Life imitates art. The dystopian, polluted world of the Charlton Heston/Edward G. Robinson film “Soylent Green” (1973) is coming true.
That’s the net effect of what’s being proposed both here and abroad. In Japan, a place where elders are supposed to be respected, some yayhoos have suggested that the elderly should off themselves.
Said yayhoos are not outliers and this is nothing new over there. Or over here.
Ten years ago, Taro Aso (insults based on his last name welcome), the Japanese government’s finance minister, said he would refuse end-of-life care and would “feel bad” knowing that his treatment was paid for by the government.” (Guardian of London/UK 1-22-2013)
“Hurry up and die,” he demanded of his elders as a fix for the government paying for proper medical care.
Actually, Mr. Aso was behind the curve. In 1984, Colorado Gov. (1975-1987) Richard Lamm (aka “Governor Gloom”) proposed pretty much the same thing. Supporting physician-assisted suicide, he said elderly people had a “duty to die.”
He was elected as a Democrat and later schmoozed billionaire Ross Perot’s Reform Party for a presidential run. He made lots of friends in Nevada when he asserted that one in eight Las Vegas women under 45 were prostitutes. Several hundred thousand hookers? Not even brothel legends Joe Conforte or Dennis Hough were that ambitious.
The terminally ill have a “duty to die and get out of the way” instead of fighting to the bitter end, Lamm said.
“Let the other society, our kids, build a reasonable life.” (NYTimes 3-29-1984)
Lamm said “that the costs of treatment that allows some terminally ill people to live longer was ruining the nation’s economic health,” the Times reported.
Hmmm…what about Reaganomics, also practiced by the Bushmasters and Trumpistas who came later, robbing the poor to give to the rich? What about our bloated and wasteful war spending?
Nah. Just blame old people.
Lamm later said that that his views had been sensationalized by the media. Of course.
Fast forward back to the future. French folks today are rioting in the streets because President Emanuel Macron wants to slightly raise the retirement age.
Echoing Lamm and Aso, a Yale professor just suggested mass suicide of the worst kind: seppuku, ritual disembowelment with a Samurai sword.
Like Lamm, Dr. Yusuke Narita, a Yale assistant professor of Reaganomics…er, economics…recently said he too had been misinterpreted and that he was just trying to get old guys out of Japan’s business and political leadership positions. Uh huh.
Narita has even advocated mandatory mercy killing. Not so different from the recently leaked congressional Republican strategy to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. (Barbwire 1-18-2023)
The only thing left is to use the bodies of the elderly for Soylent Green’s grannyburgers. But not to worry… COVID-19 WILL DO THE JOB FOR US. I have been chilled to the bone with moonhowlers, including our new Trumpista Nevada Governor, stating “the pandemic is behind us.”
Thus spake Gov. Giuseppe Lumbago in his first state of the state address. His factually flawed sophistry was music to the ears of casinos and economic development/corporate welfare boosters. Party on down, business as usual.
Last Saturday, the fake news New York Times published the following warning: “For Older Americans, the Pandemic Is Not Over. Seniors are
increasingly left to protect themselves as the rest of the country abandons precautions.”
Japan and South Korea have long traditions of mask wearing. To not wear one indicates that you don’t care for others.
“Americans do not agree about the duty to protect others,” the Times reported.
“About three-quarters of Covid deaths have occurred in people over 65, with the greatest losses concentrated among those over 75.
“In January, the number of Covid-related deaths fell after a holiday spike but nevertheless numbered about 2,100 among those ages 65 to 74, more than 3,500 among 75- to 84-year-olds and nearly 5,000 among those over 85. Those three groups accounted for about 90 percent of the nation’s Covid deaths last month.
“Hospital admissions, which have also been dropping, remain more than five times as high for people over 70 than as those in their 50s.
Hospitals can endanger older patients even when the conditions that brought them in are successfully treated; the harmful effects of drugs, inactivity, sleep deprivation, delirium and other stresses can take months to recover from — or can land them back in the hospital,” the Times noted.
“Nancy Berlinger, a bioethicist and research scholar at the Hastings Center, made a similar point: ‘The foundational questions about ethics are about what we owe others, not just ourselves, not just our circle of family and friends.’
“Three years in, the societal answer seems clear: With mask and vaccination mandates mostly ended, testing centers and vaccination clinics closed and the federal public health emergency scheduled to expire in May, older adults are on their own.
“ ‘Americans do not agree about the duty to protect others, whether it’s from a virus or gun violence,’ Dr. Berlinger told the Times.
Peerless predixion: Coming soon to the Fox Network, a re-make of “Soylent Green.” With Samurai sword-style light sabers, perhaps. To be followed by a new series, “Seven Samurai Suicidal Mixed Martial Arts.”
A MORE ATTRACTIVE PROPOSITION: MORE SEX FOR EVERYBODY. Magdalene J. Taylor’s new guest commentary in the Times took a happier stance.
“Sex is good. Sex is healthy. Sex is an essential part of our social fabric. And you — specifically — should probably be having more of it.
“Americans, in the midst of a loneliness epidemic, are not having enough sex. Across almost every demographic group, American adults old and young, single and coupled, rich and poor are having less sex than they have had at any point in at least the past three decades,” she wrote.
Zounds! Hollywood and television are not doing their jobs selling everything with sex. Perhaps they need to cut down on violence and start filming friendlier human interaction.
After all, sex is a lot cheaper than hospital care for gunshot victims.
As today’s oldsters used to say when we were youngsters, make love, not war.
Stay safe, get vaxxed and pray for Ukraine and other currently war-torn lands, now up to 63.
Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno.
Andrew Quarantino Barbano is a 54-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com/ Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us
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