Some weeks ago someone in suicide discussion posted something like "I cannot believe I sunk this low that I am now on SaSu."
This made me think. (Someone responded which was very kind something like: "Don't feel bad about that you are just in a lot of pain don't feel guilty for it.)
Honestly I don't have this mindset (of the initial poster). This forum feels rather empowering, a little bit contrarian and non-mainstream. Not all connotations are positive though maybe sometimes there is too much group think.
One of my favorite aspect of this forum is: there are so many people with so many different lives. You notice wanting to die is not equivalent with being a loser. A guy in my former self-help group said he did not admit he once was suicidal (I digged deeper because his lie was obivous) because he did not want to out himself as the ultimate loser who even does not want to live.
Being suicidal is not equivalent with being a loser. These are rather seperate categories for me. It is also not cool being suicidal.
However here are many interesting people with often a terrible life quality. Often it is not even your own fault. Some had bad parents, bad genes, bad luck, were victims of abuse and violence etc. I am very much anti-drugs I was my whole life. However I would still argue if people ruin their life with taking drugs there are still nuances. If your parents were drug users this can explain addictions (partially). Even if you took a lot of drugs there are not a few superich and successful entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley who did the same and stayed healthy.
Why did that person have this thought? The world looks down at us. And I think this partially explains the success of this forum. The "we against the world factor". I once explained that in a thread. In-group and out-group bias etc. I think many people here would take these media reports serious if they would even attempt to take our demands and needs serious, would portray us all as diverse as we are, if they were nuanced and honest., less money and attention driven. Many reports rather have clickbait quality in how black white they portray this issue (and community). In Germany many surveys show the people want liberal assisted suicide laws but the patronising media plays the gatekeeper role.
There is a stigma around this forum. I am not sure if popculture is the right word but this forum becomes sort of famous on Youtube and Reddit. Especially on Youtube this is an issue because the Youtubers who create such videos have many minors as viewers. And these people should not be on here. Certainly not. The forum is very clear that this is not wanted at all. A friend of mine was recommended the Tantacrul video and read the comments. He knows I am on here. His take was he is not fully sure about the possible impact of this forum. However he is convinced that adults should have the right to discuss suicide without censorship. Well this is why I always say that I have awesome friends.
I am not sure whether the stigma increases if this forum gets more attention. On the one side there will be more people describing and seeing us as abysmal human beings or monsters or as brainwashed by a death cult. More people look down at us. At the same time this community gets more members and more people explain their personal suicide story why it matters to take people serious in their right to die and how injust the current system is. There are many heartbreaking stories where it is obvious that the current regulations/help systems are not reasonable at all.
There are many possible developments (I have to do such shit for college currently this is why it is on my mind lol)
More people -> less cohesion -> more diverse opinions -> more nuances -> less black white thinking -> this forum is taken more serious
More people -> more possible extreme fringe people in the masses -> better targets for the media -> the hatred for this forum grows while the attention that this forum gets also grows as it gets on the radar of the powerful
There are many possible pathways these might not be the most likely ones.
The only bottom I can relate to when thinking about this forum is: I assume we are at the bottom of life quality in many Western countries. Assuming here are mostly people from the Western wealthy countries. We are at the bottom of mental health life quality and very high on the pain level. Socioeconomically I could imagine we are way below average because health issues often lead to financial issues.
How do you feel about it?
This made me think. (Someone responded which was very kind something like: "Don't feel bad about that you are just in a lot of pain don't feel guilty for it.)
Honestly I don't have this mindset (of the initial poster). This forum feels rather empowering, a little bit contrarian and non-mainstream. Not all connotations are positive though maybe sometimes there is too much group think.
One of my favorite aspect of this forum is: there are so many people with so many different lives. You notice wanting to die is not equivalent with being a loser. A guy in my former self-help group said he did not admit he once was suicidal (I digged deeper because his lie was obivous) because he did not want to out himself as the ultimate loser who even does not want to live.
Being suicidal is not equivalent with being a loser. These are rather seperate categories for me. It is also not cool being suicidal.
However here are many interesting people with often a terrible life quality. Often it is not even your own fault. Some had bad parents, bad genes, bad luck, were victims of abuse and violence etc. I am very much anti-drugs I was my whole life. However I would still argue if people ruin their life with taking drugs there are still nuances. If your parents were drug users this can explain addictions (partially). Even if you took a lot of drugs there are not a few superich and successful entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley who did the same and stayed healthy.
Why did that person have this thought? The world looks down at us. And I think this partially explains the success of this forum. The "we against the world factor". I once explained that in a thread. In-group and out-group bias etc. I think many people here would take these media reports serious if they would even attempt to take our demands and needs serious, would portray us all as diverse as we are, if they were nuanced and honest., less money and attention driven. Many reports rather have clickbait quality in how black white they portray this issue (and community). In Germany many surveys show the people want liberal assisted suicide laws but the patronising media plays the gatekeeper role.
There is a stigma around this forum. I am not sure if popculture is the right word but this forum becomes sort of famous on Youtube and Reddit. Especially on Youtube this is an issue because the Youtubers who create such videos have many minors as viewers. And these people should not be on here. Certainly not. The forum is very clear that this is not wanted at all. A friend of mine was recommended the Tantacrul video and read the comments. He knows I am on here. His take was he is not fully sure about the possible impact of this forum. However he is convinced that adults should have the right to discuss suicide without censorship. Well this is why I always say that I have awesome friends.
I am not sure whether the stigma increases if this forum gets more attention. On the one side there will be more people describing and seeing us as abysmal human beings or monsters or as brainwashed by a death cult. More people look down at us. At the same time this community gets more members and more people explain their personal suicide story why it matters to take people serious in their right to die and how injust the current system is. There are many heartbreaking stories where it is obvious that the current regulations/help systems are not reasonable at all.
There are many possible developments (I have to do such shit for college currently this is why it is on my mind lol)
More people -> less cohesion -> more diverse opinions -> more nuances -> less black white thinking -> this forum is taken more serious
More people -> more possible extreme fringe people in the masses -> better targets for the media -> the hatred for this forum grows while the attention that this forum gets also grows as it gets on the radar of the powerful
There are many possible pathways these might not be the most likely ones.
The only bottom I can relate to when thinking about this forum is: I assume we are at the bottom of life quality in many Western countries. Assuming here are mostly people from the Western wealthy countries. We are at the bottom of mental health life quality and very high on the pain level. Socioeconomically I could imagine we are way below average because health issues often lead to financial issues.
How do you feel about it?
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