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... compassion and love. The reason why we needed to discuss this religious doctrine in this paper is because the message of love serves as foundation, upon which the contemporary Western morality is based. Social attitudes towards the issue of death in Western countries are affected by this morality more than by anything else. (3) Different cultures have their own social customs, in regards to death and dying. Canadian Eskimos, for example, were known to abandon elderly people in the middle of icy desert, because this would allow them to save on much needed food, which otherwise would be wasted. The aboriginal people of Papua New Guinea often utilize dead bodies, by cutting off corpses heads and drying them up, to provide Western tourists with much sought souvenirs from the land of cannibals.
In ancient Egypt it was a status symbol for the diseased person to have his body preserved in the form of mummy. Even today, scientists do not fully understand the ancient Egyptian technology of mummification. One thing is clear though the cult of death was being actively promoted in Egyptian society at the time. The ancient Mayas and Incas had similar attitude towards death. For them, the life was just an insignificant effect of true existence.
This is why the practice of human mass sacrifices was being widely spread in this part of the world, before the arrival of Europeans. Mayas and Incas simply did not consider it as being something utterly immoral. In Russia, the dead person is not considered to be quite dead, before numerous Orthodox rituals are being performed over the dead body. Relatives of deceased person must gather on the 9 th and 40 th day after his death to pay him a respect. Orthodox Church encourages people to think that the soul of deceased person flies back to Earth twice, before it is being dispatched by God to hell or to heaven for good. When during the funeral people do not drink vodka to the extent that they can barely walk, this is considered to be very offensive towards the person who had just passed away.
In Protestant countries, such as U. S. , Canada and Australia, people often laugh and have a good time at funerals, especially when deceased person was old and had left real estate for the numerous relatives to sell, so that they could split the money. This is because Protestant worldview is very practical. The numerous Protestant sects teach people to rely on their own, when it comes to earning money or to dealing with lifes difficulties. They describe God as being both: omnipresent and inactive. In Scandinavian countries the influence of Christianity has traditionally been the weakest.
Even today, in Finland, Sweden and Norway there are large groups of heathens who have their own ways of dealing with death. Dead bodies are being often cremated and the ashes thrown into the river. It is very interesting the people in India have virtually the same funeral rituals as Scandinavians. This can be explained by the fact that 5 thousands years ago India had been colonized by the invaders from the North, who introduced local aborigines to the notions of science, art and culture. These invaders are now being commonly referred to as Aryans. Aryans had also migrated to the West, where their culture remained in the most untainted form.
This is why Indians and Norwegians, for example, have many things in common, including similarity in death rituals. (4) The realities of post-modern world have affected peoples attitude towards the death to a considerable degree, which is especially noticeable in developed countries. We live in consumerist society, which quite openly proclaims that there is no higher goal for an individual then enriching oneself, as this is only the way to achieve happiness in our materialist world. Children are taught in school to pursue careers that would enable them to make as much money as possible, while applying very little effort, not even to mention any physical work. In its turn, it causes them to become hedonists, when they grow up.
Since the influence of Church is declining, these people rightfully conclude that they might as well enjoy life, while they can. However, it often assumes a grotesque form, when people trying to hang on to life, no mater what. The article Death and Society, which can be found on the site of Morthology. Org. points out to the absurdist nature of dying in modern societies: Though general picture of death is described by calm and honorable dying in the circle of close friends and relatives, in fact it's completely different. Most people are dying in hospitals surrounded by aliens and life supporting machines, with brain activity blocked by sedatives and drugs.
Let us say that this death style is reflecting our life - life or robots, or if you don't like this word, we can put it as a high tech death. This is because the consumerist society attaches a universal value to life, while only a life worthy of living deserves to be supported. Many terminally ill people look for the opportunity to end their lives, because they do not want to extend their suffering, however, our tolerant society denies them this right. Apparently, person is not a master of his own life and death, even though he should have been. As Arthur Schopenhauer once said: They tell us that suicide is the greatest piece of cowardice that suicide is wrong; when it is quite obvious that there is nothing in the world to which every man has a more unassailable title than to his own life and person (Schopenhauer). Conservative politicians impose their outdated views upon the society, in regards of death, at the expense of increasing terminally ill peoples misery.
