[lbo-talk] Disability perspective: Overlooked in the Shadows

Wojtek Sokolowski sokol at jhu.edu
Mon Mar 28 06:43:05 PST 2005


Joanna:
> I am in the process of creating a living will. I hope that people will
> respect my wishes if I should wind up in Ms. Schiavo's position.

I did the same, but I would not bet my life on it :). The US is not the place where ordinary individuals can count on their right to decide about their life and death. It may sound paradoxical in this "land of free choice," but I found that the reaction formation principle (i.e. forming a point of view that suppresses desires that cannot be fulfilled or that one finds dangerous or discomforting) defines much of the social life in this country - to the point that most public pronouncements usually mean their opposite (the Orwellian "War is peace, slavery is freedom" thing). Individualism, individual choice, and individual freedom, may be highly respected in US public discourse, but at the same time US is one of the most heavily regulated, scripted societies that severely constrains individual freedom of action - ironically, in the name of freedom.

For example, cars have been sold to the public as an epitome of individual freedom, but in reality car ownership means things that are antithetical to individual freedom: - having to obtain a license to drive from the state, - liability insurance from a private company (which may arbitrarily deny it to you), - implied consent to searches and seizures without a court warrant (cop's suspicion is a sufficient reason) - waiving your constitutional right to a jury trial (which has been replaced with kangaroo traffic courts) - 24 liability for the vehicle whether you drive it or not (that means parking and traffic camera tickets, towing fees, etc.) - being stuck in a traffic without the possibility of opting out (unlike, say, a bus which if it breaks down or is stuck you can leave it at any time without any additional liability issue) - severe limitations on the mobility of all those who cannot or are not permitted to drive (minors, the handicapped, the elderly, people whose driving privilege has been suspended, etc.) - prohibitively high financial burden.

Similarly, free market ideology is pushed down our throats by people and organizations that operate outside or even against free market - quasi-monopolistic corporations and their CEOs whose salaries are determined by their political power rather than market competition, nonprofit think tanks, politicians elected by one of the least competitive electoral process in the developed world, etc.

Moreover, people may consider themselves "individualistic" and wrap themselves in ritualistic expressions of that individualism, such as suburban MacMansions and tough-looking SUV's, but they religiously follow the established norms and feel very uncomfortable with anything that even slightly falls outside those norms - whether it is an opinion, a life style, or even a person's appearance.

Likewise, the US-ers may speak favorably about "living free or dying" - but only as long as that life and death fall within narrow conventional norms. However, their willingness to extend that freedom ends quite abruptly when a person chooses a course of action that appears to be self-destructive or non-conventional - like heavy substance use, suicide, euthanasia, or even sexual behavior conventionally deemed "unhealthy." The only exception is religion, where weirdness seems to know no bounds.

In fact, the more US politicos talk about freedom, the more I suspect that some freedoms are about to be curtailed or taken altogether from me. Right now they talk about making a living will - but I strongly suspect that soon they will pass legislation that invalidates or severely restricts some of the provisions made in those wills.

A better guarantee can be found in countries like the Netherlands, which guarantee the right to die. I would certainly consider that option (including material provisions to make a one-way journey to Amsterdam) in my living will plans.

Wojtek



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