And I quote... Someone posted their suicide on MySpace, and an online reporter posted an article about it which sort of was snide and sarcastic. "He was emo, he killed himself over a girl."
The comments were all AIIB. People slamming the dead person for being weak, for being selfish. People saying his death was without meaning, and saying that in comparison to Anne Frank, his death was pointless.
The comments ranged toward the sympathetic too but the majority were this snarky "what a loser" type, and I got briefly roused from my depression to be angry.
www.depressionhurts.com
"Anne Frank's death had meaning -- where was the meaning in this guy's death?"
Anne Frank's death had this so-called "meaning" because she was a young girl who died along with tens of thousands of other people in the Holocaust. All the Holocaust deaths had the same meaning. Hitler was evil, racism and religious persecution are evil. Everyone who let this happen was wrong, and the loss of all those people was a great loss. And anyone who says it didn't really happen is ignorant, stupid, and wrong.
The fact that Josh wasn't somebody famous doesn't make his loss any less. Undoubtedly there are still people who knew him and loved him and will grieve him even if the rest of the world didn't know him. I think that's the internet again. The AIIB.
There are people who just don't think anything is worth anything unless it turns up on google. And since it's the internet, they post to say how unimportant they think it is because they couldn't find it on google, because hey, somebody will see it and probably even respond to it.
I've been suicidal off and on since I was 13 years old. Suicide is not selfish, in general, no. I mean, yeah, you have your people who go "They'll be sorry when I'm dead, and all this guilt will be on their head" like from that Police song, but most people I know who are suicidal or who have been suicidal don't think vindictive thoughts like that.
They think "Oh my god, I can't stand feeling this pain anymore. I don't know how to stop it. It hurts too much to keep going. It would just be easier for everyone if I were gone. I have no reason to exist. I am just a waste. I am dragging everyone around me down. Nobody will care if I'm gone. They'll be happy if I'm gone..." and other such thoughts.
But like with most mental maladies [like depression, which often ties in with suicide], unless one has personally experienced it, one can only make uninformed suppositions [or informed ones if a person actually does their research].
You can't just "get over it" just like that, with a snap of the fingers. You can't just "decide to be happy". You can't just "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" or all the other idiotic platitudes people lay at your feet when you're depressed. It doesn't make you weak or lazy or lame if you can't. It makes you a person in need of assistance.
I have said it before and I will say it again now:
Nobody ever tells a diabetic: "just quit eating sugar." If they do eat sugar, people are sympathetic and happy to get them to the insulin or to medical attention.
Nobody ever tells a hemophiliac: "just quit getting into situations where you're going to cut yourself". If they get a paper cut, it could be life-threatening but you don't see anyone blowing that off.
I am just so sick and tired of this selective compassion and selective empathy thing happening.
All of it.
I'm sick to death of some diseases being worthy of sympathy and a race for the cure, and other diseases being made light of, mocked, and those who suffer it being heaped derision upon.
We all have to share the same planet with each other. The profit in making light of a suicide you read about online is what, exactly? Feeling superior to someone you didn't even know?
It illustrates to me that it's not the death they read about on the internet that lacks meaning; it's the life of the person doing the mocking that lacks meaning...if they have to post saying how weak, selfish, what a loser the suicide was to make themselves feel better.
i know those weren't your words, but i'm responding to them. because there's a bit in there i don't quite agree with, and i've got opinions coming out the ears, right now.
it's not so much the vengefulness that makes the sudical person selfish. it's the fact that they ignore the feelings of those they leave behind, as i've indicated, to pick up the pieces. that's what makes josh selfish.
granted, happiness only comes in small doses, in the same respect that sadness isn't permanent. that's life, -full- of ups and downs. knowing how to properly deal with it is the key. you CAN seek help. did josh seek help? even when he HINTED at suicide, he had notes and messages telling him not to do it. he had friends that cared. don't you dare tell me otherwise. he was obviously depressed for a reason, but did he stick it out long enough for a remedy [ whether it be physical, chemical or mental methods ] for the depression? no, and that's what made josh weak.
mental condition or no, there is NO justifiable reason for suicide, ever. i'm just highly disappointed in him for ending it, especially for the fact he was only seventeen. at that age, you've just begun life. deciding it's not worth it before you start? that's what made josh a loser.
oh, and something else i missed. OMG, I'M REALLY BRIGHT, THIS AFTERNOON.
thing is, we know how hemophilia and diabetes work. we know that death can be the result of mishandling the two diseases. depression can also lead to death, too. that's not to say that everyone who gets depressed is going to up and kill themselves because of it. hell no.
the difference lies in self-affliction. you don't have the ability to control something like your blood, or your insulin levels, but in most circumstances, your life lies only in your hands. OF COURSE, we're going to think less of someone who decided to end it because "life is just too hard to deal with, ohnoes". this is something you DO have control over.
there is no cure for a lot of diseases out there, but there's treatment. the same can be said for depression. the key is in going out and getting help.
those who fail to do just that are those who fail to get my sympathy.
