Suicide booth
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
A suicide booth is a fictional machine for committing suicide. Suicide booths appear in numerous fictional settings, including the American animated series Futurama and the manga Gunnm/Battle Angel Alita. Compulsory self-execution booths were also featured in an episode of the original Star Trek TV series entitled "A Taste of Armageddon".
The concept can be found as early as 1893. When a series of suicides were vigorously discussed in United Kingdom newspapers, critic William Archer suggested that in the golden age there would be penny-in-the-slot machines by which a man could kill himself.
Modern writer Martin Amis provoked a small controversy in January 2010 when he facetiously advocated "suicide booths" for the elderly, of whom he wrote:
- There’ll be a population of demented very old people, like an invasion of terrible immigrants, stinking out the restaurants and cafes and shops...There should be a booth on every corner where you could get a Martini and a medal.
See also
- Euthanasia device
- Euthanasia Coaster, an art concept for a steel roller coaster designed to kill its passengers
- Right to Die
- Assisted suicide
- Jack Kevorkian (1928–2011), best known for publicly championing a terminal patient's right to die via physician-assisted suicide
