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19 year old from Florida commits suicide on Justin.tv

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Re: 19 year old from Florida commits suicide on Justin.tv

#181
You know, people would do this less often if they generated less public attention. Ultimately, it's up to the person to save themselves, and if they choose not to, that's their choice.

Plus, we should start calling suicide for what it is: cowardice and selfishness, instead of fawning over the poor souls who didn't receive enough love and attention.

Re: 19 year old from Florida commits suicide on Justin.tv

#182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like most things in life, it's not so cut and dry. I don't have the answers, but some would argue that by providing the forum and doing nothing - or not enough - to curtail the activities of the people on that forum, there is an element of fault with justin.tv.

If someone hangs themselves from the tree in my front yard, is there an element of fault with me for supplying the tree? Any effort to shift blame onto j.tv for this is little more than an over-reaction caused by a state of grief...while it is certainly understandable, it is equally indefensible.

Yeah, it's like trying to ban guns because of the Columbine shooting. That sure helped the students at VT.

Re: 19 year old from Florida commits suicide on Justin.tv

#184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem was that the Will Freund incident, and the exposure it received, threatened to cast all people with Aspergers as deranged homicidal maniacs. A few media outlets were sensitive towards the issues involved and wrote thoughtfully. Others, however, were sensationalist and did the opposite of what we hoped (e.g. Geraldo's show on FOX).

You know that actually is pretty sad. I've heard a lot of rumors about Aspergers and violence being linked, but a cursory internet search seems to show that there's little or no evidence. As if sufferers didn't have enough problems to deal with.

From what I've seen, any link between Aspergers and violence is largely irrelevant. When people who are already socially isolated are mocked and ridiculed by 'normal' people throughout their lives, then it isn't a case of Aspergers being linked to violence it's a case of victims getting revenge and if human history tells us anything it's that victims often go for revenge.

If I was repeatedly mocked and ridiculed, it would only be a matter of time before I went on a killing spree.

Re: 19 year old from Florida commits suicide on Justin.tv

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me of something that happened to me after 9/11. In my teenage immaturity, I made a comment insinuating that America got what was coming to it. I'm not sure why I did that (the mind is good at rationalizing behavior after the fact, so I can't trust my own memories on the matter), but I think it was a reaction to the complete unanimous sorrow going on in the forum. Everybody thought that the attacks were a…

"America" did get what was coming to it. Its foreign policy of the last 50 years has been brutal. However, the people in the towers weren't "America", they were people like you and me, and they were not guilty of "America"'s foreign policy any more than you and me are, and it is a tragedy that they ended up being the victims of this event.

""America" did get what was coming to it."

Is verbatim what I was going to say too.

When you treat people like shit forever, they are going to strike back blindly sooner or later.

And like always, the people who deserve to die make profits from the wars (on both sides) that followed, and thousands of innocent peoples die on both sides. I think they should hang Dick Cheney and Osama Bin Laden on the same gallows at the same time.

Re: 19 year old from Florida commits suicide on Justin.tv

#186
post #58
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

memo to self: stop using ticketstumbler.com

user: tdavis created: 287 days ago karma: 911 it really disappoints me to see users with very high karma levels making such obscene, unnecessary and completely non-hacker-news-esque comments. you are hurting this community: please stop.

I agree with dhuck, don't you guys know that being a hacker in the countercultural and sci fi sense is all about sounding like you are surronded by 70 year old lutheran women at church. I read in neuromancer about how that cyberpunk guy was always like "tone it down for the communities sake man."

I think if this comment offended you, you should get the fuck off of hacker news. You are polluting an important and necessary countercultural concept with your bullshit morality. If you want it to be all prim and proper, call it "hierarchically organized entrepreneurial news related to information economies for boring professionals who take themselves too seriously" and leave my cherished countercultural concepts out of it. I'm constantly amazed how many people in here are stuck in old paradigms. This site is branded hacker news, not lutheran technology update.

Re: 19 year old from Florida commits suicide on Justin.tv

#187
post #19

This is horrible. Hopefully it gives the Justin.tv community a reality check. They were egging him on?!? As someone who volunteers on a suicide helpline, I'm amazed that people won't condemn that kind of behavior before it causes real harm.

I understand your sentiment, but if you think that this wouldn't occur in many communities that have a large base of users, you are off base. I don't just mean places like 4chan- have you ever read comments on Youtube videos?

To be frank I often surprise myself with the tastelessness of my own comments on Youtube, when I bother to make one there.

Re: 19 year old from Florida commits suicide on Justin.tv

#189
Life's hard. I don't know if that many of us here on HN have had suicidal thoughts, but i have. I wasn't serious though, i was more like an attention whore. There is this thing that keeps us going, and that thing is very deeep, and is older that our species, and when that thing conflicts with our modern brain, we get confused. What is the meaning of life? Why should i go on? The answer to these questions can't be "our instincts tell us to", it doesn't make sense, but it does, actually life is worth just for the living, and we should just go on, because our instincts tell us, they know better, they had billions(not millions) of years to evolve and refine them selfs, our minds have been around for only a few million years, which one should you trust? I have more to live for than what my instincts tell me, but many don't, and they have the power to ignore them, and we have no right to judge them, they overcame the most important of all our instincts with their minds, that takes will, even if its a stupid decision, its a valid one(not always of course).

Re: 19 year old from Florida commits suicide on Justin.tv

#190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't be done. What we need to do (and should have before the internet) is have a better support system for people with mental health issues. Once you're broadcasting the fact that you're thinking about suicide on the net, it's only a matter of time. It's a shame that people seem to have spurred him on, but there's a really high chance people in his life saw something coming (or would have if they knew what to look f…

"Once you're broadcasting the fact that you're thinking about suicide on the net, it's only a matter of time." Do you really think that every time someone talks about suicide on the internet that they are actually serious? Or even most of the time? Certainly I agree that a better support structure is needed, but talking about suicide on the internet may not necessarily be as much of a warning sign as you seem to thin…

Yeah, I do. Suicide is a cry for attention, and as such usually begins with other (often directly related) cries. I'd say that most people who start talking about it live on webcam are going to attempt it at some point if they're not helped. Just conjecture on my part.
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