This past week I started to look a lot further into the topic of assisted suicide. While it was the heaviest and potentially saddest topic on my list, it was the one that interested me the most. One thing I like about this topic is that it's not black and white. Some people are very passionate about the idea that people should be able to choose when they die, and others are extremely against it. It's difficult to find someone in my research that is in between, since a lot of resources out there on the internet are heavily biased. One of the biggest challenges of my paper is going to be embodying both sides of the issue and giving factual pros and cons without giving out too much of my own personal opinion.
With that being said, I also feel that I should know how I feel about the subject before I begin writing my paper. Right now, I am still caught a little bit in the middle. I see where both sides are coming from. In order to write a good paper, though, I think I need to know enough about the topic and care enough about the topic to have a position on it. With each article or book chapter I read, I see a good point, but combining all the points together to make a coherent paper is going to be really difficult.
I also talked to both Doc 'OC and Mr. Bolos on Friday about my official "why" question. At first, I was thinking of doing the why question "Why is assisted suicide illegal in most areas of the United States?". But, after talking to the teachers a little I realized that this question wasn't really targeting exactly what I want to explore. It would be really easy to list off the government's reasoning behind the bans on assisted suicide without really getting into the real issues at hand. I want to start a discussion with my paper, using both the pros and the cons off assisted suicide, so I think my new question "Why is there such a controversy surrounding assisted suicide in America?", leaves a little bit more wiggle room for me to explore.
Emma- I think this is a great topic! I'd love to hear what you finally decide, it's so tricky because some people really seem to have legitimate and actually heartbreaking reasons to want to end their lives. Personally, I think that it is relatively obvious why assisted suicide is controversial, however maybe you could focus on one side of the issue. You could focus on the role of a physician in these situations, what's appropriate for them to do etc. or you could focus on the stats, is the rate or legal consequences rising?
ReplyDeleteCarolyn-
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your suggestions. Unfortunately, one of the most difficult parts of assisted suicide is that so much of it goes undocumented, especially when a doctor is involved because an assisted suicide is illegal in almost every state. So, focusing on stats might be problematic, although I would like to use the "official" stats in my paper. I also agree that it's relatively obvious to most people why the topic is controversial. I'm going to have to go a lot deeper into it to give people something new to consider from my paper. I might start off assuming that most people are on the side that they have their rights to "life, liberty and property" but I'm not really sure at this point. Thanks!