views on suicide?

[mr.UNIversal]

this is just a thread trying to find out peoples views on suicide i dont know what else to type up so post back

[nimblelight]

It's stupid.

[GILD]

Depression is a terminal illness.
Suicide is one of the symptoms.

[Fraggle]

I'd say it depends on the circumstances. My "mate's" recent suicide has been put down to attention seeking, he's done it before, but this time he fucked up. The police and family say that he didn't take into account that he's put on weight, so instead of having enough time to be saved, he died. In cases of attention seeking, it's shallow, selfish, stupid. In cases of depression / mental illness, I think it's still stupid, but they're different situations to seeking attention, so I'm more inclined to sympathise with it.

[MuniOrBust]

I think suicide should be illegal and punishable by death.

[Poseidon]

Depression is a terminal illness.
Suicide is one of the symptoms.

This ^

It's hard to understand the mentality behind suicide. But clinical depression is a real illness and suicide can seem like the only escape from the pain. I've had a few experience with loved ones. It's the scariest thing in the world. If you think you might be depressed, go see a doctor. It's okay.

TWLOHA
(To Write Love On Her Arms) is a great anti-suicide organization.

[mr.UNIversal]

no no no im not depressed or thinking about suicide or anything like that i just cbf scouring google and i think the views of other people who share one of the same interests as me (unicycling) ithought it would be interesting to have a suss of there views on it

[ħǻřрέŗ]

I've committed suicide several times but was never really pleased with the results. I'm kind of hooked on it now, but I'm considering quitting. I might try the patch.

Do you have any views on it yet, or are you waiting for us to form them for you?

[MrBoogiejuice]

I've committed suicide several times but was never really pleased with the results. I'm kind of hooked on it now, but I'm considering quitting. I might try the patch.



Is that the one that fits snugly over the mouth and nose?

[Michaelgoround]

I think its really sad that people kill themselves. I think most people do it out of depression because I think I thought of it at one point in my life. I've spoken to a friend who has and we both think it is not the thing to do. It's a selfish thing to do.

[peleschramm]

If you save yourself from more pain than you inflict on everyone else, then it's okay, but that is very very VERY rarely the case.

Also, I don't find it wrong to commit suicide if you say have cancer and are going to die anyway for sure. I think that if I got an illness that I had no chance of surviving I would start doing reckless, borderline suicidal things, so that I can go out with some excitement instead of a hospital. Perhaps I would jump off a cliff with my uni or something of that nature, I wouldn't want to just die from cancer.

[Jeremy R]

If you save yourself from more pain than you inflict on everyone else, then it's okay, but that is very very VERY rarely the case.

Also, I don't find it wrong to commit suicide if you say have cancer and are going to die anyway for sure. I think that if I got an illness that I had no chance of surviving I would start doing reckless, borderline suicidal things, so that I can go out with some excitement instead of a hospital. Perhaps I would jump off a cliff with my uni or something of that nature, I wouldn't want to just die from cancer.

I can see the headlines now: Terminally Ill cancer patient takes life by jumping off cliff with unicycle, parents around the globe forbid their kids to unicycle.

[kington99]

In cases of attention seeking, it's shallow, selfish, stupid. In cases of depression / mental illness, I think it's still stupid, but they're different situations to seeking attention, so I'm more inclined to sympathise with it.


Hmm, I think I'd class being so desperate for attention that you kill yourself as a pretty serious mental illness. I think telling people that desperate for attention that they're being selfish is akin to telling the depressed person to cheer up.


Also i think any question about the morality, logic or ethics of suicide is entirely devoid of point, none of these things matter to would be suicide commiter, they are by definition beyond the bounds of logic.

[SpaceFmK]

I think that if you do kill yourself that depending on how you do it the last 5-10 seconds of your life would probably be really exciting... You are about to know what one of the best kept secrets ever is... What happens when you die?
mmmm....
On the other hand... what a bummer... you miss out on something that is defintly awesome, life.
You never know what might be next, it could suck more... but life can always have at least a little bit of good in it, no matter how much things suck right now.

