Let Him Kill Himself, by Mike Gold – Brainiac On Banjo #280 | @MDWorld

June 25, 2012 Mike Gold 20 Comments

The commonwealth of Pennsylvania has put convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky on “suicide watch.” I’m not exactly certain what that entails – do they have a guard staring at him 24/7? – but there is one mammoth, overwhelming question rattling around my brainpan.

Why bother?

For the purpose of conversation, let us assume the “risk” of suicide here is legitimate. We only have the commonwealth’s word on this, and personally I have a hard time presuming the disgusting piece of filth they’re watching has anywhere near the class or the conscience to do the right thing.

Be that as it may, as of this writing Pennsylvania is nearing $135 billion in debt. That’s over ten grand for every man, woman and child living within its borders. If, as Republicans insist, we cut what they define as unnecessary expenses, it’s pretty hard to define keeping a convicted child molester alive against his own will as necessary.

Then again, I’m not a football fan.

Sandusky has yet to be sentenced, but the death penalty isn’t in the cards. He can be sentenced to some 400 years in the hoosegow, but if so he’s unlikely to serve the full term. Even if he makes it to 80 twelve years from now, that means the citizenry is likely to spend in excess of one half of one million dollars keeping this piece of morally postulant detritus breathing (allegedly) against his own will. I’m including medical expenses here; being a septuagenarian ain’t no walk in the park – particularly if your park is made of barbed wire and metal bars.

We have this ridiculous hang-up about suicide. I acknowledge, to my disgust, that this comes from people’s perception of the desires of their hoary thunderer. That is no excuse in a so-called free society. A person can be suffering from an absolutely fatal disease and be in constant horrific pain and agony, but we will not allow him or her to voluntarily move up that unknowable sell-by date.

Worse still, we do this in the name of “morality.” We contrive all sorts of nonsensical reasons to disallow the practice – let alone make it as painless as possible – but, in fact, we are sentencing hundreds of thousands of people to a continued life of agony and hopelessness. Even people who are not filthy child molesters.

Who is to decide? A family that professes love but will not end the suffering and agony? Some sanctimonious flotsam of hypocritical, hate-fostering “morality?” You? It’s not your decision to make. It’s not your will to impose. Not even on a serial child rapist like Sandusky.

Morality? Give me a break. People who are anti-suicide are pro-torture. If we’re the merciful society we claim to be, let people decide to end their agony if they so desire. Once again, I recall that most conservative of true conservative values: mind your own business.

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Mike Gold performs the weekly two-hour Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind ass-kicking rock, blues and blather radio show on The Point, www.getthepointradio.com , every Sunday at 7:00 PM Eastern, rebroadcast three times during the week (check the website above for times) and available On Demand at the same place, so listen to it already! He also joins Martha Thomases and Michael Davis as a weekly columnist at www.comicmix.com where he pontificates on matters of four-color.