Dialogue on euthanasia through the media

The Humanist Mag is an award-winning, bi-monthly magazine produced by the American Humanist Association. This is the first page of a story they ran on euthanasia.

Euthanasia is a very challenging news story to cover. Because it raises many undiscussed and unanswered ethical questions, it is often written about as an opinion piece, and hardly reported as unbiased news. This topic demands the discussion and exchange of people's core values and beliefs about human dignity and life itself. Because people have different sets of moralities determined by culture, religion, or non-religion, there is no accepted middle ground; either you are for it or against it. Here, we will analyze two articles from private media organizations that discuss euthanasia. One is is for it. The other against it. 

The image you see above is the first page of a story that was printed in the September/October 2013 issue of the Humanist Magazine. It is a personal account of a woman, by the byline "Non-theist" to keep anonymity. The article, entitled "The End", also sets the stage to the tone of the article. Humanists are non-believers, and often parallel themselves to atheists. The story she tells is essentially an Op-Ed piece. It subliminally supports her own personal views and reflects the views of the publication as a whole. 

Right away, I am grabbed by the full-page picture of a married couple's hands resting on one another. I see this as a symbol of love. This highlights the author's thesis that euthanasia is bore out of love. The style in which the story was written encourages empathy from us, because it is such a personal story. It is written in a manner that is relatable and reasonable. She explains the emotional and psychological processes her and her late husband took in deciding to perform euthanasia in his late 60s. She explained that to avoid suffering and his inevitably painful death to Alzheimer's, the most loving and compassionate thing she could do as his wife was to support his decision to commit a well-orchestrated and prepared for suicide.  The magazine's online version also allows for comments and has provided a link for further resources available to people who desire to choose their own death. 

Margaret Somerville includes this documentary trailer in her article, which talks about Belgium's euthanasia laws and her opposition to it. 

Margaret Somerville is a prominent figure in ethical discussions in medicine. She is a Samuel Gale Professor of Law and director of the McGill Centre for Medicine. Those are up to date or have engaged in public panel discussions about the past decade's ethical dilemmas may have heard of Somerville before. She's given input on the changing institutions of family, marriage, abortion, and most significantly, on euthanasia. 

Margaret Somerville (left) at a panel discussion at McGill University on June 3, 2013.
Photo: Louis Brunet

Her article, entitled "Belgium, where death becomes the norm, living the exception" was posted on Life Site News' website, a passionately anti-abortion, Christian news blog. It is also written as an opinion piece, like the Humanist Mag's story, to shed light on the ethical dilemmas of euthanasia. It uses vocabulary and language that are significantly anti-abortion and focus on life with dignity instead of death with dignity. 

She also uses a documentary that follows the real lives of two Belgian individuals who are faced with the choice of life or death to illustrate her points in opposing assisted suicide. Interestingly, she found that the documentary followed a pro-euthanasia discourse. "End Credits" was funded by “Recht op Waardig Sterven,” a pro-euthanasia movement comparable to “The right to die with dignity” in Canada. However, though she uses the same images that would promote euthanasia, she decodes it with a different set of ethics and values. 

"The End" from the Humanist Mag is form of citizen journalism, in that the journalist provides a first-hand and objective account of her experience with euthanasia. She uses the imagery of married hands holding one another to emphasize the intent of love in the act of assisted suicide. The article also relies on the public sphere for some sort of validation and sense of community. Individuals who are subscribed to the Humanist Mag are probably humanists themselves, and may therefore share the same views as the authors of its content. It follows a non-religious, non-theist discourse and conveys the message of "progress" through trying to persuade the reader that suicide must be a socially accepted way of death to those who are in great, incurable and unbearable suffering. 

On the other hand, Somerville's article relies on the strong imagery in the documentary "End Credits". She explains that the individuals enduring great pain in the documentary are in great need of love. She also reflects on how she perceived the documentary as something that could also discourage euthanasia, as it highlights the loneliness, sorrow, and banality of death experienced by both subjects in the story. Further, the discourse of faith and Christianity present in her article is reaffirmed by the audience who've left comments as a form of discussion, in support of her views against assisted suicide. 

Reflecting on the different messages of the two news sources, it is evident that online publications and social media are becoming platforms for the creation of a public sphere open to discuss a topic considered taboo during dinner with friends. This builds a community of debaters that are willing to share their beliefs, ethics and values on such an issue. With the security of anonymity for the commenters, there is less apprehension in engaging in a dialogue that may not be acceptable in day to day social interactions. This is true progress, because dialogue is not just important. Sometimes, it is a matter of life or death.