I dont have a problem with it so much.. We all die, some of us sooner than others.. It can be by bus, by train, by airplane... You never know when someone might die... Suicide is almost like another one of those accidents.. eh...../

[1-wheeled-grape]

I think suicide is stupid to be honest... there are people out there to help so there is no need to go and take your own life. In my opinion it just causes more problems, although not for you, for your family. And that is cruel and selfish... to make them suffer unnecessarily.

The only time I think it would be ok to end ones life would be if they are suffering unnecessary pain from a terminal illness. If there is no chance of recovery I think it is cruel to let some one suffer.

[MuniOrBust]

If you don't believe in an afterlife, you might not be concerned with how other people will feel when you're gone. You won't be around to worry about it.

I believe that when I die my consciousness will cease to exist. No soul or spirit will fly away to live elsewhere. I'm just gone. Going to heaven (or whatever nice place your religion says) sounds better, but I don't believe that's reality.

Not believing in an afterlife means this is it for me. I've got a tiny window of time, so cutting it short doesn't make much sense.

[SpaceFmK]

I've got a tiny window of time, so cutting it short doesn't make much sense.

Thats exactly how i feel.. gotta live it up.. unicycle as much as possible :)
What a sad thing to not exist anymore... kinda.

[johnfoss]

...trying to find out peoples views on suicide...My view is that it's one of those things you can only get right once, but you can screw up over and over.

Uh, and since you can only get it right once, and if you do you don't get to see peoples' reactions, you never know if it achieved the desired effect.

So tell us. Where you thinking of trying it?

[mr.UNIversal]

no i was not thinking of trying it a mate was talking about it and i had nothing to say so posted this thread.

[crazyjoe]

When I think "suicide" I think "coward". People who kill themselves are removing their own pain but inflicting so much more pain and sadness on their friends and loved ones. These people are so selfish that they don't care that all of their friends and relatives will be put through so much sorrow. I have no respect for people who end their own lives, and if someone survives a suicide attempt I try not to give them any attention. I don't want them to achieve the desired effect. If they get attention from one suicide attempt and they begin to lose that attention, they are bound to try again.

[GILD]

akin to telling the depressed person to cheer up.

Which is right up there with telling someone who's legs have just been severed by a speeding train that they should "just stop bleeding".

[ivan]

i can see the headlines now: Terminally ill cancer patient takes life by jumping off cliff with unicycle, parents around the globe forbid their kids to have cancer.
fify

[Borges]

Depression is a terminal illness.
Suicide is one of the symptoms.
It's also a disease you can manage and get better from.
On average it takes about four months to get over it a failed suicide attempt. That's the time it usually takes people who truly wanted to be dead from they attempted suicide until they don't want to kill themselves anymore.

It's sad how many people throw away the rest of their lives when the time they really wanted to be dead would have been less than half a year.

And while you're all are still alive, read "A Long Way Down" by Nick Hornby. It's a really undepressing novel about suicide and depression.

I've committed suicide several times but was never really pleased with the results.
Do also keep geting reborn with a headache and promise yourself never to play russian roulette again?

[GILD]

Pardon me for not taking the chap who wrote "About A Boy" entirely seriously.


My bad.

[justtysen]

I think suicide is a legitimate choice. I don't necessarily recommend it and I'm not sure it's ever the best option but I just don't know. A lot of peoples' reasons for living can suddenly seem empty excuses and how do you TRUELY argue that. If one is appealing to instinct, gut feelings, or even love to find meaning in life then who is that person to say those things hold true for another?

The best thing I can say is it's not something to take lightly, either in it's acceptance or dismissal.

When I think "suicide" I think "coward". People who kill themselves are removing their own pain but inflicting so much more pain and sadness on their friends and loved ones.

Suicide can be a selfish act, but most everything is in the end. It is just as selfish to want someone in pain to keep enduring it for the sole purpose of letting others go living their habitual lives thinking things are fine. That's caring not for the person but for what the person can give. In fact it's technically more selfish to want another person to live for you than to choose not to live for another.

And it's self-centered to think that ones reason for living is good enough for another. That said I'm open to well reasoned "proofs" that life is worth living.