Someone posted their suicide on MySpace, and an online reporter posted an article about it which sort of was snide and sarcastic. "He was emo, he killed himself over a girl."
The comments were all AIIB. People slamming the dead person for being weak, for being selfish. People saying his death was without meaning, and saying that in comparison to Anne Frank, his death was pointless.
The comments ranged toward the sympathetic too but the majority were this snarky "what a loser" type, and I got briefly roused from my depression to be angry.
www.depressionhurts.com
"Anne Frank's death had meaning -- where was the meaning in this guy's death?"
Anne Frank's death had this so-called "meaning" because she was a young girl who died along with tens of thousands of other people in the Holocaust. All the Holocaust deaths had the same meaning. Hitler was evil, racism and religious persecution are evil. Everyone who let this happen was wrong, and the loss of all those people was a great loss. And anyone who says it didn't really happen is ignorant, stupid, and wrong.
The fact that Josh wasn't somebody famous doesn't make his loss any less.
Undoubtedly there are still people who knew him and loved him and will grieve him even if the rest of the world didn't know him. I think that's the internet again. The AIIB.
There are people who just don't think anything is worth anything unless it turns up on google. And since it's the internet, they post to say how unimportant they think it is because they couldn't find it on google, because hey, somebody will see it and probably even respond to it.
I've been suicidal off and on since I was 13 years old. Suicide is not selfish, in general, no. I mean, yeah, you have your people who go "They'll be sorry when I'm dead, and all this guilt will be on their head" like from that Police song, but most people I know who are suicidal or who have been suicidal don't think vindictive thoughts like that.
They think "Oh my god, I can't stand feeling this pain anymore. I don't know
how to stop it. It hurts too much to keep going. It would just be easier
for everyone if I were gone. I have no reason to exist. I am just a waste. I am dragging everyone around me down. Nobody will care if I'm gone. They'll be happy if I'm gone..." and other such thoughts.
But like with most mental maladies [like depression, which often ties in with suicide], unless one has personally experienced it, one can only make uninformed suppositions [or informed ones if a person actually does their research].
You can't just "get over it" just like that, with a snap of the fingers. You can't just "decide to be happy". You can't just "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" or all the other idiotic platitudes people lay at your feet when you're depressed. It doesn't make you weak or lazy or lame if you can't. It makes you a person in need of assistance.
I have said it before and I will say it again now:
Nobody ever tells a diabetic: "just quit eating sugar." If they do eat sugar, people are sympathetic and happy to get them to the insulin or to medical attention.
Nobody ever tells a hemophiliac: "just quit getting into situations where you're going to cut yourself". If they get a paper cut, it could be life-threatening but you don't see anyone blowing that off.
I am just so sick and tired of this selective compassion and selective empathy thing happening.
All of it.
I'm sick to death of some diseases being worthy of sympathy and a race for the cure, and other diseases being made light of, mocked, and those who suffer it being heaped derision upon.
We all have to share the same planet with each other. The profit in making light of a suicide you read about online is what, exactly? Feeling superior to someone you didn't even know?
It illustrates to me that it's not the death they read about on the internet that lacks meaning; it's the life of the person doing the mocking that lacks meaning...if they have to post saying how weak, selfish, what a loser the suicide was to make themselves feel better.
Reply
it's not so much the vengefulness that makes the sudical person selfish. it's the fact that they ignore the feelings of those they leave behind, as i've indicated, to pick up the pieces. that's what makes josh selfish.
granted, happiness only comes in small doses, in the same respect that sadness isn't permanent. that's life, -full- of ups and downs. knowing how to properly deal with it is the key. you CAN seek help. did josh seek help? even when he HINTED at suicide, he had notes and messages telling him not to do it. he had friends that cared. don't you dare tell me otherwise. he was obviously depressed for a reason, but did he stick it out long enough for a remedy [ whether it be physical, chemical or mental methods ] for the depression? no, and that's what made josh weak.
mental condition or no, there is NO justifiable reason for suicide, ever. i'm just highly disappointed in him for ending it, especially for the fact he was only seventeen. at that age, you've just begun life. deciding it's not worth it before you start? that's what made josh a loser.
Reply
thing is, we know how hemophilia and diabetes work. we know that death can be the result of mishandling the two diseases. depression can also lead to death, too. that's not to say that everyone who gets depressed is going to up and kill themselves because of it. hell no.
the difference lies in self-affliction. you don't have the ability to control something like your blood, or your insulin levels, but in most circumstances, your life lies only in your hands. OF COURSE, we're going to think less of someone who decided to end it because "life is just too hard to deal with, ohnoes". this is something you DO have control over.
there is no cure for a lot of diseases out there, but there's treatment. the same can be said for depression. the key is in going out and getting help.
those who fail to do just that are those who fail to get my sympathy.
Reply
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