They try to convince us that euthanasia is unethical, while presenting their concept of ethics as something undisputed. This, of course, is absolutely inappropriate. It is not that terminally ill patients must have a right to die, but also a mentally ill people must be sterilized, in order to prevent them from passing on their disease onto the next generations. Only this would represent an ultimate act of compassion, on the part of society. The moralists tell us that once euthanasia is allowed, it will lead to the situation when the whole groups of unwanted people might come under threat. It is true, but it would not be the biggest threat to normal functioning of our society.
What represents a real danger is overpopulation. By year 2050 the earth population will reach 8 billion, which is 3 times more than our planet can provide food for. Oddly enough, Christians do not talk much about it, even though this problem is UNs foremost concern. Apparently, there is simply not enough room under the sun for all. The time will come very soon when countries social policies will have to be designed according to Darwin's survival of the fittest theory, if humans are to survive as specie.
Under these circumstances it will be a crime to provide for those unfit for life at the expense of denying survival for young and healthy people. Even today, there are whole villages in America, where only people over 60 are allowed to live. This confirms the fact that American society is more death-oriented than people usually assume. Such situation, of course, cannot be considered as normal. While indulging in rhetoric about universal value of life, the conservative politicians pursue their personal agendas, because they want to be reelected for the next term by those who are hooked up to the life supporting machines and who can only move around in wheel chairs.
This is happening in time when many young families are struggling to meet ends, because the money for the support of useless old farts come out of their pockets, in the form of tax dollars. American society is aging, but it still tries to act young, just as those 50 years old women who think that the excessive amounts of lipstick on their lips and liposuction will make them attractive again. This leads to a situation when many people are simply unable to assume the fact that they will die one day. It is in American society where the classical death bargaining formula is being formulated in the first place.
The interaction between the issue of death and the socio-political policies pursued by the government is defined by society's biological quality. People who do not carry any genetic diseases and who are not affected by racial mixing or incest, usually live until they are 80 - 90 years old, without loosing their ability to think in logical manner. As practice shows, they die painlessly, without having suffered from the death anxiety, as it is becoming increasingly the case with majority of people in America. Dying from incurable disease is an entirely different matter. Such dying causes an enormous amount of suffering. Modern medicine is still unable to effectively address such diseases as cancer or AIDS.
It appears very doubtful whether various types psychological counseling might provide dying people with much needed spiritual comfort. Therefore, society needs to change its attitude towards the issue of death. In the future, it is not the priest who will exercise his authority in the domain of death and dying, but a doctor or social worker. (5) To conclude this paper we will need to summarize its main points. 1) Death is a natural part of life 2) The fear of death is absolutely natural, unless it assumes a pathological form 3) The theory of afterlife does not contradict the latest scientific discoveries 4) Christianity provides a psychological comfort to dying people at the expense of sucking a life force out of them 5) The social customs, in regards to the issue of death vary from culture to culture 6) American society is death-oriented, because it considers comforting of death to be more important than supporting a new life 7) Euthanasia must be legalized because it is necessary to insure the survival of the fittest, which is the most important precondition of social and cultural progress. Bibliography: Changing Attitudes Toward Death and Dying. 1994. USA Today. Find Articles.
Com. Retrieved April 17, 2007 from web Death and Society. 2005. Morthology. Org. Retrieved April 17, 2007 from web Henry, R.
Will We Ever Arrive at the Good Death? . August 7, 2005. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved April 17, 2007 from web Schopenhauer, A. Essays of Schopenhauer. 2001. Project Guttenberg.
Retrieved April 17, 2007 from web Shippers, A. The Right To Die Vs. The Right To Life July 23, 2001. Radio Netherlands.
Retrieved April 17, 2007 from web Zohery, A. Cross Cultural Comparison of Death in Arabic and American Cultures. 2002. Zohery. Com.
Retrieved April 17, 2007 from web Abstract: This papers discuses different aspects of death, as cultural and biological phenomenon, and its influence on society. Outline: The essence of death and biological concept of afterlife. Death and Christianity. Social customs related to death and dying. Social attitudes towards death in America. Conclusion.
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Research essay sample on Death And Dying Survival Of The Fittest
