Sign of the Times: Stifling Suicide Web Sites

To paraphrase an old joke: I believe in human exceptionalism, it’s people I don’t like. Well, people who would put how-to-commit suicide instructions on the Web for use by vulnerable people. Now, the UK is thinking of cracking down. From the story:

The law on “suicide websites” is to be rewritten to ensure people know they are illegal, the government has said. It follows concerns people searching for information on suicide are more likely to find sites encouraging the act than offering support.

It is illegal under the 1961 Suicide Act to promote suicide, but no website operator has been prosecuted. The law will be amended to make clear it applies online and to help service providers police the sites they host.

Justice Minister Maria Eagle said there was no “magic solution” to protecting vulnerable people online. She said: “Updating the language of the Suicide Act, however, should help to reassure people that the internet is not a lawless environment and that we can meet the challenges of the digital world. “It is important, particularly in an area of such wide public interest and concern, for the law to be expressed in terms that everyone can understand.”

Well, good luck with that since the creeps will just go elsewhere.

And then there is this: Dutch doctors are boosting “autoeuthanasia,” e.g. the a group of Dutch doctors—approved by the Dutch Medical Association—has posted how-to-commit-suicide instructions on the Web, which doctors then give to their suicidal patients who aren’t otherwise qualified for euthanasia. So, how are they any less odious? I submit they are not.

Is there any doubt that suicide is seducing many in the West as somehow being a “freedom” agenda item? Is there any doubt that nihilism is having a field day?