ralpress.org

We salute you Craig. Despite the fact that the British state would have denied you your most fundamental human right, that of being in control of your own life, you managed to preserve that right to the end.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/north_yorkshire/7774652.stm

The documentary examining your illness and death airs this evening on a British TV channel, and the media here is full of predictable objections from authoritarian and reactionary forces that want to take that right away from people in your situation, forcing them to spend their final months, years or decades in a living nightmare of terrifying helplessness and dependency. You were destined to suffer a fate that many consider to be one of the most horrific of all, namely, becoming a “brain in a vat”, utterly helpless and eventually destined to lose even the means to communicate your most basic needs to the world around you (and even that would have required that the world around you remained compassionate and attentive to your needs, things you would have been powerless to ensure). It truly is the stuff of nightmares, but the British state was going to prevent you from taking the required steps to avoid it.

Craig was faced with an utterly horrendous ordeal that could have lasted decades. To those who would have preferred to have seen him forced to endure such a horrific, drawn-out fate in order that their inherited superstitious beliefs be appeased, I say shame on you. It’s unconscionable to allow such hangovers from the primordial mental swamp to override the very real desires and needs of a man in such a desperate personal situation.

To those who object on utilitarian grounds, believing that a liberal approach to euthanasia creates the  potential for too much abuse, I’m less dismissive and I share your concerns to some extent. However, I do not accept that any theoretical concerns override the very real situation that Craig faced. And they certainly don’t override the most fundamental human right of all, that of self-determination.

As for the televising of Craig’s death, well, it was his decision, no one forced him. If you don’t want to watch the program, it’s quite simple, don’t.

If stories like this don’t goad UK citizens into action, future generations will conclude that we simply deserved the state micro-management hell that we are walking into.

“Outgoing Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Ken Macdonald warned that the expansion of technology by the state into everyday life could create a world future generations ‘can’t bear’.

In his wide-ranging speech, Sir Ken appeared to condemn a series of key Government policies, attacking terrorism proposals - including 42 day detention - identity card plans and the ‘paraphernalia of paranoia’.

Instead, he said, the Government should insist that ‘our rights are priceless’ and that: ‘The best way to face down those threats is to strengthen our institutions rather than to degrade them.’”

Full story here: Centuries of British freedoms being ‘broken’ by security state, says Sir Ken Macdonald

Astonishingly, this story isn’t on the current front page of the Telegraph web site (although they’ve found space for Sonic the Hedgehog, UFO photographs and football results), or even among the headlines of the News section of the site. You have to drill down from Home > News > Politics to find it! (I understand however, that it did make the front page of the print edition.)