The kid was obviously different from you and I in the sense that I wouldn't do what he did, and I could probably win a bet saying you wouldn't either, and if you took the bet and won, I wouldn't have to pay. Might be a lesson in there, I dunno. I wouldn't judge anyone who saw it or what they did while watching. I can't tell you what I'd do, since I don't know if I'd believe it, and even if I did, if I would play along. The loss of life, any life, is to me something to regret. Even though it may sometimes be necessary, just, or even a mercy. Even if his life was so terrible that his choice was right, something only he would know, it's regrettable that someone lived in such a sorry state. And it happens all the time. But this kid, he wanted people to see it. Or maybe he wanted to see what they'd do, or say. Or maybe he knew exactly. He wanted us to see his death, surely this has to be part of it, but maybe that's not all wanted to show. Intentionally or not, he did show us more than that. This event was not unexpected. I don't think anyone was surprised, hell, I think I remember imagining a similar scenario in a conversation, and movies hadn't been far off. It had happened before, but this one really struck a nerve. Maybe because he was so young. But all I see is a kid who commited suicide on live webcam, with people cheering and people telling him to stop, and no one is that surprised. I see a mirror in this teenager's death. I look into the event, people's actions and their reactions and somewhere I find part of myself looking back. I see another part, and I try to pretend I don't. But it seems a better comparison is a photo, a teen takes a snapshot of web-society with his death. No makeup on, it looks bad, but I guess it's a more honest portrait when people don't pose.

Suicide on the internet? Why not. We have plenty of videos of people making babies on the internet, and this is just the logical opposite extreme.

Why would people watch this? Cheer him on? For the lulz and drawmah of course. If you find that distasteful, then get used to it. Humanity has been cheering on the deaths of each other for thousands of years. We've built monumental coliseums to it's glory. It used to be a family event, to take a picnic basket and the kids down to the courthouse to see the hangings. If you think we've moved beyond this, you're sadly mistaken. The crowds who gather at a car accident are proof enough of that.

Life no more ceases to be funny when someone dies, than it ceases to be serious when someone laughs ~ George Bernard Shaw

Well where I live there was a rash of overpass jumpers.

Actually most did not jump, or any that I can recall actually, but someone started the trend and suddenly it was a fad.

I can say without a doubt that if I was close to the overpass, and some nut was keeping me in traffic for no good reason, I would absolutely want to scream "Jump or get off the bridge! Decide!"

And I would not feel the slightest bit bad if they jumped. Grant it I would still be stuck for another couple of hours while the EMT's came to clean up the splatter, but at least it would have been a good story.

Cruel? Heartless? Hey, it is reality. I have NO TOLERANCE for overpass jumpers. Keep it behind closed doors or make it an optional link. Don't be causing distress to thousands of people over a personal problem.

I remember there was a blog of some girl who had made the statement she would commit suicide in a month. Every day she would make a videotaped statement of 'how bad her life was' and how she 'had nothing to live for' and all that Goth emo B/S

I stumbled on the site by accident, about halfway to 'day X', and there where several people there encouraging her, as well.. many also tried to talk her out of it. never visited the site again so I don't know wether or not she actually did commit suicide, nor do I care overly much..

Humanity is voyeuristic when it comes to death, indeed, as evidenced by the succes of movies like Faces of Death.. this kind of behaviour is just taking this premise to the next level.

Imho, there are enough people worth trying to save who actually deserve and want to be saved from real issues, to put time and attention into attention whores with self-destructive tendencys whose main 'bad luck' in life is they aren't getting the attention they feel they deserve.

I do not want to pass judgement on how people choose to react when they find themselves (or put themselves) in a position of possibly witnessing a death/suicide. I DO want to give props to people for being honest about their participation and their feelings. I'm sure there are many people out there that wouldn't be brave enough to admit what role they may have played.

Being honest about ones actions and emotions is deserving of respect even if people are not able to respect the actual action or emotions expressed.

Jemison

Those 1500 people are bullies. Bullies thrive on the pain of others not knowing the overall devastating result they have caused. Life is unbelievably plain nowadays causing people to resort to entertainment such as this.

Personally, I have the overall impression that the teenager is simply troubled. There are many people who commit suicide simply because there is nothing left in this world for them. Those 1500 people are being fed off his pain and misery, those ARE the actually people that drove him into his actions.

