To adapt Oscar Wilde somewhat.
Suicides are reported very oddly in the news. A young man who jumped off the Empire State Building prompted a nytimes.com reporter to count up how many had suicided there since 1931, when it opened to the public. They decided it was either 31 or 34.
The only one of these incidents that anyone reported on beyond the first couple of days was a case where the jumper had hit someone on the pavement, so while documenting her recovery, the name of the jumper stayed in the news.
I wonder why? Respect for the family I guess: no-one wants to have a mentally ill or suicidally depressed relative. We tend to accentuate the positive and sweep the negative into the hall closet until the neighbours have gone.
But I almost get the feeling that people think suicides have "gotten what they want" and therefore it's not really very newsworthy. "Old man dies happily at home surrounded by adequate care and loving relatives" doesn't make the news for the same reason.
In my opinion suicides never get what they want, because if they think they want to die, they're wrong. They just want a way out of the pain or difficulties or situation they are in, and suicide seems the only option because they can't see a way to fix things.
Surely suicide is almost more sad then - people depressed or distressed enough to kill themselves should seem to evoke a more compassionate response than someone healthy and happy who got killed or died randomly. You know, like I feel better about eating a free-range chicken than a tortured battery hen, because at least the free range one had a happy life. But it doesn't seem to be the case with humans.
Suicide is still seen as wrong and shameful, rather than just enourmously tragic.
I think it's also that it stops being newsworthy - "yet another person has jumped off yet another building" doesn't sell papers. It's pretty sad that that's the case.
Posted by: Emba at December 2, 2004 08:07 AMAbsolutely the case. Like in Wgtn a few years ago, I actually saw a guy jumping off the ParkRoyal. Yet it didn't create a stir in papers or on the news or anything - couple of small articles on the inside pages.
Too common, too tragic, too intrusive. Only victims usually, no clear source of blame. No story.
Posted by: phreq at December 2, 2004 08:25 AMI remember seeing a woman climbing over the rails of the multi-storey carpark in New Plymouth - a couple of people below were yelling 'Jump!'. The police got her down.
Posted by: Dave at December 2, 2004 03:29 PMI dont understand the reasons for suicide, I must have lived a comfortable life so far.
Im not complaining but I think that you lose emapathy for something you dont understand.
Sure I have had low points but have never reach an occasion where I thought screw it Im off.
Add to that the total disregard for life, that a guy with no commitments has, and you end up skipping over the suicide reports in the paper.
The closest Ive ever got, has never been about an occasion when Ive thought Ive never had a way out of a bad situation or If I have let someone down that its time to leave.
Its always been when Ive witnessed something I dont think I will ever have the skill to accomplish.
Incredible music, insightful writing, thoughtful invention, emotional art and how we relate to each. Anything that shows the best of what we are as a species.
Ok Im in the mood to listen to the cure now.
Posted by: Vincent at December 3, 2004 10:42 PMYeah someone was talking about the parkroyal jumper recently. MOre was just conversation from the fact that my work has just moved into that building & 1 floor has a balcony. Someone was saying about how in our old building that had to block off access to the roof cos people used to wait until the suicide clause in their life insurance expired then they'd throw themselves off our building. 1 underwriter used to work in CHCH & he actually saw a man drop past his window.
Posted by: Chelle at December 4, 2004 06:48 AMThanks
Posted by: Online Home Loans at November 19, 2005 10:29 PMhttp://www.technohelp.org/wwwboard/messages/13241.html garyhoodlumnow
Posted by: pouring at February 6, 2006 12:20 AMwe are all dying slowly and I suppose in that itself it is personal story. My brother after pissing around with it finally decided he did want to die. So quite calmly he look a plastic shopping bag, his fav tie, put on some music, sat on the sofa, placed the bag over his head, tied it off with the tie and sat there. The air quickly run out and he struggled until he blacked out and died. He was so intent on killing himself this time he didn't restrain his hands. Try just holding your breath.
No head line, no media but everyday I have a something go off to remind me in my head... reminding me. Some days front page news flash and some days small 3 liners. Suicide is not cool, it's not neat it's fucking empty. Like taking off an arm or a leg - you still make do but somehow your always off balance.
As a parent of 2 young girls I can somedays feel what my parents feel/felt.... like having something ripped out of you with such force you never recover from it and you stand there thinking what now.
http://www.cs.iastate.edu/~cwkeller/focuscheckboard/messages/2362.html dimlyfingeringwelcomed
Posted by: clenching at February 9, 2006 05:41 AMhttp://www.econ.ohio-state.edu/weinberg/wwwboard/messages/19623.html currentmontgomerypause
Posted by: suns at April 18, 2006 03:21 PM