Live data from Hacker News

Suicide rising across the US

cdc.gov

131–140 of 211 posts

Re: Suicide rising across the US

#131

Reducing firearm ownership would reduce suicides: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/business/wonkblog/su... The common response is that "people will just find another way" but that's not supported by evidence. >“Anything that builds in delay is working in your favor because that fever-pitch time when you’re actually willing to swallow the poison or pull the trigger is often fairly narrow,” said Cathy Barber, wh…

Among the top voted comments here is "this is due to Republicans", and "this is due to SJWs." (EDIT: gladly, this is no longer the case)

Suggesting policy based on evidence instead of trying to immediately assign blame to your least favorite political group is a huge improvement in discourse. It's pretty absurd that this is getting downvoted.

Re: Suicide rising across the US

#132
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try reading Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher, from what you just said it sounds like you might really like it. He covers a lot of the themes you're talking about in a really approachable way As for what other conception of states can exist, socialism is pretty cool I think

Socialism might seem pretty cool for someone willing to ignore the last 100 years of humanity's experience with it.

[deleted]

Re: Suicide rising across the US

#133

Young (white) men are completely lost in the US right now. The most exciting thing in the majority of my friends lives right now (23-26 years old) are the current challenges in Fortnite. Everyone is scared of longterm, meaningful relationships and Tinder provides the instant artificial validation to make those long-term relationships seem unnecessary. You're a tryhard if you have serious career aspirations or goals.…

> You're a tryhard if you have serious career aspirations or goals

Where did this come from, I wonder?

Re: Suicide rising across the US

#134
post #60
post #2

The article avoids pointing out the obvious, but the map makes it clear this rise is predominantly among white Americans.

And specifically (and overwhelmingly) males. My own experience would point anecdotally toward it as well, as the four people whom I knew personally who died by suicide were white male Americans.

Suicide attempts are more common among women. But they are less likely to use the most effective methods (e.g. firearms), so they often survive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_differences_in_suicide#...

Re: Suicide rising across the US

#135
post #118
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you kidding? Social pressure to make people feel worthless if you don't toe the line on liberal issues has absolutely skyrocketed.

I don't think one's political positions/expressions are really a fundamental and immutable part of what one is in the way described by the comment. Unless you mean that the attempts to make people feel worthless are done on the basis of immutable things, but are done in response to "not towing the line"?

> Unless you mean that the attempts to make people feel worthless are done on the basis of immutable things

Yes, I do mean that. If you are white or a male you are told to "check your privilege", and that you "are not allowed to speak about issues". (Is a white male allowed to have an opinion about abortion? Ask yourself what you think, and ask others as well, and that will help you understand.)

Go watch some campus talks and see how bad it gets. Or just read this: https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/24/politics/march-for-our-lives-...

Notice the narrative that the white students don't matter unless they deprecate themself? It's framed in an inclusive way of course ("they include others"), but the subtext is quite obvious.

And that's a CNN article, the real world is much worse.

The pendulum is swinging, and instead of making everyone important, now those who were marginalized before are gaining status by marginalizing others.

Re: Suicide rising across the US

#136
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still missing context. Are schoolyard bullies actually doing this to other kids? Or are you talking about something else? Can you speak plainly and not use analogies?

You've really never experienced being told that unless you are a minority (ideally an oppressed one) or a victim, or at the very least, you have some non-typical sexual identity, you are worthless? You have not noticed people making up sexual identities that they don't really have? Or inventing (or inflating) victim stories about themself?

The sexual minorities have far higher suicide rates, so I don't think that would explain the numbers we're seeing here. https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/preventing-suicid...

Re: Suicide rising across the US

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the world feels like such a blur Get off of social media and twitter. Stop watching/reading the news every day. If you want to keep up with current events, read a politically neutral monthly periodical. I grew up in the 70's and 80's. Every generation looks back on its youth as "the good old days" but things really were much less stressful then and the main difference I see is that you were not connected to a fireh…

I'm not on social media. It's more like, idk, what you deal with living in modern society. And it doesn't matter if you are connected or not if everyone else around you is. If there's a Twitter organized revolution happening around you, ignoring it might be harmful. At no point was I reminiscing about good old days, and my argument is actually very orthogonal to that statement.

> If there's a Twitter organized revolution happening around you

If this actually happens, you won't need to be on Twitter to find out about it.

Re: Suicide rising across the US

#138
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically unless you are toeing the line on liberal issues you are non-desired - especially online. So if you are a republican, or while, or a male, then you better not go online - and certainly stay away from cities.

Opioid use are highest among rural, white women IIRC. https://wire.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/women-bear-greater... Assuming "Opioid use" is the indicator of "negative emotions" of some kind, then the statistics at least indicate that we need to be focusing on white, rural women's issues primarily. With that being said, there's clearly something wrong going on in rural America, at least if Opioid abuse and suicide…

The suicide rate is higher with men though.

I suspect men are feeling worse, but they are less likely to "treat" themself with opioid's or other drugs, just like men in general are less likely to treat medical issues.

Re: Suicide rising across the US

#139

The accelerationism of the world is really taking it's toll. I feel like the political and economical system is, idk, a result of over-application of certain tenets that might have been justified in the past but are increasingly less valid but certain forces are clinging to them because these tenets are all they have. It's not just the US, the world feels like such a blur. Very important and fucked up things are happ…

> the world feels like such a blur Get off of social media and twitter. Stop watching/reading the news every day. If you want to keep up with current events, read a politically neutral monthly periodical. I grew up in the 70's and 80's. Every generation looks back on its youth as "the good old days" but things really were much less stressful then and the main difference I see is that you were not connected to a fireh…

I had a hilarious exchange with a 20-something person at an event recently.

Me: "Is {particular social injustice} still happening in the world? I feel like that doesn't happen regularly anymore."

Person: "People are doing it all the time on Instagram. I've seen two posts this month."

Me: "I'm not on Instagram."

Person: "It happens on Facebook too. I saw one this year."

Me: "I'm not on Facebook."

Person: "Then how do you know what's going on in the world?!"

Re: Suicide rising across the US

#140
post #135
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think one's political positions/expressions are really a fundamental and immutable part of what one is in the way described by the comment. Unless you mean that the attempts to make people feel worthless are done on the basis of immutable things, but are done in response to "not towing the line"?

> Unless you mean that the attempts to make people feel worthless are done on the basis of immutable things Yes, I do mean that. If you are white or a male you are told to "check your privilege", and that you "are not allowed to speak about issues". (Is a white male allowed to have an opinion about abortion? Ask yourself what you think, and ask others as well, and that will help you understand.) Go watch some campus…

> https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/24/politics/march-for-our-lives-...

That's rather heartwarming; they clearly intuitively understand solidarity. It's not like someone is holding a gun to their heads and making them do it.

Post reply on HN