August 22, 2012
SouthAmerica: If you vote for the Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan Presidential ticket in 2012, then this is what you want to fix the problem with the American senior citizens population in the United States.
The Inuit people (Eskimos) practiced senilicide (the killing of old people), but as long as there was enough food to go around, everyone got their share, including the relatively unproductive.
On the other hand, when food did run short, the old and sick were looked upon as drains on the community's resources (a view not different than the Republican Party) - Where it was practiced, senilicide was rare except during famines.
Paul Ryan and the Republican Party likes to remind the American people that we are supposed to have a ruthless capitalist system in the United States where people are used and discarded as no longer useful in the blink of an eye.
Since âEuthanasiaâ will be the main feature of the Paul Ryan's and Republican Party strategy and the solution to fix the Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid programs then we need to start a discussion about what American senior citizens prefer as the main tool of coming âSenilicideâ as follows:
Senicide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senicide
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Time to Put Mom On An Ice Floe
http://www.skepticmoney.com/time-to-put-mom-on-an-ice-floe/
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Senilicide
Senilicide (the killing of old people) was never universal among Eskimos. It was common in some parts of their range but more so among the Inuit (Greenland to Northern Alaska) than the Yuit (western and south-western Alaska). Even among the Inuit, some groups found the custom repugnant.
Where it was practiced, senilicide was rare except during famines. As long as there was enough food to go around, everyone got their share, including the relatively unproductive. Given that the usual diet consisted of fairly dependable catches of caribou, fish, and sea mammals, many years could pass between episodes of scarcity. Considering the dangers of hunting, the old and infirm who weren't expected to hunt could outlive a hunter in his prime.
On the other hand, when food did run short, the old and sick were looked upon as drains on the community's resources. Sometimes they were killed â thrown into the sea, buried alive, locked out in the cold, or starved to death. Far more commonly they were simply abandoned to die. The victim might be taken out in the wilderness and left there, or the whole village might pick up and move away while the old person slept. If the villagers were unexpectedly restored to prosperity, they might go back to rescue those left behind. An abandoned person would also be welcomed back as a full member of the community if he could manage to make his way back to the village on his own. But usually he couldn't.
Most of what has been called senilicide is better called assisted suicide (though we can't discount the possibility of old people being pressured into asking for assistance). Unassisted suicide was also common, but in many regions, it was believed that a more pleasant afterlife awaited homicide victims (including volunteers) than suicides. Assisted suicide was always much more common than involuntary senilicide, and was common throughout the range inhabited by Eskimos, Yuit and Inuit alike. In hard times, older Eskimos often felt they were a burden, and asked their younger relatives to kill them. Similar requests could be made by any Eskimo, young or old, for any number of reasons: pain, grief, or clinical depression. The person who was asked to help felt bound to comply even if he had misgivings.
The popular legend that the Eskimos put their old people on ice floes and set them adrift is wrong in detail, but it's not terribly far off in the broad strokes. I can't say for sure how this particular idea got started, but it may have come from the movie The Savage Innocents (1959) starring Anthony Quinn or the novel it was based on, Top of the World (1950) by Hans Ruesch. (Thanks to SDSTAFF samclem for this lead.) I haven't seen the film, but I've just read the book and found two scenes of interest. In one, the mother-in-law Powtee is put out on the solid sea ice to die, only to be rescued soon after. In the other, the wife Asiak walks across the sea ice to drown herself in the open water. At the edge, a piece of ice breaks free under her weight and she floats along on this small ice floe briefly before drowning herself. It's possible that a conflation of these two episodes led to the popular idea of old people being set adrift on ice floes.
In addition to senilicide, some groups also practiced invalidicide (the killing of sick or disabled people). The sick received care as long as there was any hope of recovery. When hope faded, care ceased and they were left to die. Infanticide (especially female infanticide) was also fairly widespread, but not as universal or routine as has been depicted. Like senilicide, it was rare in most areas except during famine.
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Is America Preparing To Practice Sinilicide?
http://perdurabo10.tripod.com/gallery2/id140.html
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Alter: With Ryan Plan, Republicans Voted 'To Throw Granny Into The Snow'
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2011/04/15/alter-republicans-voted-throw-granny-snow
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OF NURSING HOMES AND ICE FLOES
http://www.greatplacesinc.com/Blog/tabid/99/PostID/2827/OF-NURSING-HOMES-AND-ICE-FLOES.aspx
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