Example: I believe that IP is a direct contradiction of nature, sacrificing the advancement of humanity and the world for selfish gain, and therefore is sinful.
Edit: pls do not downvote the comments this is a constructive discussion
Edit2: IP= intellectal property
Edit3: sort by controversal
Your view of god seems to be very much influenced by the Abrahamic religions.
You may not agree that it’s important for the deceased or their relatives to keep the body intact until it’s buried.
But there’s a point to be made that this simply isn’t your, or the state’s, or anyone else’s decision.
That only the deceased and their relatives have the right to decide that, no matter what their reasons are.
Ultimately, you’re proposing that as soon as the brain stops functioning, the body of the person immediately becomes state property.
And that’s a hard point to make, since everything else they leave behind usually doesn’t, and all of our traditions surrounding death go against it.
While I sort of understand your point our society already contradicts that. If a person were to die under suspicious circumstances, an autopsy would be performed regardless of the dead or any relative’s wishes, and that would violate the integrity of the body as much as an organ donation would. Therefore we as a society understand that there are limits to one’s personal beliefs.
I also disagree with the person you’re replying to, I think the system should be opt out with the following conditions:
Trust me, you’re not the only one who has said these things. I am fully aware most people disagree with me, haha. I’ve had some explosive arguments in real life about this, because ultimately it’s a very… emotional subject for people.
Just to respond to your points. I think “tradition” is never a good argument. Slavery used to be a ‘tradition’, stoning people used to be (and still is in some places) a tradition, circumcision is a tradition. None of these are good just by virtue of being a tradition. Traditions can and should change, especially when they’re based on ignorance or hatred or actively harming people.
I am not religious and my example about the soul was really just an example. I know plenty of self-proclaimed christians who use their religion as a reason not to be a donor, and I just don’t understand it.
Why should the relatives of the deceased have the final say on it? Is the corpse their property? If it were, they could choose to take it home and let it rot in the basement. Or cut it into pieces and feed it to dogs. Or use it for target practice, stuff it like a piñata. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are places in the world where people are allowed to do that, but where I live it’s not allowed. So if the corpse is not their property, then whose is it? Not the deceased, because they’re dead, they don’t own anything anymore. Not the relatives. Then who? If nobody is the owner of the corpse, then why shouldn’t the state use the parts that can help people?
Look, I know there is no country in the world that will ever implement what I would want, but at the very least they should all make it opt-out, because this way people who don’t care (and wouldn’t take the time/effort to register as a donor, even though they wouldn’t necessarily mind being one) will automatically be a donor, and the people who are really against it will opt out. Also, if they refuse to make it non-optional, they should make it so that non-donors cannot receive a donor organ themselves, or automatically move down the list when a donor needs one.
Yes, it makes the most sense for the corpse to be their property, unless the deceased has specified what to do with it instead.
You know, like it’s done with everything else a dead person leaves behind.
No, laws regulate what you can and can’t do with your property.
A gun is your property, but you can’t shoot it wherever, cause it is dangerous.
If you let a corpse rot in your basement or throw it in the woods, that poses a danger to others or the groundwater, so you can’t do that.
But the body was never anyone’s property. It was (part of) the person (and you can’t own a person), until they died. It is never counted as property in any legal sense as far as I know, it’s indivisible, you can’t seperate it from the person while they’re alive. It’s you, you are it. Until you die. And then it’s a meat sack. But it seems to me it’s in some kind of legal limbo regarding ownership.
I am not an expert btw, I honestly have no idea if there is any real ownership involved when it comes to corpses. I do know that you’re not allowed to do anything with it, aside from… putting it to rest in your preferred way, as long as it adheres to regulations anyway.
Edit: in any case, ownership or not, basically your choice is to either potentially help save someone’s (quality of) life or let the corpse rot/burn. Everyone who chooses the latter is, imo, reprehensible. And it serves no purpose, it’s a total waste. Hence my wish for it to become non-optional.
A meat sack is a thing.
And in our system, for every single thing which exists, there is someone who ultimately decides what to do with it. An owner.
This is the question: Who owns this thing?
So we’ve established it’s a thing. I don’t mind agreeing to that. That doesn’t change my opinion about organ donation, however.
I’m pretty sure the body IS property of the person who has it, at least once they’re old enough to make medical decisions. That’s why you can donate it to science in your living will. In the ‘relatives should be able to do what they want with it’ case, cutting it up would damage its integrity, and if the will doesn’t specify who owns what then it could be a dispute that requires arbitration, much like when people have to agree to sell a house together in an estate, and then you’d need to i guess freeze it or something while they legally hash that out. Of course religious-born laws on mutilation of bodies means that you can’t actually put that in your will, even tho if you go the science option the government will totally do that. It’s hypocritical, I agree.
That sounds so weird to me. What if you have 4 siblings… they all own a quarter of you? But they’re not actually allowed to chop you in 4 pieces? What about stuffing. I get letting a body rot is a health hazard, but animals get stuffed all the time for people to display. And since humans are animals, and if the bodies can be owned… then that should be legal, right? As far as I know it’s not.
And even if… technically I own my own body… I can’t sell it, I can’t kill it (well I can, but suicide is still illegal as far as I know, not that most people care because when you’re succesful, it doesn’t matter if it’s a crime), I can’t chop it up and sell the pieces, or give it away. Hell, many people aren’t even allowed to get the medical care they need, because a bunch of strangers are deciding what’s best for you (abortion, trans healthcare). So if a bunch of strangers can decide what you can’t do with your body while you’re alive, then certainly they should be able to decide what to do with your corpse.
I’d posit that ‘ownership’ means very little when you can’t do anything with your so-called ‘property.’
Now I also wonder which laws take precedent. If someone… chops up the body of your loved one, which you ‘own,’ is it corpse desecration or destruction of property?