers.

 

[PWMDMD]

Saw a show about how in Japan they spare no expense to keep elderly people alive no matter what. They could be suffering unknown horrors, yet the system keeps them alive just to keep them alive.

...and that is unethical and immoral and antithetical to society maintaining the greater good.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I fully support the idea of physician-assisted suicide. My body, my life, my decision. If I get a diagnosis of Lou Gahrig's disease or Parkinsons' disease or rapidly progressing dementia you can bet before I'm trapped in my body or completely lost my mind I'm going out the way I want to because let's face it, no one gets out of this life alive, and it's just a matter of when and how.

To be clear, this is a decision I'd make for myself and not others and I'd certainly never want it imposed on anyone. Anyone can commit suicide anytime they choose and the method is usually gruesome. I'm advocating allowing people of sound mind to die with their dignity intact.

On my father's side, My great grandmother, my grandmother had Alzheimer's disease. My father is suffering from it now. It's morbid to talk about, but when I get to that point, I'd like the option to opt-out. At that point you're not really living, just alive.