This week YouTube made history. Literally. Assisted suicide became legal in California after Governor Jerry Brown put his signature on a law passed by the state’s legislative assembly and senate. And it would never have happened without a YouTube video which was released on this day, exactly one year ago. 

Compassion & Choices, America’s leading right-to-die group, financed, produced and promoted a short video about Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old, recently married woman with a brain tumour. She was “forced” to move to Oregon where assisted suicide is legal. The video went viral and was seen by millions of people who watched Brittany plead tearfully for the right to die.

It shows the immense power of story-telling in an era which respects emotions more than reasoned argument. 

Michael Cook
California legalises assisted suicide.
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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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