Once again HBO has shown other media how to address real life issues with quality. You Don't Know Jack is a new HBO biopic about Dr. Jack Kevorkian, glibly dubbed Dr. Death by the media, who shamelessly exploited his selfless crusade for the death rights of his fellow human beings. Al Pacino delivers a compelling portrayal of Kevorkian. I recommend the film as a primer on the issue of clinically assisted suicide.
The appearance of this film coincides with the consideration of death-with-dignity rights in the Massachusetts legislature. It also follows upon the exploitation of ignorance about death and dying by the Tea Party in the recent health reform debates. The intentionally contrived lies that euthanasia panels were being considered by Congress mobilized uninformed seniors to fight against health care reform which would actually benefit them.
I recently submitted an article on life choices of humanists, who are free of religious prescriptions when dealing with health crises, to a humanist journal. The article included a consideration of clinically assisted suicide as a choice for terminally ill humanists. I cited the recent PBS Frontline program, Suicide Tourist. The article was rejected on the grounds that it is "too controversial". So, even among humanists, atheists and agnostics, dealing openly with death and dying is too scary or politically incorrect in the 21st Century.
I believe that dealing honestly and compassionately with our shared mortality may be a key element of eliminating violence and hatred in society. If we could educate ourselves as a species to acknowledge and always consider how fleeting all life is, perhaps we could develop more general compassion and understanding of each other and our precious planet.
