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Ecomom's Founder and CEO Jody Sherman Passes Away

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Re: Ecomom's Founder and CEO Jody Sherman Passes Away

#41
post #23

I have to wonder if the flood of posts about suicide on a site like HN might actually push someone over the edge. There were quite a few Aaron Swartz related threads and "let's save his legacy" etc. type posts. I'm picturing someone that is depressed, followed those weeks on HN and is thinking to themselves "well if I kill myself people will remember" Maybe I'm just a cynic though.

I thought of the same thing. There is actually a term 'suicide epidemic' and it's happened in the past: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_epidemic

The basic idea being that public coverage of a suicide may prompt others who are considering it to follow.

Re: Ecomom's Founder and CEO Jody Sherman Passes Away

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Telling someone makes it likely that they will try to stop you." I think this is a likely reason, along with feeling of low self worth (feeling irredeemably "unfixable" as lusr described it [1]), or not having any fiends or family that they can tell. The best thing is to talk to someone. Ideally a mental health professional, or failing that a friend or relation. But if a suicidal person feels that this would diminis…

This is unlikely to be a convincing argument to a genuinely suicidal person. A crisis line's purpose is to prevent suicide. If you're suicidal, talking to those people sounds suspiciously like those all-expense-paid free vacations where they try to sell you timeshares. Actually, that's the fundamental problem with this whole discussion. Stopping suicide means stopping people from doing what they want to do, literally…

You're a fucking idiot. Those hotlines are the only people who understand and the anonymity is the only way depressed people will probably talk about it Particularly entrepreneurs.

Re: Ecomom's Founder and CEO Jody Sherman Passes Away

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the anti-suicide brigade is out in full force today. It's their decision. There are myriad reasons someone may want to end his/her life. It's not the role of someone not in the headspace of the suicider to comment on what they're going through. It's astounding that so many people want to restrict the freedom of others to be released from suffering.

>>>to be released from suffering The suffering is too often imaginary , do you understand that?

our concept of reality is imaginary. just look at the differences in what is culturally acceptable versus not in cultures across the world. reality is imaginary. do You understand that?

Re: Ecomom's Founder and CEO Jody Sherman Passes Away

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is unlikely to be a convincing argument to a genuinely suicidal person. A crisis line's purpose is to prevent suicide. If you're suicidal, talking to those people sounds suspiciously like those all-expense-paid free vacations where they try to sell you timeshares. Actually, that's the fundamental problem with this whole discussion. Stopping suicide means stopping people from doing what they want to do, literally…

You're a fucking idiot. Those hotlines are the only people who understand and the anonymity is the only way depressed people will probably talk about it Particularly entrepreneurs.

Don't be a dick.

Re: Ecomom's Founder and CEO Jody Sherman Passes Away

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Telling someone makes it likely that they will try to stop you." I think this is a likely reason, along with feeling of low self worth (feeling irredeemably "unfixable" as lusr described it [1]), or not having any fiends or family that they can tell. The best thing is to talk to someone. Ideally a mental health professional, or failing that a friend or relation. But if a suicidal person feels that this would diminis…

This is unlikely to be a convincing argument to a genuinely suicidal person. A crisis line's purpose is to prevent suicide. If you're suicidal, talking to those people sounds suspiciously like those all-expense-paid free vacations where they try to sell you timeshares. Actually, that's the fundamental problem with this whole discussion. Stopping suicide means stopping people from doing what they want to do, literally…

"This is unlikely to be a convincing argument to a genuinely suicidal person."

You may well be right. The problem is that suicidal people are usually depressed, and depression (as others have said [1]) is an illness. Specifically, a biochemical illness the affects the functioning of the brain to the extent that severely depressed and suicidal people often don't think rationally about the consequences of their actions. I think it is strongly arguable that trying to prevent the suicide of a mentally ill person is morally justified, even at the cost of temporarily impinging on their freedom of action.

I'm not saying that suicide is always irrational. Faced with, say, terminal illness and severe pain, suicide can be a rational choice for a person capable of rational thought. And I definitely support the right of an individual to end their life in that or a similar situation. Ultimately they "own" their life.

"what standing does some stranger on a crisis line have to try and do that?"

Maybe you haven't thought this through. When a person phones a crisis line they are actively seeking help, and have an implicit understanding that the person they speak to is there to try and provide it. "Standing" doesn't come into it because the caller chose to made the call and controls when to end it.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5143839

Re: Ecomom's Founder and CEO Jody Sherman Passes Away

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is unlikely to be a convincing argument to a genuinely suicidal person. A crisis line's purpose is to prevent suicide. If you're suicidal, talking to those people sounds suspiciously like those all-expense-paid free vacations where they try to sell you timeshares. Actually, that's the fundamental problem with this whole discussion. Stopping suicide means stopping people from doing what they want to do, literally…

You're a fucking idiot. Those hotlines are the only people who understand and the anonymity is the only way depressed people will probably talk about it Particularly entrepreneurs.

This is Hacker News. Be polite or take it to Reddit.

Re: Ecomom's Founder and CEO Jody Sherman Passes Away

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is unlikely to be a convincing argument to a genuinely suicidal person. A crisis line's purpose is to prevent suicide. If you're suicidal, talking to those people sounds suspiciously like those all-expense-paid free vacations where they try to sell you timeshares. Actually, that's the fundamental problem with this whole discussion. Stopping suicide means stopping people from doing what they want to do, literally…

"This is unlikely to be a convincing argument to a genuinely suicidal person." You may well be right. The problem is that suicidal people are usually depressed, and depression (as others have said [1]) is an illness. Specifically, a biochemical illness the affects the functioning of the brain to the extent that severely depressed and suicidal people often don't think rationally about the consequences of their actions…

Sure. I don't think genuinely suicidal people would call a crisis line, so it just serves as a harmless outlet for the "cry-for-help" types.

I also think the "mental illness" explanation is just a little too convenient in the general case.

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