[peleschramm]

Suicide can be a selfish act, but most everything is in the end. It is just as selfish to want someone in pain to keep enduring it for the sole purpose of letting others go living their habitual lives thinking things are fine. That's caring not for the person but for what the person can give. In fact it's technically more selfish to want another person to live for you than to choose not to live for another.

And it's self-centered to think that ones reason for living is good enough for another. That said I'm open to well reasoned "proofs" that life is worth living.
I like this response. I feel that suicide is way too often seen from the viewpoint of "oh it's cowardly and terrible", which causes people to be unable to empathize and support people that ARE going through hard times and do want to die.

If someone comes to you and tells you that they want to commit suicide, and you respond with "You coward, you would just be inflicting pain on all of your family", I would assume that a lot of people would take that rather offensively. That take on suicide shows whoever wants to commit suicide that you don't even care about what they're going through, and you only care about yourself and how convenient it would be for you if they were to keep living, despite their EXTREME pain.


The issue of suicide is definitely not a one sided thing. People tend to try to make things into black and white, but really, it's important to see both sides of suicide, so that at the very least you could understand the other side, and therefore behave accordingly, whether you agree or not.

[Mikefule]

Two of the historical figures I most admire died by suicide: Socrates and Seneca. In each case there was no disgrace, and in Socrates' case, it was a choice he made for the highest of motives.

Japanese kamikaze pilots comitted suicide for the noblest of motives.

Death is inevitable, and in some cultures, this translates into the manner of your death being your greatest legacy.

[GILD]

Michael Monsoor could've cleared the area (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_A._Monsoor).
He chose to dive on a grenade to save his fellow soldiers' lives.
He committed suicide.

Are you 'it's-weakness-and-cowardly' going to tell his parents that he was a weakling and a coward?

Didn't think so.

[Mikefule]

Of course, Gild and I are playing semantics here.;)

[MuniOrBust]

Well said justtysen and peleschramm.

I composed a similar response but ended up scrapping it because it didn't make the point as clearly.

[ally1776]

I think suicide is a legitimate choice. I don't necessarily recommend it and I'm not sure it's ever the best option but I just don't know.
Suicide can be a selfish act, but most everything is in the end..

I like this response. I feel that suicide is way too often seen from the viewpoint of "oh it's cowardly and terrible", which causes people to be unable to empathize and support people that ARE going through hard times and do want to die.

The issue of suicide is definitely not a one sided thing. People tend to try to make things into black and white, but really, it's important to see both sides of suicide, so that at the very least you could understand the other side, and therefore behave accordingly, whether you agree or not.

I agree with you guys in response for people who are terminally ill it might be a chosen response to their terminal illness but on the other side, suicide is not chosen; it happens when pain exceeds resources for coping with pain. I don't think someone in this position has time or the mental clarity to think about others as their chaos (for them) is much worse than most people can imagine and I don't believe it is a choice as much as the only way to void how they feel, not thinking that if your dead you don't feel or maybe that is what they think.

[johnfoss]

Japanese kamikaze pilots comitted suicide for the noblest of motives.Really? They sacrificed themselves for their government (or "living God" Emporer). But what exactly was their government trying to accomplish in the Pacific war? I've never had a good picture of Japan's justification for their role in that war. They certainly weren't doing China any good...

Kamikaze pilots volunteered for "suicide missions", for what they believed was the protection of the home island. Not a whole lot different from being an infantry soldier in WWI, just a little more specific on the "willing to die" part. I've read that the Kamikaze thing, as used in WWII, was more or less invented at that time. Though ritual suicide had a long tradition in Japan, that military variation was new, and linked to older forms of ritual suicide and the samauri code of honor to make it more palatable.

He chose to dive on a grenade to save his fellow soldiers' lives. He committed suicide.To me, such an act doesn't even fall into the suicide category. With seconds to react, and the possibility of many being killed, jumping on a grenade might be the "best possible outcome" under the circumstances. He didn't choose to die because of clinical depression, medication side effects, or other, personal issues.

[Mikefule]

John, I was fishing for well meaning absolutely certain about everything teenagers. Never thought I'd catch a big ol' fish like you.:rolleyes: