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The Thanatos Syndrome

The Thanatos Syndrome

Titel: The Thanatos Syndrome Kostenlos Bücher Online Lesen
Autoren: Walker Percy
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in the old days?”
    â€œYes,” I say, wondering how Bob Como of Long Island City knows about bottle trees.
    â€œWe got some in the Desire project. Yes, Blue Boy’s there.”
    â€œI see.”
    â€œWould you deny that is superior to the old fuck-you graffiti?”
    â€œNo.” I look at my watch. “I’ve got to go home. Two questions.”
    â€œShoot. Make them hard questions.”
    â€œAre you still disposing of infants and old people in your Qualitarian Centers?”
    Bob Comeaux looks reproachful. “That’s unfair, Tom.”
    â€œI didn’t say I disapproved. I was just asking.”
    â€œAh ha. All right! What you’re talking about is pedeuthanasia and gereuthanasia. What we’re doing, as you well know, is following the laws of the Supreme Court, respecting the rights of the family, the consensus of child psychologists, the rights of the unwanted child not to have to suffer a life of suffering and abuse, the right of the unwanted aged to a life with dignity and a death with dignity. Toward this end we—to use your word—dispose of those neonates and euthanates who are entitled to the Right to Death provision in the recent court decisions.”
    â€œNeonate? Euthanate?”
    â€œI think you’re having me on, Tom. We’ve spoken of this before. But I’ll answer you straight, anyhow. A neonate is a human infant who according to the American Psychological Association does not attain its individuality until the acquisition of language and according to the Supreme Court does not acquire its legal rights until the age of eighteen months—an arbitrary age to be sure, but one which, as you well know, is a good ballpark figure. You of all people know this. Consult your fellow shrinks.”
    â€œI see.”
    â€œNext question?”
    â€œHow does Van Dorn figure in this?”
    He laughs. “Ah, Van. Van the man, the Renaissance man. I’ll tell you the truth. That guy makes me uncomfortable. I’m just an ordinary clinician, Tom. Just a guy out to improve a little bit the quality of life for all Americans. He does too many things well: tournament bridge, Olympic soccer, headmaster, computer hacker—he runs the computer division at Mitsy. In a word, he’s the Mitsy end of the sodium shunt and is a consultant to NRC besides. He’s to NRC what I am to NIH. He’s project manager of the coolant division at Grand Mer—which means it’s up to him to dispose of waste heavy sodium. No problem! Without him there’d be no goodies coming down the pipe. He not only set up the entire computer program for Mitsy but also the follow-up program for the beneficiaries of our little pilot program—some one hundred thousand or so subjects. We know how they’re performing as individuals and as a class. If you want to know the medical status of Joe Blow, a hairdresser in Denham Springs, he’ll hit a key and tell you. If you want to know the incidence of AIDS in all the hairdressers and interior decorators in the treatment area, he’ll hit a key and tell you. As a matter of fact, he mainly credits you with his success. He says you’re going down in history as the father of isotope brain pharmacology.”
    â€œI see.”
    â€œSo for better or worse, Doctor, it appears you’re one of us.”
    â€œSo it seems.”
    â€œVan Dorn.” He shakes his head. “What a character. I think he’s a bit of a spook myself, but he does think in large terms. This little project is small potatoes to him. He’s got bigger fish to fry.”
    â€œWhat are they?”
    â€œA little item which he calls the sexual liberation of Western civilization. According to Van, the entire Western world has been hung up on sex since St. Paul.”
    â€œI see.”
    â€œWe call him our Dr. Ruth, Dr. Ruth of the bayous.”
    â€œDr. Ruth?”
    â€œDr. Ruth Westheimer, the good-sex lady. A little joke.”
    â€œI see. Okay, would you mind taking me to my car?”
    We’re sailing through the sunlit pines, “The Beautiful Blue Danube” all around us. Bob is enjoying himself. He puts a soft fist on my knee.
    â€œTom, we need you. We want you on the team. We need your old sour, sardonic savvy to keep us honest. You understand, don’t you?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œOkay, one thing. Tell me honestly. Don’t pull punches. Has anything you’ve heard

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