Title: Forbidden
Conversations
Author: Eric Dietrich and Tara Fox Hall
Genre: A Fiction Book About Non-Fiction Issues
Publisher: Beau To Beau Books
Formats
Available In: All eBook Formats and Print
Blurb: Forbidden Conversations is the record of a series of conversations
over eight days between three friends on topics which Americans are actively
prevented from discussing, except perhaps in private, behind closed doors.
These "forbidden conversations" include suicide, gun control,
euthanasia, and abortion, among others, with emphasis about how the prevention
of these discussions is destructive both to American society and to the future
of our democracy.
The conversations are rendered as dialogues. Dialogues resemble plays and are an ancient technique for exploring controversial or difficult subjects.
The conversations are rendered as dialogues. Dialogues resemble plays and are an ancient technique for exploring controversial or difficult subjects.
Though the topics of the conversations recorded are themselves quite controversial, the fact that they are now in readers' hands is due to something even more controversial: one of the participants of these conversations died in an effort to bring them to the reading public. Whether that death and its accompanying violence were worth it, we will leave to the reader to decide.
Raquel: At what age is suicide okay? I don't know. But you need to be an adult, maybe even an old adult. And you need to be already dying -- the doctors have to have done as much as they can, and you have to have lived a life that you are proud of, then maybe suicide is okay.
Shannon: But that is too strict if that is the only condition under which suicide is allowed. Don't you think living wills should also be honored? If we are giving the right to die to terminally sick older people, we should also give it to those who are healthy, but are anticipating the worst.
Raquel: No. Again, only if you are already going to die, then, perhaps you can morally commit suicide. Actually, I'm not really sure even in this case.
Shannon: But does it make sense that you have the right to choose death if you’re incapacitated and can't implement your decision, but you don't have that right if you’re even remotely healthy – talk about a catch-22!
Raquel: No, you're right about that. I think that imminent painful death in old age is the only reason death can be a choice, but, yes, you have to be able to implement your decision. Still, I have my doubts.
Shannon: Then you’re saying death isn’t an allowable choice unless it is painful and immediately around the corner. That makes it not a choice at all, just a more quickly reached destination.
Raquel: That’s right. Taking it a step further, I'm worried about who gets to make the decision. A teenager whose girlfriend or boyfriend has broken up with him might think she or he's facing imminent painful death and then commit suicide. That is wrong. Someone with professional expertise has be involved. Perhaps suicides should only be allowed in hospitals.
Shannon: I thought you wanted smaller government involvement in our lives. Now you’re arguing for government involvement in our most private and personal decisions.
Raquel: And I thought you wanted larger government involvement in our lives -- to protect us. Now you are arguing for a hands-off approach to those about to make an irrevocable uninformed decision.
Shannon: Uninformed only according to you Christian people. But, yeah, I see your point: Our views are not only mutually but seem to be internally contradictory.
At this moment, Sophia shows up, carrying a cup of coffee.
Sophia: Hi, you two. What are you talking about?
Shannon: My father has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. We are discussing whether suicide is a good option for him or not. I say suicide is a good option; Raquel thinks it is an immoral option.
Sophia: Really. Sounds like an important conversation. But are you two whispering?
Raquel: Whispering? No, why would we whisper?
Sophia: Don’t you watch the news? Two guys in Wyoming were in a bar discussing breaking up the oil companies and were later found murdered. The local police suspect that their murder might have something to do with their having that conversation.
Raquel: I don't think anyone is going to murder us for discussing suicide.
Sophia: Don't be too sure. These are "interesting" times. And a conversation involving the plusses of suicide might beforbidden.
Shannon: Sophia, please join us. I think we’re safe here. We would certainly value your insight.
Sophia: I’m honored. Shannon, I missed your side of the
conversation about suicide. What do you think?
Shannon: I think suicide is my right. I find Raquel’s view that suicide is usually wrong and therefore not allowed an infringement on my rights. Raquel, suicide's a freedom we should have just by virtue of being the conscious animals we are. We should all have the freedom to die, just like the other freedoms we enjoy. In fact, in some sense, suicide is our first freedom. This is because the individual is sacred.
Sophia: You sound like the famous philosopher Ayn Rand, who said her philosophy was ". . . the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute."
Shannon: That evokes a nice sentiment, but I don't agree with it. I would put it this way: All humans should strive to be heroic, their flourishing is the central purpose of their lives, but no one who is sane and rational can be happy when others around him are suffering, so the flourishing of all of life, our own included, is our noblest activity, and there are no absolutes.