By law, all 1500 people are involved in the killing of the teenager and each of those individuals should be tried for murder. In my opinion of course =D.

[edit on 11/22/2008 by die_another_day]

Originally posted by die_another_day
By law, all 1500 people are involved in the killing of the teenager and each of those individuals should be tried for murder. In my opinion of course =D.

[edit on 11/22/2008 by die_another_day]

By which law? Link please.

Line 2.

Originally posted by ldunquist
I don't think you did anything wrong or even bad. You didn't take the guy any place he wasn't already going.

No he didn't cause the kids death, but if he really DID participate (not that it matters to the kid in question, I seriously doubt if the kid was reading ANY replies to his post, the posts he made on that bodybuilder forum showed that he was higher than a kite before he made the initial threat) just realize that when in doubt be kind.

Having said that I am glad I was not a part of that fiasco, I would have offered practical advice (i.e. use a plastic bag, drugs alone are unreliable and you don't want to end up like Karyn Ann Quinlen, no one wants to spend years in a vegetative state).

Originally posted by ldunquist
"I think after this incident and probably other incidents that have occurred in the past, they all point to some kind of regulation is necessary," Biggs said. "I think it is wrong to have this happen for hours without any action being taken from the people in charge. Where were they all the time?"pretty much covered under other laws.

Yeah I would like to think he is being manipulated by the media. He made a statement on the tv this morning and he did not say any of this.

This type of sensationalism makes for ratings; I wonder if the father realizes that saying all of this won't lead to a huge payoff as a result of a lawsuit?

Personally I would think that if a very close loved one died, especially by their own hand, one would be shattered, traumatized, in deep mourning, and NOT looking for scapegoats.

[edit on 22-11-2008 by Sonya610]

the ignorance on this board has been abundant in the past but now, DAMN

its really old reading posts from the same people over and over again who offer no quality input and just bicker and restate the same crap over and over again

maybe some moderation in here would help things


and to the person who said its not illegal to make racially derogatory remarks

go call a black cop a n***** and see how well that goes for ya

or go call a gay cop a fag

no really do it, give it a shot and come back to me

im here in rochester ny and a case has been all over the news regarding a situation where a bar fight had a straight man beating up a gay man shouting derogatory gay statements, due to lack of witness's the case was settled in a plea deal


if people can be legally held responsible for calling someone a fag then how can we, on the same page, just look the other way when people are encouraging suicide??

the reasoning behind it is "theres 1000 threats a day, how did i know it was real?"

IDIOTS!!!! why would you even waste your time egging someone on to do that kind of thing??? you dont have ANYTHING better to do???
what the hell is wrong with you personally that everyone you go you're reading 1000's of suicide threats a day??? get a life, go outside, go talk to someone not through a computer

this is real life not some game

lets stop the immaturity and acting hard and lets be honest

a person died, a human being

we should all be our brothers keepers, and i dont even agree with any religion

but this indifference and ignorance is absolutely pathetic

hopefully all the people who encourage this kind of thing can just all go to one forum and off themselves off all at the same time, that would be some great natural selection

and make these posts alot easier to read when all this bs isnt on it.

i love this site and love learning and gaining new information but the biggest downside to this site is all the ridiculous immature people who do the exact thing they attack this kid for, they're attention whore mongers just trying to drag someone into a stupid pointless argument

people on this board are really pathetic sometimes which is sad theres such ignorance mixed in with such brilliance

we'll never fix society's problems if we just continue down this further and further desensitized and detached from reality way of life that we are living more and more each day, maybe a great new rule on ats would be to limit the amount of times people can post on one thread, it would keep all this bickering and showing off off of these boards and instead of having to filter through 10 pages to gain knowledge we'd only have to sift through 4

people providing links, knowledge, information, and even just opinions are great, even if myself and everyone else doesnt agree with the opinion, that opinion being expressed provides knowledge, but when the same person states the same opinion and posts 7 times in the same thread without giving any type of knowledge, thats overboard and just detracting from the matter at hand and getting in the way of adult debates

following my own advice this is my last post on this thread as theres nothing left to be said, this is a pathetic place when theres so many indifferent to death and pain

this lack of compassion is the reason children in congo are cutting off each others limbs and we're destroying civilizations in the middle east and africa

all because of indifferent ignorance