You read it in obituaries, and you hear it in statements read by dead celebrity's lawyers; so and so died of cancer today, but they "bravely fought until the end", or some other nonsense. Bravely fought.
Seriously, doesn't anyone just lay down and die? Don't some people, upon learning that they have cancer, get their earthly affairs in order and then simply let the disease eat them up? I bet plenty of people lay down and die; they receive treatment (or not), but in their secret thoughts they realize that they're fucked. Of course, nobody can publicly admit these sorts of things; that would be too honest.
And what's so brave about fighting cancer? It's a basic human drive to avoid death. People will beg and plead and debase themselves in all kinds of ways if they think that it will prolong their lives, especially if their lives are in the hands other humans or an imagined supernatural diety. Are these acts brave? No. So why is fighting cancer brave?
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