Sophia: Very nice, Shannon.
Raquel: I see now why you are so pro-suicide. There's nothing in that statement about respecting the dictates of God.
Shannon: I think suicide is my right. I find Raquel’s view that suicide is usually wrong and therefore not allowed an infringement on my rights. Raquel, suicide's a freedom we should have just by virtue of being the conscious animals we are. We should all have the freedom to die, just like the other freedoms we enjoy. In fact, in some sense, suicide is our first freedom. This is because the individual is sacred.
Sophia: You sound like the famous philosopher Ayn Rand, who said her philosophy was ". . . the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute."
Shannon: That evokes a nice sentiment, but I don't agree with it. I would put it this way: All humans should strive to be heroic, their flourishing is the central purpose of their lives, but no one who is sane and rational can be happy when others around him are suffering, so the flourishing of all of life, our own included, is our noblest activity, and there are no absolutes.
Sophia: Very nice, Shannon.
Raquel: I see now why you are so pro-suicide. There's nothing in that statement about respecting the dictates of God.
About Tara Fox Hall: Tara Fox Hall's writing
credits include nonfiction, horror, suspense, fantasy, erotica, and
contemporary and historical paranormal romance. She is the author of the
paranormal fantasy Lash series and the vampire romantic suspense Promise
Me series. Tara divides her free time unequally between writing novels and
short stories, chainsawing firewood, caring for stray animals, sewing cat and
dog beds for donation to animal shelters, and target practice.
Tara
Fox Hall
Hello
everyone. I hope you’re having a wonderful day and enjoying summer!
And….I
don’t want to be here.
No, that’s not a typo. I’d
much rather be sequestered in my room, writing my paranormal fiction. I’m not
political by nature, though I vote in elections. I’m not big into causes,
unless they’re animal charities. And I don’t tend to want to foist my beliefs
on others, because I’m happier to get along with other people, unless they rile
my hackles with cruelty to a living creature.
So why am I here, blogging
to promote a book about the controversial issues in America?
Forbidden Conversations
grew as a project between my husband and myself, after a dinner party we
attended with some other couples where the two of us caused some uncomfortable
silences. We discuss any and all topics at home, but with friends and family,
the topics tend to the common and pleasant, not the provocative. That night, we
decided to bring up a couple issues we had strong feelings on…and you can guess
the rest. Nothing brings dead silence to a room like talk of euthanasia or
suicide, even as it raises the anxiety levels of everyone present. While we
weren’t asked to leave, that silence was enough to make us wonder…if we can’t
even talk about issues like this with friends in private who share at least
some of our views, how in the hell as we as a people ever supposed to discuss
them with strangers with different beliefs to make policy for our country?
There is something very
wrong with this country of ours. America has meant a lot of things in the 200+
years of its existence. We say we’re the best in the world, but we’re failing
in a lot of areas like educating our children and making the American dream
affordable. We’re coasting on our past successes, happy to tote our guns and
cry we’re free of oppression. But is that really true anymore?
Why don’t I want to be
here? Because I’m afraid. I fear a backlash against some of the views in
Forbidden Conversations, even though each topic is deliberately presented with
as many viewpoints as possible. I fear what everyone fears who knows that they
should speak and instead keep silent.
Forbidden Conversations was
written to overcome this fear, to remind Americans of who they used to be. Our
lineage is that of the revolutionary who stood shoulder to shoulder to defend
their beliefs of how they wanted to live their lives. They were afraid, and yet
they still acted.
Speak up for what you
believe in.
Tara's Facebook Page:
Tara
Fox Hall is a safety and
health inspector at a metal fabrication shop.
She received her bachelor's degree in mathematics and chemistry from
Binghamton University.
Her writing credits include
nonfiction, horror, suspense, erotica, and contemporary and historical
paranormal romance. She is the author of the paranormal action-adventure Lash
series and the vampire romantic suspense Promise Me series. She also coauthored
(with Eric Dietrich) the essay “The Allure of the Serial Killer,” published in Serial Killers - Philosophy for Everyone:
Being and Killing (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010). She divides her free
time unequally between writing novels and short stories, chain-sawing firewood,
caring for stray animals, sewing cat and dog beds for donation to animal
shelters, and target practice.
GENRE
Forbidden Conversations is social and political criticism.
"To read Eric Dietrich's POV for Forbidden Conversations please check out Faerie Tale Books http://www.faerietalebooks.org/ on the 1st July"
Thanks for host us today and being part of the Forbidden Conversations book tour.
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