Life & Death
this article will cover Life & Death, as well as the values of such things. when and where does life have value? when and where does death have value? when and where is suicide acceptable? how does society determine these things? why do we have such a hard time deciding this? these are questions I will ask.
the correct answers will only show themselves in time after careful thought on each situation, and stances upon this are one of the most volatile, as everyone thinks they are right, and yet, their choices, thoughts, opinions, and stances are based upon emotion in almost all cases, and they use it as a form of labeling, to call someone evil for their pragmatic handling of things, which is one reason I, a Sociopath, am hated, and yet, this article will clearly state why such people are wrong, and how they should be handling things, all the while speaking to the value of such things.
this article will cover war, violence, murder, life, death, and other such topics. it is highly triggering for those reasons. if you cannot stomach such things, run, just as your emotions encourage you to do, unlike the pragmatic people who will be able to face this article with logic, while acknowledging their emotions instead of being ruled by them. however if you are able to do that, or return when you are, please do, read on.
well, I see you're bold, and pragmatic. read on.
the first thing we should address is when does life have value? well, to answer this, we must analyze the topic first. many people say all life has value, and yet, are they not the first to shoo a bug out into the cold when they know it will die? are they not one to kill a "pest species" such as wasps? are they not one to call an exterminator, should they find cockroaches? unless they truly practice what they preach in this aspect, which almost none of them do, they are but hypocrites, and therefore their opinion does not matter, as attempting to give value to the opinions of hypocrites would merely confuse and complicate the world beyond understanding and recognition, and destroy it from the inside out. so, should we listen to those who say that everyone should be concerned with their own life, and their own life alone? well, no, as selfless people exist, people who are charitable, people who are devoutly religious, soldiers who serve something greater than themselves, their country. but then at the same time, their opinion is not perfect as they have been trained, guided, and taught how to think and feel regarding life according to their country, religion, or society at large, and that can vary greatly, as can be seen in the Russo-Ukranian war, World War 2, the state of christianity and its toxic practices, and people who merely follow others, assistants, among other things, so that opinion is truly unreliable. so then should we not listen to the opinions of sociopaths such as myself, who think only pragmatically? well, we are but a minority, and generally only think about our own lives, as we are often selfish, so now we've looped back around to those who are selfish. so then who is right if this is a loop? the ones who see this loop and acknowledge the components of it, and balance these opinions, and loop back to a wonderful concept that has been pointed out in my other articles: personal action. personal action is the sole decider in one's life, and how others consider them, it is the sole decider in your path, your life, your thoughts, who you are. it can shape who you are, shape who you become, and shape what others think of you as.
therefore the value of a life should be determined by the actions taken with said life. life is a privilege all sentient beings are granted, and the value of each individual life should be decided by its contents.
therefore, the taking of another's life is justified if they have forfeited their own, for example, by attempting to take another's life without justification such as self defence. people acting in fear, or hate, and using their emotions as an excuse to take another's life are pathetic, and do not deserve to be given tools to defend themselves, as if they take a life for any unjustified reason, their life is forfeit, and therefore, the victim has a right to self defense against the person using fear, emotions, and/or hate as an excuse to attempt to take the victim's life, regardless of who the attacker is, what they look like, their gender, sexuality, or religion, nor what station or status they hold, as their actions of attempting to take another's life without justification have forfeited their own life to the victim.
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now, the value of life is one that can change, and the next thing we should discuss is when the contents of a life degrade its value so much so, that their life has no value to forfeit, and revenge against them will be a zero sum game to the person who takes it, or leaves them to the mercy of justice. actions that can degrade the value of one's life are any action that inflicts harm upon another's life unjustifiably, such as using another for personal gain (transactional instances where there is mutual agreed upon use, or quid pro quo, do not count), traumatizing another person, or anything else that harms another without justification, such justifications being revenge, or harm permitted by the victim (for example, trying to break into a house with permission to test the security, or friends agreeing to fight/spar respectfully).
such actions define whether the value of someone's life has decreased to such lows of being deserving of being a victim of justice, or having revenge taken against them
many people will believe revenge is wrong, and yet, is it really? if you were a victim, would you not wish to inflict death upon those who harmed you? people's emotions play a part in these things, and they wish to pretend that their "good" emotions like empathy are the ones that matter more, and yet they so often forget that in the moment you become a victim, you do not feel empathy for those who are harming you. would you feel empathy for someone who raped you? would you feel it for someone who broke your limb? would you feel it for someone who abused you? NO! and yet society likes to pretend they would feel empathy, or that those emotions of hate and wishing to harm those harming you do not matter, and yet, they do, as well as the empathetic ones. the choice to act upon revenge, the choice to take revenge, these are up to the person as we all have free will, and more often than not, people want to, and in many places, the "justice" system is broken, and doesn't work. the matter of the value of someone's life should be handled pragmatically, but in the case of anything less than a matter of their life or death, emotions matter just as much as pragmatic thought, and should be taken into account.
society must take off the rose coloured glasses and stop pretending like justice is always the way, like the system always works, like people will stop wanting to take revenge, like people will stop pursuing their own happiness. society needs to realize that while justice is usually preferable, it is not always the correct course of action, and that sometimes, revenge and justice are one and the same.
all this said, there are times where one can increase the value of their life, such as helping others, taking revenge (on behalf of others or not) against those who truly deserve it, or seeking justice, and such actions will raise the value of said person's life to great heights, as these are things that help, these are things that effect change, and many people may think revenge isn't justified, but isn't it? isn't it right to wish to harm those who hurt you? that's an emotion, hate, anger, and emotions are part of life, even if they're a small part of it. revenge, taking revenge, is an act of defiance against those who wish to harm you, it's kicking them back when they kick you, it's fighting for your own life, your self preservation, and sure, justice may work in places, and should be preferred when appropriate, but doing things that effect change, those can raise the value of your life. and as for helping others, that's very obvious, as helping others effects change, it makes the world a better place, even if it's small.
society needs to realize that helping others is good, and that covers the goodness in the world, and yet, revenge is the only way when justice isn't an option, or fails, as revenge is personal justice, and it effects change when the bad parts of the world decide to come knocking. while making this world a better place is great, that being the best, and only way way to effect change it's a quixotic concept, that does not work.
the next topic to touch upon is a topic that will trigger many: suicide. the act of ending one's own life, drawing something sentient into death by it's own free will.
firstly, is suicide justifiable? the answer is one that is rather elusive, and yet also subjective to the person deciding upon committing such an act.
the answer depends upon the circumstances regarding such a choice
in cases of extreme agony that comes from continued existence, where there is no way to escape said agony except through the cold door of death, one may wish to kill themselves. such an action is one of intense, unbridled emotion, and should not be taken lightly, as it can tear apart those left behind to care. it is a decision the person deciding must think over carefully, fully, and intensely, as such a decision is final, irreversible. it is a permanent solution to a temporary problem in almost all cases, and yet, in some cases it is not a temporary problem, or the temporary problem will cause so much damage that the remainder of one's life, no matter how glorious, would not make up for it. these are things the person considering such an act must think about.
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in cases where it has been decided by someone that their suicide is acceptable: they have that right, that freedom, to commit such an act, even if others around them may wish they didn't and don't, free will is an intangible right. that said, we have but one life, and to end it all is something that hurts all those surrounding it, and I implore you, if you are considering such a thing: keep fighting. keep living. even if it is out of spite.
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in cases where it is deemed by the person that their discontinuation of life is not worth it: they are strong, and powerful, and also lucky. we do not choose life, we do not choose what life we are born into, and so our circumstances may differ vastly. to those who have chosen to continue living: I commend you. live on, even if it is out of spite, live on, and live well, live on for yourself, and for those you care for because we have but one life, use it well.
the final component of this article that will be spoken of is this:
does death have value?
and the answer for this is rather simple, yet subjective as any other:
it does, if the person's actions have severely harmed and/or killed multiple people, increasingly so with the number of victims.
many people will think this is too far, or is excessive, and, while I disagree, I believe in justice first, imprisonment, or, alternatively, revenge. the ending of the person's life should be a final option, however as said before, if their life has no value to forfeit, or they have acted in a way that forfeits their own life, they chose that course of action.
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this section is rather short, as it is rather simple.
the ending of another's life as means of revenge is not a matter to be glorified or encouraged, and while it may have value in some cases, the same can be said of blood diamonds, and yet, they're sold to fund wars that cause mass death and destruction. the question is if you'd rather imprison them, let justice be enacted, or take the value of their death, and let that action, and value weigh on you. it is an independent, and very personal decision for everyone, and therefore, up to the reader.