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FRANCISCO CARLOS DE MORAE
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 8:02 am
Post subject: A KILLING PRACTICE |
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Does "practical joke" come from "practice", as this word seems to be used by
Doctors (in Law and Medicine, in Terri Schiavo's case)?
If you want to kill, be humane.
A guillotine is better than dying by thirst and hunger.
(By the way, Dr. Guillotin was a physician, and his contrivance was adopted
by humanitarian reasons, in the name of the progress of mankind; it was even
a triumph of democracy - decapitation was a privilege of the nobles,
before; and many a revolutionary ended by losing his head at it.)
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Raymond S. Wise
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 8:02 am
Post subject: Re: A KILLING PRACTICE |
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FRANCISCO CARLOS DE MORAES wrote:
| Quote: | Does "practical joke" come from "practice", as this word seems to be
used by
Doctors (in Law and Medicine, in Terri Schiavo's case)?
If you want to kill, be humane.
A guillotine is better than dying by thirst and hunger.
(By the way, Dr. Guillotin was a physician, and his contrivance was
adopted
by humanitarian reasons, in the name of the progress of mankind; it
was even
a triumph of democracy - decapitation was a privilege of the nobles,
before; and many a revolutionary ended by losing his head at it.)
www.texticles.com
|
Evan Morris, *The Word Detective,* does make the connection between
"practical joke" and "practice," yes.
See
http://www.word-detective.com/042702.html#practicaljoke
As for the matter of a quick killing being preferable to dying by
thirst and hunger, I have two points to make:
(1) There is no reason to believe that someone who no longer has higher
brain functions suffers as a result of dying after food and water are
withheld. Even if there were, the solution would be to withhold food
but not water, because, as Dr. Timothy Quill is quoted as saying at
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_4-8-2003_pg6_10
"The starving body releases endorphins as it breaks down its own tissue
for energy[....]"
(2) Doctors are not permitted to actively kill a patient, even if the
patient directly requests it. Dr. Jack Kevorkian is in prison for
having done just that.
--
Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com |
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meirman
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 2:52 pm
Post subject: Re: A KILLING PRACTICE |
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In alt.english.usage on Thu, 24 Mar 2005 02:33:33 -0300 "FRANCISCO
CARLOS DE MORAES" <fcmoraes@terra.com.br> posted:
| Quote: | Does "practical joke" come from "practice",
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Yes.
| Quote: | as this word seems to be used by
Doctors (in Law and Medicine, in Terri Schiavo's case)?
|
No.
I believe "practical" in "practical joke" refers to the fact that they
involve actions, not just words. Jay Leno tells jokes. People have
to *do* practical jokes.
| Quote: | If you want to kill, be humane.
A guillotine is better than dying by thirst and hunger.
|
In this case, the current law will, it seems, support not doing
something, even withdrawing something, but won't support doing
something to kill someone.
Some guy on talk radio said that ethically they, killing and starving,
are the same, but what he should have said is that the final result is
the same. Whether they are the same ethically depends on what ethical
system one uses**. And I certainly know of at least one within which
they are not the same. I'm not sure there is any commonly used system
in which they are the same.
**I find it amazing how often people talk about ethics as if there is
only one possible set of ethics.
| Quote: | (By the way, Dr. Guillotin was a physician, and his contrivance was adopted
by humanitarian reasons, in the name of the progress of mankind; it was even
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It was supposed to be quick and painless, and it probably is, but the
thought of it and the result of it are so disgusting, both for the
intended victim and most of the rest of us, that this advantage is
outweighed by the disadvantages.
| Quote: | a triumph of democracy - decapitation was a privilege of the nobles,
before; and many a revolutionary ended by losing his head at it.)
|
First off, democracy is not synonymous with equality. Children don't
get to vote and that doesn't mean there is no democracy.
As to equality, I would not get any satisfaction from being killed in
the same manner as a noble. In fact I don't need to be treated like a
noble to know that I'm just as good as they are, but if I did, the
method of kllling me would be the least important facet of that. What
would matter is whether it was quick and painless and probably some
other similar factors. And like I say, the notion of having one's
head cut off is so disgusting that I would rather endure the pain of
being shot in the heart than be guillotined.
Fortunately, I don't have a pistol modem, or some of you might try to
do so.
s/ meirman
--
If you are emailing me please
say if you are posting the same response.
Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years
Indianapolis, 7 years
Chicago, 6 years
Brooklyn NY 12 years
now in Baltimore 22 years |
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John Dean
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 8:56 pm
Post subject: Re: A KILLING PRACTICE |
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FRANCISCO CARLOS DE MORAES wrote:
| Quote: | Does "practical joke" come from "practice", as this word seems to be
used by Doctors (in Law and Medicine, in Terri Schiavo's case)?
If you want to kill, be humane.
A guillotine is better than dying by thirst and hunger.
(By the way, Dr. Guillotin was a physician, and his contrivance was
adopted by humanitarian reasons, in the name of the progress of
mankind; it was even a triumph of democracy - decapitation was a
privilege of the nobles, before; and many a revolutionary ended by
losing his head at it.)
|
Why do you say "his contrivance"? Dr Guillotin didn't invent it. He was
actually an opponent of capital punishment and proposed to the Assembly
that a painless form of execution by machine be used until abolition was
achieved. Decapitation machines with blades had been in use for hundreds
of years before the good Doctor was born, including our own Halifax
gibbet which dated back to at least C13.
The principal designers of the French guillotine were Antoine Louis and
Tobias Schmidt.
--
John Dean
Oxford |
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